Macros - Is it really necessary to eat that much protien?

marvinq42

When I started using MyFitnessPal and following the caloric deficit I've been doing well and losing the expected amount of weight AND I've been making strength gains.

It's been a little more recently that I've been more serious about my diet and nutrition. The method I started to focus on is Macros or IIFYM aka 'flexible dieting'. But now that I've added this idea to the equation I'm starting to get worried about whether I can sustain eating this way.

Prior to leaning about this, I was only eating protein between 30 and 80 grams a day. My current body weight is 163. If I follow the advise out there I'd need between 140 to 163 grams of protein every day.

Even if I go with 140, I'd have to eat three times a day and have 46.6 grams of protein every meal to hit 140 grams.

When I have a hamburger or chicken sandwich it's only a little over 30 grams. For breakfast I'd need something like Greek Yogurt and add 20 grams of protein powder to it. Pretty much every meal I'd have to think about how can I get more protein into it. How the heck can I get that much protein every meal... every day... for years to come?

Prior to leaning about I was eating way less protein, but I was still making strength gains. Is it really necessary to eat that much protein for strength/muscle gains?

And when I'm on maintenance mode, can I eat less protein if I want to and still hold on to what I worked for? Or would I still have to eat my lean body mass in grams?

Marvin

Papa_Grande

Looking forward to the answers....

A doctor I've gone to (a vegan triathlete ) said more than .25 g (1/4 g) per day per lb of body weight strains your liver and kidneys....

On the other hand, many folks say 1 g per lb of bodyweight. That would be 300 grams a day for me.

LaneB89

Protein recommendations vary an insane amount depending on who you ask. Personally, I mostly hit my personal goal of 145g every day which I'll be increasing when I hit my goal weight and transition into a bulk. I don't find it terribly difficult to hit my protein target, and I only eat 1650 calories a day. I have a protein bar for breakfast (which actually only has like 7g protein), a 6" subway roasted chicken with double meat for lunch, usually about 6oz chicken breast at dinner, 2 scoops of whey protein throughout the day, and some lightly salted nuts as a snack. Excessive amounts of protein on a regular basis could cause long term liver damage, but when I say excessive, I'm talking much more than .25g/lb of weight, and to be totally blunt I wouldn't put a lot of stock in a vegan doctor's opinion on the matter as he may be a bit biased. Multiple regulatory health bodies in multiple governments recommend anywhere from 0.5 to 1g per pound of weight. For someone with a large amount of body fat, you could try to hit 1g/lb of lean body mass rather than total body weight.

TavistockToad

0.8g per lb of bodyweight is sufficient.

SezxyStef

I try to get in 1gram for each pound of LBM which works out to be about 0.8g per lb.

And yes you have to really look at your meals if you are following IIFYM.

While in a deficit I mainly focused on my protien but now that I am at maitenance I am focusing on all 3..trying to hit them all as much as I can.

I eat protien with every meal...eggs, egg white, bacon, ham, cheese in the morning, along with lean meats at lunch and dinner along with protien snacks.

Mr_Knight

Prior to leaning about this, I was only eating protein between 30 and 80 grams a day. My current body weight is 163. If I follow the advise out there I'd need between 140 to 163 grams of protein every day.

Depends on your goals. For your size, something in the 60-80g/day range will work just fine for most people. The more active you are, the more your body can use, up to somewhere around 140g/day (for your size). Beyond that, unless you're seriously bodybuilding, there doesn't appear to be much, if any, benefit.

More significantly, inside any given calorie budget, a gram of protein essentially replaces a gram of carbohydrates - so if your primary activity involves (for example) a lot of running, eating too much protein reduces ability to eat carbs which will have a direct negative impact on your performance.

In the end, the guidelines are just guidelines, and you'll have to adjust for your own particulars.

stealthq

Looking forward to the answers....

A doctor I've gone to (a vegan triathlete ) said more than .25 g (1/4 g) per day per lb of body weight strains your liver and kidneys....

On the other hand, many folks say 1 g per lb of bodyweight. That would be 300 grams a day for me.

No.

My dad was born with just one kidney. He eats more protein than that every day with no problem. His nephrologist does not recommend a low protein diet based on the current research. He wouldn't be happy if dad was eating 3-4x his bodyweight in protein a day, but 1-2x is perfectly acceptable.

ETA: Current recommendations to preserve muscle mass while cutting is 1 gram of protein per lb of lean body mass. Many go more conservative and use 1 g per lb of bodyweight, which is not harmful. If you are an athlete, there's a paper out there that indicates > (1.3 * bodyweight) (If I remember correctly - might have been 1.5) grams of protein is more beneficial.

Papa_Grande

Thanks!

psuLemon

Looking forward to the answers....

A doctor I've gone to (a vegan triathlete ) said more than .25 g (1/4 g) per day per lb of body weight strains your liver and kidneys....

On the other hand, many folks say 1 g per lb of bodyweight. That would be 300 grams a day for me.

Keep in mind recommendations aren't based on body weight, but rather lean body mass. If you are 300 lbs, I would suspect you are more than 30% body fat. So you can probably get away with 150g's or a little less. Most recommendations are .8 to 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass.

mustgetmuscles1

http://youtu.be/w6p-BockeRw?t=56m2s

vismal

Protein shouldn't be based on body weight but on lean mass. The only issue is that most people don't know or have an accurate way to determine their lean mass. For that reason I usually recommend 0.6-0.8 grams of protein per lb. If you are heavier, the lean towards 0.6. If you are fairly lean looking to lose the last bit of fat lean towards the 0.8.

Also just to note you can have much more then what you "need" should you desire. I probably need 160-170 grams of protein a day. I get around 220 a day because protein keeps me full. There is no harm in getting in extra protein and no scientific evidence to support that it is damaging to the kidneys. I would only worry about excess protein from a health standpoint if you were getting in a whole ton more then you need. Plenty of people take in 1.5 grams per lb every day with no ill effects.

Chelsarrr

1g per pound of lean body mass!

Aaron_K123

Think you may have misread something a bit OP. The general guideline is 0.8 to 1g of protein per pound of LEAN mass, not per pound of total bodyweight.

williams969

Think you may have misread something a bit OP. The general guideline is 0.8 to 1g of protein per pound of LEAN mass, not per pound of total bodyweight.

^This. I use the IIFYM calculator, too, OP. But, I take the overly high (and "incorrect") protein guideline with a grain of salt. If you don't know your exact LBM, it's okay to estimate. Example, the US Navy measurements and pictures online of different bodies give me a guess that I have about 106-110lbs of LBM (more than 25%, less than 30% BF for me). Great, I aim for 105 or more grams of protein daily (more, because I really like eggs and dairy and meat, and they keep me full--I average 115-120g daily). If you're finding 150+g too much to meet, by all means reduce it to a more likely range, based on your LBM.