Protein = Weight Gain?

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MizzFitness
MizzFitness Posts: 76 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Every day I've gone over on my protein this site says I'm going to gain weight. My calories are under & I'm using basic calories burned from this site when the truth is the program I'm using burns much more because of anaerobic drills. What would cause it to say this? Am I eating too much even though I'm under calories or is it just that I'm over protein?

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  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    I would say that I go over my protein all the time and lose weight fine.

    I would trust what the scale and your clothes say over what the site says.
  • mmmpink
    mmmpink Posts: 25
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    Don't worry about going over your protein. If you're trying to lose weight and put on muscle, you want to eat 1-1.5 grams for every pound you weigh. Make sure you're eating clean, healthy foods and the weight will come off.
  • afmuj
    afmuj Posts: 5
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    From what I can tell from the trainer I have asked is that your lean muscle weight will increase, but body fat will decrease if you do high protien, low cal. At my last weigh in thats exactly what happened so it seems to work for me and I go WAAAYY over on my protein each day.
  • robbinoburrito
    robbinoburrito Posts: 17 Member
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    Protein also promotes muscle mass when you are working out, and muscle weighs more than fat. So that could cause weight gain but not a bad kind. I would just be careful if your sole purpose is JUST to lose weight and not to "bulk up".
  • rjadams
    rjadams Posts: 4,060 Member
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    if you are using MFP default settings then you are only at 20% protein. You can lose weight by going up to 30 or even 40 percent. You may want to adjust your percentages so that you aren't going over. I use a 40-30-30 balance but you can set them up how ever you want.
  • islandnutshel
    islandnutshel Posts: 1,143 Member
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    I took a quick peek at your diet and it looks great for the type of activity level you do. I wouldn't worry about protein. I would recommend changing your settings to include the daily value of calcium, vitamon C, iron, and fiber. Fiber being very importanto on a high protein diet. Vitamons and fiber are very important to losing weight and being healthy. Switch focus for fun and health.
  • KellyBurton1
    KellyBurton1 Posts: 529 Member
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    MFP gives to little amount anyways. I up my protein alot and Im losing weight. Dont worry about it! Protein is good.
  • MizzFitness
    MizzFitness Posts: 76 Member
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    MFP has me eating only 1200 calories on my workout day off each week. I find myself drained & unable to finish my work if I follow that. I watch everything. I watch sodium, iron, etc... I know if I get too much sodium I feel horrible!
  • MizzFitness
    MizzFitness Posts: 76 Member
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    today I went over my calories. They are allowing me only 1200 calories a day. I exercise 6 days a week for at least 55 mins. It now says in 3 weeks I'll have gained 7 lbs. This is a mystery to me. I did eat 1 cookie today. It's maybe the 3rd cookie I've had in 2010 so I just don't get it. Should I eat more, less, the same.... crazy.
  • MizzFitness
    MizzFitness Posts: 76 Member
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    how do you adjust the settings on protein?
  • rjadams
    rjadams Posts: 4,060 Member
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    goals, change goals, manual. then set the percent to whatever you want.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    today I went over my calories. They are allowing me only 1200 calories a day. I exercise 6 days a week for at least 55 mins. It now says in 3 weeks I'll have gained 7 lbs. This is a mystery to me. I did eat 1 cookie today. It's maybe the 3rd cookie I've had in 2010 so I just don't get it. Should I eat more, less, the same.... crazy.

    What it's telling you is that if you ate that way every day (went over your calories by a certain amount), you would weigh a certain amount in so many weeks. It isn't because of the protein. It's because of the calories.

    But if you're UNDER your calories (including exercise) overall, even though one day was over, you should lose. The site is only taking into account that one day.
  • chera325
    chera325 Posts: 38 Member
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    I also go over on my protein everyday, but I realized that if I don't, I'm just ALWAYS hungry. I will say, however, that I spoke with a friend of mine who is an athletic trainer and she told me that your body can only metabolize so much protein; after you've reached that amount, it turns to fat just as excess carbs would. I would say you have to do what feels right for you, but be careful!
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    I also go over on my protein everyday, but I realized that if I don't, I'm just ALWAYS hungry. I will say, however, that I spoke with a friend of mine who is an athletic trainer and she told me that your body can only metabolize so much protein; after you've reached that amount, it turns to fat just as excess carbs would. I would say you have to do what feels right for you, but be careful!

    Much of it is filtered out through your kidneys and liver, which is why an extreme excess of protein can damage those organs (and why it makes me CRAZY when I see those protein shakes pushed). But I think the MFP protein goal is low.

    "You should try to eat around one gram of protein per one kilogram of body weight, or around 0.4 grams per pound. An easier way to figure this out in your head is to take your weight, divide it in half, and subtract 10. The total will be the number of grams of protein you should consume each day. So, if you weigh 120 pounds, you should eat about 50 grams of protein."

    For me, that would be 63 grams of protein per day. MFP has me set at 48.
  • edorice
    edorice Posts: 4,519 Member
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    Protein is awesome. It keeps my blood sugar in check. You change the MFP default settings under Goals.
  • MizzFitness
    MizzFitness Posts: 76 Member
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    I did gain! Win some, lose some, gotta go & burn some... :laugh:
  • musclebuilder
    musclebuilder Posts: 324 Member
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    I also go over on my protein everyday, but I realized that if I don't, I'm just ALWAYS hungry. I will say, however, that I spoke with a friend of mine who is an athletic trainer and she told me that your body can only metabolize so much protein; after you've reached that amount, it turns to fat just as excess carbs would. I would say you have to do what feels right for you, but be careful!

    Any protein consumed above what is needed to maintain protein turnover is converted to fatty acids/glucose
  • MizzFitness
    MizzFitness Posts: 76 Member
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    I also go over on my protein everyday, but I realized that if I don't, I'm just ALWAYS hungry. I will say, however, that I spoke with a friend of mine who is an athletic trainer and she told me that your body can only metabolize so much protein; after you've reached that amount, it turns to fat just as excess carbs would. I would say you have to do what feels right for you, but be careful!

    Any protein consumed above what is needed to maintain protein turnover is converted to fatty acids/glucose

    I have heard at least 5 different examples of how to calculate protein needs lately. What have you heard?

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