Can you eat too much protein?

kikilareggae

Trying to lose weight and was wondering, can you eat too much protein? In the past when I amped up my protein, I lost weight and got lean (along with exercise/weight training). Sometimes my calorie tracker has shown I've gone "over" in my protein for the day. Is that really a bad thing?

jstout365

Yes, you can eat too much protein, but chances are you will not hit that limit while eating at a calorie deficit unless you ate pretty much all protein.

MFP preset limits are typically low and many recommend to aim for .6-.8 grams per lb of body weight or if you know your Lean body mass weight, 1 g per lb of LBM.

I eat between 120 - 140 g per day and weigh 137. Protein helps you maintain muscle mass while in a deficit, especially when you are also doing resistance/strength training.

ETA: fixed error

Confuzzled4ever

i don't think you can without eating a lot of food. i'd think that would be nearly impossible on a deficit. . i am currently eating around 200-225 grams per day. I feel amazing and I am losing weight.

what previous poster said is correct about amounts. MFP default setting in generally too low.

Chris_Pierce

Forget the macro goals that Mfp gives you. They're wrong and bad. Counting your macros as a % of your total consumption is just silly. I shoot for 1 gram of protein for every pound of lean body weight. But do your own research and find out what you need.

You CAN eat too much protein. But it won't make you gain fat. Only a calorie surplus will make you gain fat. There is such a thing as "protein poisoning". But it's more about lack of fats and carbs than it is about too much protein. Basically it's when you eat nothing but lean protein, like rabbit meat. It's usually a term reserved for use in discussions about "survival" situations. Like lost in the woods for months.

TiberiusClaudis

Some good/sound advice given already.

Can you eat too much? Possibly. But at what risks? There've been studies done on what high protein diets do to one's kidney/livers. Some show no effect others somewhat. If you are healthy, then I think you'd be ok.

Proteins usually make people feel more full. So it stops the snacking. Also, it's key on keeping your muscles strong while dieting. I'm a bodybuilder and currently cutting, so I shoot for my Protein Macro to be around 50%. That's pretty high, even for someone like me, and I only keep it that high while I'm cutting.

Bottomline: If eatting more protein keeps you withing your diet guidelines and your healthy, you should be good to go.

Best of luck,
TC

kikilareggae

Really good feedback, thank you everyone! I will definitely take your info and also read up some more about nutrition a little more. I feel like I'm craving protein a lot since I've gotten back into weight training and I felt like I should be listening to my body more instead of worrying about going "over in the protein column of my food log. You all rock, thanks again!