Can I get too much protein at one meal?

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Replies

  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    "With respect to hypertrophy, total protein intake
    was the strongest predictor of ES magnitude. These results refute the commonly held belief
    that the timing of protein intake in and around a training session is critical to muscular
    adaptations and indicate that consuming adequate protein in combination with resistance
    exercise is the key factor for maximizing muscle protein accretion."
  • longtimeterp
    longtimeterp Posts: 614 Member
    "With respect to hypertrophy, total protein intake
    was the strongest predictor of ES magnitude. These results refute the commonly held belief
    that the timing of protein intake in and around a training session is critical to muscular
    adaptations and indicate that consuming adequate protein in combination with resistance
    exercise is the key factor for maximizing muscle protein accretion."

    wish i understood statistics better...even after reading the effect size article on Wikipedia i still can't quite understand what it means? anyone maybe translate that into non-stat-speak?

    i love my post workout shake, is this just saying it doesn't matter if i have it post workout as long as i have it at some point? there is no negative response from having it while sitting in the sauna right?
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    It means that total protein intake matters but timing doesn't.
  • Protein doesn't turn into fat so you'll be fine
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    Hey you all!
    I just wanted to let you know... I am a medschool student and so happened to know little about the metabolism itself.... so I thought maybe you´ll be interested.
    There is no wasted protein, and neither sacharides or lipids (fats) that you would eat and it would be "waisted" in your body.
    Sorry, Rosie, you lost me at "waisted".
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    She must be a med student in Khazakstan.
  • Ok, Kazachstan let it be...

    I just wanted to say- there is no waisted protein and you don´t pee your protein unless you are in a kidney failure!!! (I don´t know where you got that from????)

    You eat too much protein- it is used first for muscle building and the excess amount is used as energy for the body. During that process toxic molecules are produced which harm your body ( kidneys, liver,) and increase your chance of tumor formation.

    That is why it is not perfect to eat too much protein....
  • Very good information, Rosie7891.


    thank you very much! :)
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    What country do you live in Rosie? I am guessing English is not your primary language.
  • No... its absolutely not! :)

    Prague, Czech rep.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    Ah that makes sense. I was at first dismissive about your claim to be a med student because of all the spelling and grammar errors in your writing, but it makes perfect sense if you live in Prague!
  • eksero2k
    eksero2k Posts: 83 Member
    I usually take in at least 100g for my lunch every day, not having any issues with that so far!
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  • Victoria2448
    Victoria2448 Posts: 559 Member
    Layne Norton - PhD in protein metabolism.

    Coles notes - The body can absorb almost any amount of protein.....however maxing out the anabolic response is around 30-40 grams.


    BioLayne Video Log 4 - Myths About Protein

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjmV8BlsJTQ

    ^^^^
    This
  • Victoria2448
    Victoria2448 Posts: 559 Member
    If you have kidney damage, too much protein can be bad.

    If you are healthy...no problem.
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  • Sorry, I know my english is not perfect..... I just read all the posts about how you can pee your protein and how it goes to waist and reading that I just had to write something.

    100g of protein is not too much at all for adult male. It would be too much if you would eat e.g. 400-500g of protein every day, while not having any significant physical activity.

    And thank you very much GuitarJerry for the post- its exactly like with cigarettes. It doesn´t mean every person who eats too much protein is going to go to kidney failure. It means you very much higher the chance to develop that over longer period of time.
  • 3foldchord
    3foldchord Posts: 2,918 Member
    Please. I eat 140 g in one meal every day. If I could only process 30 or 40 g at a time, I'd be losing muscle mass like crazy. Somehow, I managed to squat 230 lbs last night.

    obviously you are a very special snowflake then...
    with magical intestines
  • 3foldchord
    3foldchord Posts: 2,918 Member
    If you have kidney damage, too much protein can be bad.

    If you are healthy...no problem.

    I don't know. What I've read says it can lead to kidney damage if you consume too much over a long period of time.
    but, how much is too much?
  • bacitracin
    bacitracin Posts: 921 Member
    When I have too much protein, I get really smelly farts. And I can tell when I have too much protein at once because it'll trigger a bigger insulin response than my body is used to, convert to glucose, and kick me out of ketosis.

    But if you want to know, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_(nutrient)#Excess_consumption
    "The body is unable to store excess protein".
    "excess protein consumption results in protein oxidation and that the protein is excreted".
    "Excretion ... is performed by the kidneys. These organs can normally cope with any extra workload, but, if kidney disease occurs, a decrease in protein will often be prescribed".
    "When there is excess protein intake, amino acids can be converted to glucose or ketones, in addition to being oxidized for fuel".
    "Another issue arising from over-consumption of protein is a higher risk of kidney stone formation from calcium in the renal circulatory system. It has been found that high animal protein intake in healthy individuals increases the probability of forming kidney stones by 250 percent.[citation needed]"
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    Ok, Kazachstan let it be...

    I just wanted to say- there is no waisted protein and you don´t pee your protein unless you are in a kidney failure!!! (I don´t know where you got that from????)

    You eat too much protein- it is used first for muscle building and the excess amount is used as energy for the body. During that process toxic molecules are produced which harm your body ( kidneys, liver,) and increase your chance of tumor formation.

    That is why it is not perfect to eat too much protein....

    ureagenesis is what?

    As to protein timing - ome can consume well above 45g per meal simply because the studies on maximum absorption where bolus studies and not based on regular meals. Digestion slows protein bio-availability by several hours so eating 60-90g in one sitting is not much different than eating it in 3 sittings.

    If we only got our protein from powder shakes and ate nothing else at the same time, then yes, single meal souldn't exceed a 45-50 g per meal. But real people eating normally can well exceed that into 3 or 4 times that.

    As to the risks of eating too much protein, I would suggest our college student consider what the actual increase in risk is (hint: negligeable to non-existent) for kidney or liver disease and the oncogenic factors suggest that while protein is a substrate for increased tissue growth versus it's absence it has not been demonstrated in humans to be a significant risk increase except for cured and/or processed meats. In other words, it is not the protein.
  • jorusc
    jorusc Posts: 3 Member
    http://examine.com/faq/how-much-protein-can-i-eat-in-one-sitting.html

    Your body knows what it's doing, and it's very conservative. If you eat more protein than it can absorb at one time, it has a mechanism to slow down your digestive tract and make sure it slurps up all that sweet, sweet amino acid goodness. "Your body can only absorb so much" is broscience. Examine.com is built out of peer-reviewed papers, and all its facts are cited by studies.

    In fact, one study showed that older women end up far better off if they eat 80% of their daily protein in one sitting.
  • aakaakaak
    aakaakaak Posts: 1,240 Member
    http://examine.com/faq/how-much-protein-can-i-eat-in-one-sitting.html

    Your body knows what it's doing, and it's very conservative. If you eat more protein than it can absorb at one time, it has a mechanism to slow down your digestive tract and make sure it slurps up all that sweet, sweet amino acid goodness. "Your body can only absorb so much" is broscience. Examine.com is built out of peer-reviewed papers, and all its facts are cited by studies.

    In fact, one study showed that older women end up far better off if they eat 80% of their daily protein in one sitting.

    I was literally seconds from posting this.

    Also this:
    http://examine.com/faq/can-eating-too-much-protein-be-bad-for-you.html

    And this:
    http://examine.com/faq/how-does-protein-affect-weight-loss.html

    One of these articles mentions a "smell test". If you have nasty protein farts (you'll know if you have them) then your body isn't metabolizing all the protein you're eating into muscle. That's really your biggest side effect to eating too much protein. The actual amount will differ by person and exercise regimen.
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  • Ureagenesis is the way the body eliminates excess nitrogen and amonium but it doesn´t have unlimited capacity to do so....

    I don´t want to argue with anybody. There is no certain amount of protein suitable for everybody, we are all individuals with different bodies, lifestyles, metabolism... but there is certain "ideal" range of daily protein intake for everybody.

    It is true your body will tell you what is enough if you just pay attention to it.

    Of course the best is to consume the protein throughout the day, I never said no to that!! That is also why many protein powders are mix of more protein types where digestion of each one of them takes different amount of time. Apart from other reasons... But it doesn´t mean you can´t eat 100grams of meat for a lunch.

    It is widly known that too much protein can do harm to your body. Thats why protein based diets are questioned by some people and are not recomended
    >>> constantly for long period of time <<
    and this is nothing new.

    Thats truly all I have to say. I didn´t want to be mean or so to anybody, I just tought you would like to have some other opinion on that....

    Have a good day!
  • 3foldchord
    3foldchord Posts: 2,918 Member
    If you have kidney damage, too much protein can be bad.

    If you are healthy...no problem.

    I don't know. What I've read says it can lead to kidney damage if you consume too much over a long period of time.
    but, how much is too much?

    I don't know. Nor is there a clear answer. I try to stick with somewhere around 1g for every 1lb of lean body mass, although, I think research suggests it's really .7 for every 1lb of LBM. If I go over, so what. But, I try not to make a habit of massive amounts. I've just learned that everything is ok in moderation. Excess in anything, is just excess and unnecessary.

    So true. I tend to be fine for a few weeks, then start obsessing. I get approx 1 grams per pound (not just LBM) so 125-135 grams most days, which I know is fine,I have a Lower day once a week. I just have to keep my brain in check.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    Hey you all!
    I just wanted to let you know... I am a medschool student and so happened to know little about the metabolism itself.... so I thought maybe you´ll be interested.
    There is no wasted protein, and neither sacharides or lipids (fats) that you would eat and it would be "waisted" in your body. Everything you eat is broken down into small molecules, absorbed in your intestines, then transferred in blood to particular organs (usually first passing through liver).
    So sacharides usually go into your blood (your glucose level) and that stimulates hormone insuline releasement. Insuline stimulates absorbtion of glucose by cells- every cell "eats" glucose/sugar and if you ate too much sugar the cells will start to store it as a fat, since they don´t need that much sugar. Therefore, avoiding sugar attacks will prevent you from fat building.
    As for proteins. They are also broken down to aminoacids, these are absorbed and these aminoacids can be used for muscle building. So during your workout some of your muscles fibers are broken down and body/ muscle reaction to workout is to rebuild it and rebuild it little bigger so it would be ready for this "workout load" when it happens again. Because of that you have to have some protein/ aminoacids in a blood after workout- so you give your body building material for more muscle. If you don´t have any other protein available, your body simply have nothing to build from, thus you worked out, but are not gaining any muscle.
    BUT if you have access protein in your body, it is used for energy, not muscle building. Proteins are though much harder for body to transfer into energy (compared to sacharides and fatts) and have side products- nitrogen compunds which are released when running on "protein energy". Your body have only limited ability to eliminate this through your urine and after that its harming your body- particularly liver and kidneys. So longterm protein abundance can lead even to kidney demage/failure, possibly later to liver demage. It is also believed that this nitrate compounts have oncogenic efect etc. it is harming your body in general!
    I love proteins, and tend to eat a lot of them. But always try to balance it. If you eat few days more protein, give your body a day off etc. If you workout more, you need more protein, if not, you need just avarage protein amount per day- 0,7-1g/kg of body weight.
    Since I mentioned other two... Fatts are devided into "bad" (saturated) and "good" (unsaturated). The bad ones are building your fatt and rising cholesterol levels. The good ones are very much needed for your body- each cell contains a membrane from "fatts", your brain and nerves need this "fatts", few hormones are "made from fatts" .... and of course fatts are a good source of energy. So fatts are good thing, very much needed in your body. However, just the propriate amounts and the right kind of them- avocado, nuts, oils....
    As much as waisted nutrients- there is not such thing really- you absorbed most of what you eat and at the end- in your stool are pretty much undigestible foods such as fibers, then water and waists from your body.
    I hope I helped. It is very basicly explained and I tried to explained it more metaphoricly then with any medical terms... but pretty much thats how it works....
    Might want to take a few more nutrition courses. There are no reputable studies showing high protein I take harms the liver or kidneys. It can have negative effects on someone who has kidney problems, but healthy kidneys have no issue at all processing several hundred grams of protein per day. And sugar doesn't get turned into fat unless you overrated total calories. The body doesn't store fat in caloric deficit, that's pretty much the opposite of what happens.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    Hey you all!
    I just wanted to let you know... I am a medschool student and so happened to know little about the metabolism itself.... so I thought maybe you´ll be interested.
    There is no wasted protein, and neither sacharides or lipids (fats) that you would eat and it would be "waisted" in your body. Everything you eat is broken down into small molecules, absorbed in your intestines, then transferred in blood to particular organs (usually first passing through liver).
    So sacharides usually go into your blood (your glucose level) and that stimulates hormone insuline releasement. Insuline stimulates absorbtion of glucose by cells- every cell "eats" glucose/sugar and if you ate too much sugar the cells will start to store it as a fat, since they don´t need that much sugar. Therefore, avoiding sugar attacks will prevent you from fat building.
    As for proteins. They are also broken down to aminoacids, these are absorbed and these aminoacids can be used for muscle building. So during your workout some of your muscles fibers are broken down and body/ muscle reaction to workout is to rebuild it and rebuild it little bigger so it would be ready for this "workout load" when it happens again. Because of that you have to have some protein/ aminoacids in a blood after workout- so you give your body building material for more muscle. If you don´t have any other protein available, your body simply have nothing to build from, thus you worked out, but are not gaining any muscle.
    BUT if you have access protein in your body, it is used for energy, not muscle building. Proteins are though much harder for body to transfer into energy (compared to sacharides and fatts) and have side products- nitrogen compunds which are released when running on "protein energy". Your body have only limited ability to eliminate this through your urine and after that its harming your body- particularly liver and kidneys. So longterm protein abundance can lead even to kidney demage/failure, possibly later to liver demage. It is also believed that this nitrate compounts have oncogenic efect etc. it is harming your body in general!
    I love proteins, and tend to eat a lot of them. But always try to balance it. If you eat few days more protein, give your body a day off etc. If you workout more, you need more protein, if not, you need just avarage protein amount per day- 0,7-1g/kg of body weight.
    Since I mentioned other two... Fatts are devided into "bad" (saturated) and "good" (unsaturated). The bad ones are building your fatt and rising cholesterol levels. The good ones are very much needed for your body- each cell contains a membrane from "fatts", your brain and nerves need this "fatts", few hormones are "made from fatts" .... and of course fatts are a good source of energy. So fatts are good thing, very much needed in your body. However, just the propriate amounts and the right kind of them- avocado, nuts, oils....
    As much as waisted nutrients- there is not such thing really- you absorbed most of what you eat and at the end- in your stool are pretty much undigestible foods such as fibers, then water and waists from your body.
    I hope I helped. It is very basicly explained and I tried to explained it more metaphoricly then with any medical terms... but pretty much thats how it works....
    Might want to take a few more nutrition courses. There are no reputable studies showing high protein I take harms the liver or kidneys. It can have negative effects on someone who has kidney problems, but healthy kidneys have no issue at all processing several hundred grams of protein per day. And sugar doesn't get turned into fat unless you overrated total calories. The body doesn't store fat in caloric deficit, that's pretty much the opposite of what happens.

    In fact, most of the "reputable" studies actually state that the "kidney damage caused by too much protein" is a myth.
  • jillianash
    jillianash Posts: 97 Member
    Glad I stumbled Upon this! Very interesting thread with lots of information. Carry on!
  • Lisa1971
    Lisa1971 Posts: 3,069 Member
    Hey you all!
    I just wanted to let you know... I am a medschool student and so happened to know little about the metabolism itself.... so I thought maybe you´ll be interested.
    There is no wasted protein, and neither sacharides or lipids (fats) that you would eat and it would be "waisted" in your body. Everything you eat is broken down into small molecules, absorbed in your intestines, then transferred in blood to particular organs (usually first passing through liver).
    So sacharides usually go into your blood (your glucose level) and that stimulates hormone insuline releasement. Insuline stimulates absorbtion of glucose by cells- every cell "eats" glucose/sugar and if you ate too much sugar the cells will start to store it as a fat, since they don´t need that much sugar. Therefore, avoiding sugar attacks will prevent you from fat building.
    As for proteins. They are also broken down to aminoacids, these are absorbed and these aminoacids can be used for muscle building. So during your workout some of your muscles fibers are broken down and body/ muscle reaction to workout is to rebuild it and rebuild it little bigger so it would be ready for this "workout load" when it happens again. Because of that you have to have some protein/ aminoacids in a blood after workout- so you give your body building material for more muscle. If you don´t have any other protein available, your body simply have nothing to build from, thus you worked out, but are not gaining any muscle.
    BUT if you have access protein in your body, it is used for energy, not muscle building. Proteins are though much harder for body to transfer into energy (compared to sacharides and fatts) and have side products- nitrogen compunds which are released when running on "protein energy". Your body have only limited ability to eliminate this through your urine and after that its harming your body- particularly liver and kidneys. So longterm protein abundance can lead even to kidney demage/failure, possibly later to liver demage. It is also believed that this nitrate compounts have oncogenic efect etc. it is harming your body in general!
    I love proteins, and tend to eat a lot of them. But always try to balance it. If you eat few days more protein, give your body a day off etc. If you workout more, you need more protein, if not, you need just avarage protein amount per day- 0,7-1g/kg of body weight.
    Since I mentioned other two... Fatts are devided into "bad" (saturated) and "good" (unsaturated). The bad ones are building your fatt and rising cholesterol levels. The good ones are very much needed for your body- each cell contains a membrane from "fatts", your brain and nerves need this "fatts", few hormones are "made from fatts" .... and of course fatts are a good source of energy. So fatts are good thing, very much needed in your body. However, just the propriate amounts and the right kind of them- avocado, nuts, oils....
    As much as waisted nutrients- there is not such thing really- you absorbed most of what you eat and at the end- in your stool are pretty much undigestible foods such as fibers, then water and waists from your body.
    I hope I helped. It is very basicly explained and I tried to explained it more metaphoricly then with any medical terms... but pretty much thats how it works....

    My head is about to explode! But in a good way. Thanks for the info!:laugh: