Confusion!?

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bkegurl36
bkegurl36 Posts: 61 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So today one of my co-workers told me that if you are not working out hard enough, and eating too much protein, the protein will just turn into fat. Is there anyone out there who knows if this is true or not?!?

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  • mcrawley22
    mcrawley22 Posts: 128
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    I've never heard that before...but I'm interested to see others answers.
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
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    All extra calories can turn into fat when stored in your body, as I understand it. It's not like your body needs a specific number of protein calories and anything over that will turn into fat - if you're at a deficit, you're not going to be storing any extra fat - even if your protien (or carbs or fat) are over for the individual categories.
  • SparkleKittie
    SparkleKittie Posts: 127
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    I don't think so. Although eating lots of protein in general is unnecessary and popularly abused.
  • JohnMaile
    JohnMaile Posts: 29
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    Eating too much protein won't cause it to turn into fat. You really just want to eat enough protein to keep your body anabolic throughout the day... so depending on your weight, goals, and level of exercise, you'd want to eat a complete protein every 3 or 4 hours!! Once you start going over 300 grams a day, you're kidneys won't be too happy, but I'm sure you'll be fine!
  • meggonkgonk
    meggonkgonk Posts: 2,066 Member
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    So today one of my co-workers told me that if you are not working out hard enough, and eating too much protein, the protein will just turn into fat. Is there anyone out there who knows if this is true or not?!?

    No- what this person is thinking of is people who eat or drink things designed for working out (like shakes or bars) that are high in protein, but who either don't work out, or don't monitor their calories. Protein (and its replacements) can be really high in calories, so its really easy to over eat if you are including these things- some of those bars are 3-500 calories or more! And people just eat'em like candy bars.

    Accountant boi is right- if you are at a caloric deficit, too much protein isnt going to just sit in your system and turn to fat- it's going to get burned!
  • alantin
    alantin Posts: 621 Member
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    So today one of my co-workers told me that if you are not working out hard enough, and eating too much protein, the protein will just turn into fat. Is there anyone out there who knows if this is true or not?!?

    Not true. Eating too much protein can be bad to you in other ways but only if you eat a LOT of it and for a LONG time. You need about 0.8 - 1.0 g per kilo of your weight.

    Rule of thumb: You gain fat if you eat more than you burn.


    Bodybuilders eat a lot of protein and workout hard. They do gain muscle and fat too when bulking but it's not the extra protein that turns into fat. The body just does store fat when it gets more energy than it can burn. Later they'll eat less to get rid of the the fat that they put on before.
  • bkegurl36
    bkegurl36 Posts: 61 Member
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    That is I thought! I just had to make sure! It scared me when she saw my MFP on my work computer and it said I had had like ten more protein than is recommended, that is when she said you know that will just turn into fat! Thanks so much for clearing that up for me :)
  • alantin
    alantin Posts: 621 Member
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    That is I thought! I just had to make sure! It scared me when she saw my MFP on my work computer and it said I had had like ten more protein than is recommended, that is when she said you know that will just turn into fat! Thanks so much for clearing that up for me :)

    10g too much protein. *lol* It doesn't mean anything! Actually it's most likely a good thing as MFP puts protein pretty low. Too low even!
    As I said. The recommended amount of protein is about 0.8 - 1.0 g per every kilogram of your weight a day. 1.5g ain't bad either IMO when losing weight! If you start eating 300-400 grams a day though, you'll probably soon be in trouble with your liver..
  • bsoxluvr
    bsoxluvr Posts: 183 Member
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    I was always told that you should eat protein whenever you have carbs because it helps the body process it different. Not sure about the facts behind that, but that's what I was told by a trainer.
  • alantin
    alantin Posts: 621 Member
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    Also, max 30 g per meal because that is about the maximum amount of protein that your body can digest at a time.

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