Too much protein?

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DawniesLife
DawniesLife Posts: 157
in Food and Nutrition
I tend to eat over my amount of protein that MFP suggests I eat. I was wondering if this will have any negative effect on weight loss? I do know that it is a myth that it damages your kidneys (thanks to an excellent article someone posted right after New Years). I am just curious if it has any impact on weight gain or loss.

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  • VialOfDreams
    VialOfDreams Posts: 217
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    Depends on how much more protein. You need protein to build muscle, but if you eat too much of it, protein is deposited into the body as fat.
  • tacticalhippie
    tacticalhippie Posts: 596 Member
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    i lose more/better when i eat more protein.
  • lesliemk
    lesliemk Posts: 382 Member
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    How much protein are you eating? I feel like I can't get enough in and I'm always looking for addt'l protein sources. I'm doing a weight training program though, so I try to get in all the protein I can.
  • morteng
    morteng Posts: 3
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    Protein takes more energy to metabolize than fat or carbohydrate so the effective calories are less. Protein also satisfies more than fat or carbohydrate.
    The protein guide lines for MFP is based on.... bob bob bob forgot their name.... anyway, protein is expensive and this is the minimum amount you should need. Unless you are an athlete and building muscle.

    Good protein sources:
    Skyr (Icelandic low-fat yoghurt (actually a kind of cream cheese but doesn't taste like cream cheese))
    Cottage cheese
    Greek yoghurt
    Milk
    Fish
    Seafood
    Meat
    Nuts (usually high on healthy fats and carbs too tho)
    Eggs (equal amounts of protein and fat)

    The dairy products are semi-liquid and liquid tho so they are less filling than the solid foods (tho I have to say that skyr is really filling even for yoghurt - pop some berries in for flavour).
  • DawniesLife
    DawniesLife Posts: 157
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    Sometimes I am not over on protein at all, but some days I am over anywhere from 2 to 40 over. Most days not being the higher of the two. I don't understand how people don't go over on protein when they are consuming protein shakes and things like that because I am not using in protein supplements and I have a hard time not going over. On a normal day when I don't exercise my calories are set to 1200 which only allows me 45 of protein. On a day like today when I exercised almost two hours and my calorie intake therefore goes up to 1860 I was allowed 69. I am already at 70 for the day. My food diary is public. I suppose if I skipped the cottage cheese for my post workout meal I wouldn't be over today though. It just seems like such a small amount to me.
  • Alaine1969
    Alaine1969 Posts: 1
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    Hello, Try this link to BBC Health
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/treatments/healthy_living/nutrition/healthy_protein.shtml

    It gives you some information on:
    How much is enough?
    Serving size
    Protein and weight management

    For any meal ideas I tend to use http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/ :flowerforyou:
  • DawniesLife
    DawniesLife Posts: 157
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    Hello, Try this link to BBC Health
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/treatments/healthy_living/nutrition/healthy_protein.shtml

    It gives you some information on:
    How much is enough?
    Serving size
    Protein and weight management

    For any meal ideas I tend to use http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/ :flowerforyou:

    Thanks :)
  • shreddingit
    shreddingit Posts: 1,133 Member
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    i read women need 75g of protein
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
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    IMO MFP sets the protein target too low standard. I am not saying to copy me but I changed mine to 40% carbs, 25% fat and 35% protein. However, with my current diet I tend to go over on fat and under on carbs. I do a lot of exercise (mma for cardio and resistance training) and I aim to have minimum 1g protein per lb of body weight. I would always rather have too much than not enough.
  • mideon_696
    mideon_696 Posts: 770 Member
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    agree with chris.

    im taking in a lot of protein, and struggling to maintain weight, lol.

    i've got mine set highish also, 40% i think IIRC. Quite easy to get to.
    Though mind you i'm aiming at 2500 cal's/day. thats 250 gm's, lol. Thing i struggle with is getting enough carbs! usually a little under on carbs, a little over on fat.

    Using those same percentages I dropped from 86kg to 82.2kg in 3 weeks. staying just under 1950 cals.

    @ 1200 cals ( a little extreme i think maybe? - depending on your current weight)
    20% fat = 240 cals from fats = 26-27 gm's
    40% carbs = 480 cals from carbs = 120gm's
    40% protein = 480 cals from protein = 120gm's.
  • morteng
    morteng Posts: 3
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    Sometimes I am not over on protein at all, but some days I am over anywhere from 2 to 40 over. Most days not being the higher of the two. I don't understand how people don't go over on protein when they are consuming protein shakes and things like that because I am not using in protein supplements and I have a hard time not going over. On a normal day when I don't exercise my calories are set to 1200 which only allows me 45 of protein. On a day like today when I exercised almost two hours and my calorie intake therefore goes up to 1860 I was allowed 69. I am already at 70 for the day. My food diary is public. I suppose if I skipped the cottage cheese for my post workout meal I wouldn't be over today though. It just seems like such a small amount to me.

    As standard MFP says that 15% of your energy should come from protein (and 30% from fat and 55% from carbs). Standard varied diet has around 20% energy coming from protein. A Paleo diet has on average 27% coming from protein. People doing the Zone diet aim for 30% energy from protein, 30% energy from fat, and 40% from carbs.
    People on Paleo or Zone aren't hurt by the extra protein content of their dinner.

    If you want to change what MFP says then go to goals and select custom.


    PS How can you live on 1200kcal? If your BMR is ~1900 then minus 20% should be 1520kcal.
    PPS Went to the BMR calculator in the Tools section and apparently your BMR is closer to 1500-1600 so I guess 1200 is right. Wow, girls don't get to eat a lot, huh?
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    Sometimes I am not over on protein at all, but some days I am over anywhere from 2 to 40 over. Most days not being the higher of the two. I don't understand how people don't go over on protein when they are consuming protein shakes and things like that because I am not using in protein supplements and I have a hard time not going over. On a normal day when I don't exercise my calories are set to 1200 which only allows me 45 of protein. On a day like today when I exercised almost two hours and my calorie intake therefore goes up to 1860 I was allowed 69. I am already at 70 for the day. My food diary is public. I suppose if I skipped the cottage cheese for my post workout meal I wouldn't be over today though. It just seems like such a small amount to me.

    You are not necessarily 'going over" on protein. By default, MFP sets the recommended numbers a little on the low side--they have to follow guidelines for average people.

    Everything that I have read suggests that 1.0g to 1.5g of protein per kg of body weight is the best for weight loss, with a minimum of 100g per day. So start with that and adjust your daily goals if they are too low.

    My other question would be: why are you at 1200 calories/day? From your ticker, it would seem that is lower than necessary. I understand you are eating more when you do hard workout days (in this case, that is good), but you probably don't need to start off that low.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
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    IMO MFP sets the protein target too low standard. I am not saying to copy me but I changed mine to 40% carbs, 25% fat and 35% protein. However, with my current diet I tend to go over on fat and under on carbs. I do a lot of exercise (mma for cardio and resistance training) and I aim to have minimum 1g protein per lb of body weight. I would always rather have too much than not enough.

    It's probably better to think in terms of absolute amounts of protein (i.e. grams of protein per kilogram of body weight) than percentages. That's the real number. Percentages are kind of vague and can change quite a bit depending on one's size and activity level.

    For example, I weigh 90 kg and my maintenance calorie level is about 2200 per day. There is no need for me to consume more than 90g of protein per day--and that's only 16-17% of my total calorie intake. The upper limit of 1.5 would come out to just under 25%--still way below recommendations like "the Zone" and yet with more than sufficient protein, according to the majority of the research.

    When people are constructing their eating plans, I usually recommend that people do it in this order: total calories, total protein (in grams), % of total calories from fat, then carbs with what's left.
  • mideon_696
    mideon_696 Posts: 770 Member
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    http://ptcfrankston.com/doc/newsletter/PTC_Newsletter_IssueNo37.html

    Just read it. It applies to ANYONE that wants to lose fat. Not weight, fat.

    Put simply, it works. You'll feel better, and its totally safe...

    not just for people want to be muscular....though it does mention that alot.
    being "muscluar" has benefits though for long term body composition maintenance. More muscle, more calories burnt by simply sitting around...easier it is to keep that fat (okay..weight) off.
  • QueenCici
    QueenCici Posts: 18
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    I have the same problem and was thinking the same thing! I just assumed MFP was setting it pretty low!

    Thanks for posting!!
  • whatupskinnyjeans
    whatupskinnyjeans Posts: 229 Member
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    I hAve the same issue - I'm over and the only protien I had was tuna in my lunch so Im just gonnatry to eat healthy- I'm more worried about carbs from refined flour and sugar. I may just reset the ratios ! Thanks for the idea

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