Protein

sunsetbeach1

Hi,

I'm usually quite good a staying under or on my daily allowance of carbs, fat, salt and sugar but most days I go over on my protein allowance. Is this a big problem? I would really struggle to lower it

Thanks

sunsnstatheart

Hi,

I'm usually quite good a staying under or on my daily allowance of carbs, fat, salt and sugar but most days I go over on my protein allowance. Is this a big problem? I would really struggle to lower it

Thanks

Treat it as a minimum. The MFP number is based on U.S. RDA which is the minimum for sedentary people. If you're training you will need more though it's debatable as to how much. Many of us use the 1 gram per pound of lean body mass rule of thumb, but that is probably overestimating your needs.

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

MFP sets protein too low. To set your macros, check out this link: 

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/911011-calculating-calorie-macronutrient-needs?page=1#posts-13821336

Also, it's hard to have too much protein. 

"It has been observed that the human liver cannot safely metabolise much more than 285-365 g of protein per day (for an 80 kg person), and human kidneys are similarly limited in their capability to remove urea (a byproduct of protein catabolism) from the bloodstream. Exceeding that amount results in excess levels of amino acids, ammonia (hyperammonemia), and/or urea in the bloodstream, with potentially fatal consequences,[1] especially if the person switches to a high-protein diet without giving time for the levels of his or her hepatic enzymes to upregulate. Since protein only contains 4 kcal/gram, and a typical adult human requires in excess of 1900 kcal to maintain the energy balance, it is possible to exceed the safe intake of protein if one is subjected to a high-protein diet with little or no fat or carbohydrates. However, given the lack of scientific data on the effects of high-protein diets, and the observed ability of the liver to compensate over a few days for a shift in protein intake, the US Food and Nutrition Board does not set a Tolerable Upper Limit nor upper Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range for protein.[2] Furthermore, medical sources such as UpToDate[3] do not include listings on this topic." 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation

Lt_Starbuck

Nope you're good.

onyxgirl17

I try to keep mine higher. I'm trying right now to get 20% of cals from protein. A lot of people around here are set even higher than that. Meat is very expensive where I live. Chicken is freakin 5.99 a pound unless I buy it whole.

sunsetbeach1

Great! Thanks very much for your replies