Need calories but no protein!

Thanks for this post!!! I was shocked to see I was having the same issue almost every day. It's not easy to increase your calories without increasing the protein. Even veggies have some protein.

It's great to read all the responses here. I'll keep in ind the low protein settings here at MFP and consider it a minimum.

I guess by everyone else's standards I'm going to die of a protein defiency since I only get an average of 50 daily. Please tell my muscles I sworrryyy.

You clearly don't get it. 1g protein per pound of body weight is not a goal to prevent a deficiency. It is a goal to prevent excessive muscle loss while losing weight, as you will ALWAYS lose SOME muscle when losing weight...it is a combination of fat and muscle you lose. Exercising and eating high protein will prevent this, also eating high in protein will aid in your body's muscle recovery from a workout.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbprotein.htm

I guess by everyone else's standards I'm going to die of a protein defiency since I only get an average of 50 daily. Please tell my muscles I sworrryyy.

You clearly don't get it. 1g protein per pound of body weight is not a goal to prevent a deficiency. It is a goal to prevent excessive muscle loss while losing weight, as you will ALWAYS lose SOME muscle when losing weight...it is a combination of fat and muscle you lose. Exercising and eating high protein will prevent this, also eating high in protein will aid in your body's muscle recovery from a workout.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbprotein.htm

Guess I've lost so much muscle *rolls eyes*. Oh wait, I've actually gained muscle without upping protein. Whoopsies I proved you wrong. Sowwrry

Alright smarty pants seeing you seem to have the worlds perfect diet and amazing results...lets see the pictures to prove it?...ditch the fairy and lets see the proof.

1gram of protein per 1lb of lean body mass (not total weight) is optimal

I've went over my protein recommendation today, which I'm worried enough about. What are the risks of overstepping your protein boundaries? I figure I'm about 9-10 percent over because I'm into -5. Is this really bad?

Also I'm still under on my calories today but I honestly can't think of anything I can eat that isn't chocked full of proteins too.

Really am in a huuuuge pickle.

Eat the pickle!

Seriously, as others have said, going over MFP's protein settings is a good thing.

I guess by everyone else's standards I'm going to die of a protein defiency since I only get an average of 50 daily. Please tell my muscles I sworrryyy.

You clearly don't get it. 1g protein per pound of body weight is not a goal to prevent a deficiency. It is a goal to prevent excessive muscle loss while losing weight, as you will ALWAYS lose SOME muscle when losing weight...it is a combination of fat and muscle you lose. Exercising and eating high protein will prevent this, also eating high in protein will aid in your body's muscle recovery from a workout.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbprotein.htm

^^this

Plus Miss Attitutude does not realize that the numbers posted from the CDC are for people who are not on a deficit. Protein requirements increase when on a deficit.

There are a few scenarios where it's possible to gain muscle while losing fat.

- The first of those is in overfat beginners. I want to really stress the term overfat in the above sentence. This phenomenon doesn’t happen in lean beginners for reasons I’m going to explain in a second.
- A second situation where this phenomenon occurs readily is folks returning from a layoff. Folks who are previously lean and muscular but who get out of shape (whether deliberately or not) often find that they get back into shape much faster than they did initially: they seem to magically replace fat with muscle. In fact, with the advent of before/after transformation pictures for supplements, this has become a growth industry: people who are already in great shape will deliberately get out of great shape so that they can quickly reattain their previous shape in a short period. Apparently there is huge money in selling such before/after pictures to help move supplements.
- Steroids

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/adding-muscle-while-losing-fat-qa.html

And for what its worth, most people think they gained muscle, but its a combination of increases strength due to CNS adaptations and lower body fat, making it "appear" they've created new muscle tissue while on a calorie deficit.

Just stay around 20 grams of protein per meal, and shoot for half your body weight in protein.

OP (and anyone else for that matter), you can change the Macro Settings to adjust the MFP default. Rather than remember that you can eat more protein simply change it to something more balanced. I use 40% Carb/40% Protein/20% Fat but you could also do something else like 40%/30%/30%. This will provide a more balanced diet and you will not have to worry about going over Protein any longer.

Go My Home, then Goals and do Custom. Change the %'s and Save Changes and you're done.

eat a salad and dont worry about going over on protein

uuh chips?

Ditto on the "don't worry about going over the MFP protein recommendation" thing. I'd also just like to add: protein is really good at keeping you feeling full. So if you're trying to lose weight, eat plenty of lean meats and/or vegetarian proteins (in addition to water and fibre, which are a couple of other major ones for keeping you feeling full).

Unless you have tons of money and don't mind regularly spending a substantial amount of time cooking off and eating chicken breast and lean fish, or you really, REALLY like the taste of protein powders, it's going to be hard to overdose on protein.

It's totally fine to go over on protein. Don't worry about it. However if you don't want any more protein for the day, have some fruit or vegetables.

Don't worry about that protein. Honestly. Now hit a piece of chicken, turkey or a can of tuna

Is there any particular reason MFP's protein limits are so low?

It's because MFP largely follows conventional wisdom that a good diet is full of carbs.