App goal for protein

cc3467

the app has stated my protein goal as way higher than the ‘standard’ maintanence calc - it seems to be calculated at the weight-gain max (@2.2g/kg body weight) - originally I told it I want to gain weight, which makes sense for the goal it chose, but then I changed it to my current weight, and it hasn’t altered the protein goal - could it be because I’m currently underweight and it’s chosen a goal to provoke weight gain?

AnnPT77

It sets macronutrient goals as a percentage of calorie goal, assuming the user hasn't changed the goals. The default would be 50% of calories from carbs, 20% of calories from protein, 30% of calories from fats, at the standard assumption that protein and carbs have 4 calories per gram, and fats have 9 calories per gram.

As far as I know - based on personal experience and chatting with others here for almost 10 years now - it doesn't change those percents based on whether a person wants to gain/lose, how fast they want to gain/lose, or ever set macro goals based on any grams per pound/kilo of bodyweight calculation.]

To get something close to 2.2 g/kg at the standard defaults, it seems like you'd have to have a pretty high calorie goal relative to your size. Do you? (If you accepted default calories, is your activity level setting at the top end?)

cc3467

thanks for the response.
I had assumed it would calculate protein based on Xg protein /kg body weight, but as you say, it is a percentage of the 8,700 kilojoules per day it assigned for me (the standard rdi).
I didn't set a calorie goal or exercise goal (just tracking my protein intake atm).

AnnPT77

I hope you're realizing that you can customized those macro goals if you wish. If you have free MFP, it will only allow changes in percents, and only 5% increments. In premium MFP, you can set in percents (I think down to 1% increments) or in grams.

If you're using free MFP: What I did when using the free version was estimate my personal protein minimum in grams, then set the percents to be as close as possible to my minimum grams at base pre-exercise calories. Of course, I still had in my mind what my actual exact gram minimum was, but I never mind if I go over protein, as long as I can still get in the other essential nutrition within calorie goal.

You sound like you have an idea about how much protein you need for your situation, but if you want more info, I think this is a good, science-based source:

https://examine.com/guides/protein-intake/

I'm not compensated in any way for posting that link, and I don't work for them. I'm just a happy user of the site . . . so happy that I paid for a subscription to get access to more of their content. They don't sell supplements, they sell nutrition research summaries, basically. They have some free content like the protein guide/calculator, presumably to show the quality of their content.

cc3467

thanks for your answers, it’s helpful, I’ll have a play. that sounds like a useful resource too.