Protein Question

kayadahn

It seems like every single day I'm over on my protein. My calories, fat, sugar, and carbs are all under, most are under significatly, but my protein is always over, and not by just a little. Right now, MFP says I should be eating 51 grams of protein a day. I logging 70 to 90 a day. Do I really need to lower it? I have a muscular build, and I'm working out on a freaquent basis. Won't the protein help build muscle and prevent me from burning muscle since I'm eating so few calories? I'm in a slump only losing 1 to 2 pounds a week, and I need to figure out what to change. I really don't think I can lower my calories any more, and I'm already eating under on carbs, fat and sugar. HELP!

gazbo1986

as a general rule you should be eating 1-1.5gm of protein per pound of bodyweight ESPECIALLY if you're doing resistance training/weights.

so yes, keeping your protein high is essential. MFP has a really retarded way of measuring protein intake, i wouldn't worry about it too much.

cacrat

Yes, eating more protein will not only stop muscle loss, but since you're working out, it will provide for muscle growth too. Don't worry about getting big, as a woman you don't have the testosterone and other hormones to gain bulk. If you're eating below maintenance calories, any excess protein your body does not need will be excreted. So do not worry about excess protein. 1-1.5g/lb of body weight is the right suggestion. The beauty of it is, is that if you're going to keep your calories the same, yet raise protein, you're going to have to lower the calories from some place. The easiest would be carbs. Beauty there is that you'll start to burn more fat if you do that kind of diet...for a variety of reasons.

RDH0513

Mine is the same way! and to be honest I totally ignore it. I am within 30 lbs of my goal weight, so I eat about 1 gram per lbs of goal weight. So i eat about 110 grams of protein. That is NOT too much. You need to eat enough protein to maintain muscle growth and size. And unless you for some reason have testosterone, you wont get "big". Muscle burns more calories at an idle state than fat does, so really you want to have your nutrition help you build muscle in order to burn more calories at rest during the day. I find that if I am eating a 40/40/20 of protein/carb/fat that it works pretty well. I don't like to eat more carbs than protein, but it may be different if I were a runner, in which case i would want more carbs. When I go to the beach in the summer I will change those percentages and up the lean protein, up the healthy fats, and lower the carbs a little bit more. Anyway, you are not eating too much protein and you shouldn't lower your calories. Keep up the good work!!