how much protein is too much protein?
ashleyShades
Posts: 375 Member
MFP puts my goal at 74g of protein per day and I usually have no problem eating this much protein daily. I recently did a calculation as part of a program my crossfit box started and it's saying I should eat 140g per day. I have never eaten this much protein. I just started crossfit and go about 3x per week and try to walk on the days I don't go. I'm also very busy with a second job and finishing my Bachelor's degree. Is that too much protein?
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Replies
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No, I wish I could eat that much protein. It's hard without protein shakes etc.1
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1 gram per pound is fairly common and your body will flush out what it cant use anyway so not too many issues with going over as long as you dont struggle to hit the numbers...0
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There really isn't an upper limit. And what your body doesn't use, it will convert to glucose. But 140g might be more than you need but if you do eat that much, you will be fine.2
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If you don't know your Body fat %, a good guideline is a minimum of 0.8 gram per lb of goal weight, and more is fine. If you don't have any Kidney issues too much protein would probably be an amount that does not allow you to meet your fat, carb, vitamin and mineral goals.3
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I supplement with protein shakes for snacks on my lifting days. I generally don't eat a meal until after working out, because I feel too full to move. The protein shake is my drawbridge to get the protein I need in before the workout. About 75 mins before. I even have reminders set up so I don't forget.0
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Thank you all! I think I'll have to supplement somewhere, too. I don't eat meat often, but try to have protein in the other things I eat.0
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What ever your weight is. Is how much protein you need to take daily.1
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ashleyShades wrote: »
I need 165 lbs of protein per day?!? I'd need to eat 634 lbs of 85/15 beef (if my math is right) to get that much protein in a day. I simply can't eat that much! 1/2 cow... EVERY DAY!3 -
The RDA for adequate protein for most adults is 0.8 grams per kilogram of ideal weight. That's about 46 grams of protein per day for non-pregnant, non-lactating women and 56 grams for men.
Dietary Reference Intakes: Macronutrients
The recommendation I've seen for optimal protein (especially if body building or losing weight) is 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass or 0.8 grams per pound of your ideal weight (middle of normal BMI).
Personally, I aim for about 70 grams per day which falls between adequate and optimal but works for me.4 -
ashleyShades wrote: »
I need 165 lbs of protein per day?!? I'd need to eat 634 lbs of 85/15 beef (if my math is right) to get that much protein in a day. I simply can't eat that much! 1/2 cow... EVERY DAY!
I'm 245 currently yikessss1 -
What ever your weight is. Is how much protein you need to take daily.
LBM, not weight, and what I've seen is that it's more like .8 of that. .65-.85 g/lb GOAL weight is sufficient to preserve muscle mass while exercising on a deficit. I'm 125 and aim for about 105. I aimed for a little more when heavier (because I find it helpful for appetite control when on a deficit), but not a lot more.2 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »
The responder didn't say grams per lb, they said eat what you weigh. That was the poster's error.1 -
The 0.8-1g / lb of body weight is a recommended amount. Not a hard and fast rule.
Another way to look at it is:
Carbohydrate provides 4 calories per gram.
Protein provides 4 calories per gram.
Fat provides 9 calories per gram.
So set your daily caloric intake goal. Then calculate the ratios of your macros.
Eating 245g of protein a day would nearly 1000 calories by itself. Protein is very satieting, it's very difficult to eat this much protein in a day. It'd be like almost eating 5.5 chicken breasts a day.
Just set your target goal and adjust your ratios.0 -
The RDA for adequate protein for most adults is 0.8 grams per kilogram of ideal weight. That's about 46 grams of protein per day for non-pregnant, non-lactating women and 56 grams for men.
Dietary Reference Intakes: Macronutrients
The recommendation I've seen for optimal protein (especially if body building or losing weight) is 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass or 0.8 grams per pound of your ideal weight (middle of normal BMI).
Personally, I aim for about 70 grams per day which falls between adequate and optimal but works for me.
that goal per KG is for a sedentary adult eating maintenance. If you workout or are in a deficit you required more, much more! so you don't risk a large % of your loss coming from lean muscle.
70 grams seems really low, unless you are eating maintenance and are in the 95-110 lb range.1 -
The RDA for adequate protein for most adults is 0.8 grams per kilogram of ideal weight. That's about 46 grams of protein per day for non-pregnant, non-lactating women and 56 grams for men.
Dietary Reference Intakes: Macronutrients
The recommendation I've seen for optimal protein (especially if body building or losing weight) is 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass or 0.8 grams per pound of your ideal weight (middle of normal BMI).
Personally, I aim for about 70 grams per day which falls between adequate and optimal but works for me.
that goal per KG is for a sedentary adult eating maintenance. If you workout or are in a deficit you required more, much more! so you don't risk a large % of your loss coming from lean muscle.
No, it's for 97-98% of everybody in each group. 56 grams would be adequate for 97-98% of all males, likely including most non-professional bodybuilders and dieters.
It's good to get a bit more than that but there's no reason to go overboard.0 -
The 0.8-1g / lb of body weight is a recommended amount. Not a hard and fast rule.
Another way to look at it is:
Carbohydrate provides 4 calories per gram.
Protein provides 4 calories per gram.
Fat provides 9 calories per gram.
So set your daily caloric intake goal. Then calculate the ratios of your macros.
Eating 245g of protein a day would nearly 1000 calories by itself. Protein is very satieting, it's very difficult to eat this much protein in a day. It'd be like almost eating 5.5 chicken breasts a day.
Just set your target goal and adjust your ratios.
That suggestion is per lb of lean body mass. I typically say if you don't know your BF% or LBM then aim for 0.8 grams per lb of goal weight.1 -
The RDA for adequate protein for most adults is 0.8 grams per kilogram of ideal weight. That's about 46 grams of protein per day for non-pregnant, non-lactating women and 56 grams for men.
Dietary Reference Intakes: Macronutrients
The recommendation I've seen for optimal protein (especially if body building or losing weight) is 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass or 0.8 grams per pound of your ideal weight (middle of normal BMI).
Personally, I aim for about 70 grams per day which falls between adequate and optimal but works for me.
that goal per KG is for a sedentary adult eating maintenance. If you workout or are in a deficit you required more, much more! so you don't risk a large % of your loss coming from lean muscle.
No, it's for 97-98% of everybody in each group. 56 grams would be adequate for 97-98% of all males, likely including most non-professional bodybuilders and dieters.
It may be a min, def not an adequate!0 -
The RDA for adequate protein for most adults is 0.8 grams per kilogram of ideal weight. That's about 46 grams of protein per day for non-pregnant, non-lactating women and 56 grams for men.
Dietary Reference Intakes: Macronutrients
The recommendation I've seen for optimal protein (especially if body building or losing weight) is 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass or 0.8 grams per pound of your ideal weight (middle of normal BMI).
Personally, I aim for about 70 grams per day which falls between adequate and optimal but works for me.
that goal per KG is for a sedentary adult eating maintenance. If you workout or are in a deficit you required more, much more! so you don't risk a large % of your loss coming from lean muscle.
No, it's for 97-98% of everybody in each group. 56 grams would be adequate for 97-98% of all males, likely including most non-professional bodybuilders and dieters.
It may be a min, def not an adequate!
The government says that it is.1 -
that goal per KG is for a sedentary adult eating maintenance. If you workout or are in a deficit you required more, much more! so you don't risk a large % of your loss coming from lean muscle.
70 grams seems really low, unless you are eating maintenance and are in the 95-110 lb range.
I'm going to work on getting this much protein
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The 0.8-1g / lb of body weight is a recommended amount. Not a hard and fast rule.
Another way to look at it is:
Carbohydrate provides 4 calories per gram.
Protein provides 4 calories per gram.
Fat provides 9 calories per gram.
So set your daily caloric intake goal. Then calculate the ratios of your macros.
Eating 245g of protein a day would nearly 1000 calories by itself. Protein is very satieting, it's very difficult to eat this much protein in a day. It'd be like almost eating 5.5 chicken breasts a day.
Just set your target goal and adjust your ratios.
That suggestion is per lb of lean body mass. I typically say if you don't know your BF% or LBM then aim for 0.8 grams per lb of goal weight.
You're right. I was just going by the numbers she said. But good advice.
Also was looking for this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4213385/
excerpt:
"A Different Approach to Determining Optimal Protein Intakes
We had previously reported that in ~87 kg males, a dose of egg protein that maximally stimulated muscle protein synthesis was 20 g [11]. Recently, Witard and colleagues [12] confirmed, using whey protein and in the fed state, that the same dose of protein was sufficient to maximally stimulate muscle protein synthesis. Thus, despite the capacity to be able to digest more protein, there is obviously a finite capacity to put amino acids into skeletal muscle. Indeed a ‘muscle full’ phenomenon has been described following meal ingestion [13]. Importantly, however, is what the protein dose per meal might be on a body weight basis to allow adjustment for smaller or larger athletes. Estimations based on the data we have at present [11, 12] are that a per-meal ‘dose’ of protein of ~0.25 g protein/kg would optimally stimulate protein synthesis [14]. With this per meal ‘dose’ in mind, one can begin to formulate a protein consumption strategy based around periodic stimulation of protein synthesis, which is in fact what was trialed by Areta et al. [15]. In this investigation, a group of young men who had just performed resistance exercise had the largest stimulation of muscle protein synthesis, with protein ingestion of 20 g (~0.25 g/kg) every 4 h versus 10 g (~0.12 g/kg) every 2 h or 40 g (~0.48 g/kg) every 8 h [15]. These findings provide at least a proof of principle that a per meal protein dose of ~0.25 g protein/kg/meal seems to be optimally effective, at least in stimulating muscle protein synthesis. Indeed, we have recently confirmed this dose does represent an optimally effective dose of protein for young men [14]. While larger protein doses can definitely be digested, they appear not be able to further stimulate muscle protein synthesis but do lead to marked amino acid oxidation [11] and urea synthesis [12]. One important consideration in interpreting the results from acute feeding trials [15] is that they represent an acute response to protein-only feeding, and the influence of other nutrients and energy balance are unknown. Also, the long-term translation of acute findings to chronic phenotypic changes requires caution in interpretation. Nonetheless, if we accept that a per meal dose of 0.25 g protein/kg/meal is a reasonable estimate and means of defining an optimal protein intake then this could allow the calculation of daily recommendation for an athlete looking for optimal protein intake. Using this approach and including four discreet eating occasions per day as well as one pre-sleep meal that is twice as large (i.e. 0.5 g protein/kg/meal) to offset catabolic losses during sleeping [16], then a 100 kg athlete would be consuming four meals of 25 g of protein plus one meal of 50 g of protein for 150 g of total daily protein or 1.5 g/kg/day. One could argue that more eating occasions could be required but it appears that such a feeding pattern would result in a relatively sustained daily hyperaminoacidemia, which has been shown to result in a refractory response of muscle protein synthesis [17].
Protein as Centrally Important Macronutrient in Weight Loss
Consumption of protein at higher-than-recommended levels has been theorized to have a number of potential advantages during weight loss, including a greater thermogenic effect upon consumption compared with carbohydrate and fat [18], a greater satiety response on consumption [19, 20], and the potential for greater weight loss, fat loss, and lean mass retention [21, 22]. In addition, it has been proposed that protein could actually reduce, presumably through the independent and/or synergistic effects outlined above, the intake of other nutrients due to a homeostatic mechanism based around a protein ‘seeking’ behavior termed by Simpson and Raubenheimer [23] as the protein leverage hypothesis. Trials of this hypothesis [23] have been undertaken and, in general, protein intakes lower than 10–15 % of energy are associated with greater daily energy intake than those above these levels [24, 25]. In addition, a recent meta-analytical study of ad libitum energy intakes provides unique evidence that non-protein (i.e. fat and carbohydrate) energy intake increases with declines in percent dietary protein [26]. The evidence was more convincing for intakes below 20 % of total energy as protein as a bona fide driver of energy intake than intakes of energy above this level [26]. If the protein leverage hypothesis is correct, and for many of the reasons outlined above, there is reason to promote higher protein intakes during an energy deficit.
One consideration for athletes wishing to lose weight is that if they undertake a hypocaloric diet and, as recommended, increase their protein intake, then another macronutrient intake would have to be reduced. While there are many who propose a higher fat (and presumably higher protein), lower carbohydrate diet, such a diet has not been shown to be effective in allowing exercise performance at the higher exercise intensities [27, 28]. Thus, it would be prudent for athletes who are aiming to sustain/improve their training intensity that it be lipid energy that is sacrificed in an energy deficit and that protein and carbohydrate are emphasized. While it is beyond the scope of this review, recent guidelines for carbohydrate are given and based on levels of exercise volume and intensity [29, 30]. However, despite these recommendations, athletes who are not engaging in high-intensity training, or are in a period of their training cycle in which intensities and volume are low, could maintain adequate training and performance with lower carbohydrate intakes. Such a low carbohydrate strategy may be advantageous in a weight-loss situation as lower carbohydrate and higher protein intakes are associated with greater weight loss, greater fat loss, and retention of lean mass [21, 22], at least in obese non-athletic individuals. However, it is possible that athletes can modify their body composition while training through well-planned consumption of macronutrients, still emphasizing protein to retain lean mass while maintaining their training [10]."0 -
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10334013/protein-intake-for-highly-trained-natural-weight-lifters-during-caloric-deficit/p1
This thread has a bunch of good discussion on optimal protein intakes. Overall, the more lean you are or the more active you are, the more you need.0 -
ashleyShades wrote: »that goal per KG is for a sedentary adult eating maintenance. If you workout or are in a deficit you required more, much more! so you don't risk a large % of your loss coming from lean muscle.
70 grams seems really low, unless you are eating maintenance and are in the 95-110 lb range.
I'm going to work on getting this much protein
Here's why it's important during weightloss, if it helps:
Your heart, lungs and basically every cell in your body requires a certain amount of amino acids and the nutrients commonly found with protein. Period. You need amino acids every day floating around your body. There's particular nutrients your body can't make on it's own. If you don't eat enough of them and have them available in your body at a given moment (like, every moment, because your heart always needs it), your body will cannibalize your skeletal muscle to feed the needs of the heart.
Let's say right now you are 50% body fat and have 122 lbs of lean mass. THAT'S GOOD. That lean mass is what's gonna make you look hella hot when you lose weight. If you maintained all that lean mass and got down to 153 lbs, you'd be about 20% body fat (google what women with 20% body fat look like for an idea of how lean this would be). However, if you lost 1 lb of muscle for every 3 lbs of fat you lose in your weight loss, at 153 lbs you'd be 33% body fat (and only 103 lbs of lean body weight -- if my math is right).
Preserve the muscle you have. Eat (adequate) protein now (and maybe lift some weights when you can). It's easier to preserve it now than have to build it later.2 -
The RDA for adequate protein for most adults is 0.8 grams per kilogram of ideal weight. That's about 46 grams of protein per day for non-pregnant, non-lactating women and 56 grams for men.
Dietary Reference Intakes: Macronutrients
The recommendation I've seen for optimal protein (especially if body building or losing weight) is 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass or 0.8 grams per pound of your ideal weight (middle of normal BMI).
Personally, I aim for about 70 grams per day which falls between adequate and optimal but works for me.
that goal per KG is for a sedentary adult eating maintenance. If you workout or are in a deficit you required more, much more! so you don't risk a large % of your loss coming from lean muscle.
No, it's for 97-98% of everybody in each group. 56 grams would be adequate for 97-98% of all males, likely including most non-professional bodybuilders and dieters.
It may be a min, def not an adequate!
The government says that it is.
The us government and Harvard med say 10-35% of daily calories from protein. As a 200 pound male I aim for 30% protein which for me is around 200 grams a day. So the gram per pound puts me on thr recommended range
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/protein/0 -
The RDA for adequate protein for most adults is 0.8 grams per kilogram of ideal weight. That's about 46 grams of protein per day for non-pregnant, non-lactating women and 56 grams for men.
Dietary Reference Intakes: Macronutrients
The recommendation I've seen for optimal protein (especially if body building or losing weight) is 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass or 0.8 grams per pound of your ideal weight (middle of normal BMI).
Personally, I aim for about 70 grams per day which falls between adequate and optimal but works for me.
that goal per KG is for a sedentary adult eating maintenance. If you workout or are in a deficit you required more, much more! so you don't risk a large % of your loss coming from lean muscle.
No, it's for 97-98% of everybody in each group. 56 grams would be adequate for 97-98% of all males, likely including most non-professional bodybuilders and dieters.
It's good to get a bit more than that but there's no reason to go overboard.
Since when are any bodybuilders sedentary? And since when are dieters eating at maintenance?
This is just wrong, plain and simple.1 -
I've done 1g of protein per pound of my weight. But I'm lifting pretty much daily pretty aggressively to maintain and try and build muscle while losing fat also. I was 235lb 35% body fat and in 6mo got it down to 174 13% body fat. I take daily protein shakes to meet protein needs since my goal is to build muscle and lean mass while losing fat. Be sure to look up the harmful affects of too much whey or casein protein on your liver, kidney, and body in general due to over consumption. Everyone's body is different but good to know if you plan, or currently take protein shakes regularly. I know someone who's experienced this from daily usage, got ill, had kidney damage and it was attributed to daily high usage of his whey and casein protein. He then switched to various vegan/plant based proteins. Ive done the same.1
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Fluffy2Fit2Shredded wrote: »I've done 1g of protein per pound of my weight. But I'm lifting pretty much daily pretty aggressively to maintain and try and build muscle while losing fat also. I was 235lb 35% body fat and in 6mo got it down to 174 13% body fat. I take daily protein shakes to meet protein needs since my goal is to build muscle and lean mass while losing fat. Be sure to look up the harmful affects of too much whey or casein protein on your liver, kidney, and body in general due to over consumption. Everyone's body is different but good to know if you plan, or currently take protein shakes regularly. I know someone who's experienced this from daily usage, got ill, had kidney damage and it was attributed to daily high usage of his whey and casein protein. He then switched to various vegan/plant based proteins. Ive done the same.
Care to elaborate? The research I've read actually indicates that no such harmful effects are known to occur.0 -
Fluffy2Fit2Shredded wrote: »I've done 1g of protein per pound of my weight. But I'm lifting pretty much daily pretty aggressively to maintain and try and build muscle while losing fat also. I was 235lb 35% body fat and in 6mo got it down to 174 13% body fat. I take daily protein shakes to meet protein needs since my goal is to build muscle and lean mass while losing fat. Be sure to look up the harmful affects of too much whey or casein protein on your liver, kidney, and body in general due to over consumption. Everyone's body is different but good to know if you plan, or currently take protein shakes regularly. I know someone who's experienced this from daily usage, got ill, had kidney damage and it was attributed to daily high usage of his whey and casein protein. He then switched to various vegan/plant based proteins. Ive done the same.
Maybe if you have bad kidneys to begin with.
From the study I linked:
Higher Protein Diets and Renal Health
An often-cited potential problem with higher protein diets is the potential risk such diets may pose for renal health. It is likely that these comments are made in light of the knowledge that people in renal failure benefit from protein-restricted diets [40]. Notwithstanding this evidence [40], a circular argument regarding higher protein and renal health in people with normal renal function cannot be made; that is, because people with poor renal function benefit from a lower protein intake does not mean that athletes with normal renal function who consume high protein will have problems with their renal health [41, 42]. In fact, an examination of the statements made by both the Institute of Medicine in setting the protein RDA in North America [1], as well as the World Health Organization’s (WHO) report on protein intakes [2], indicates there is no evidence linking a higher protein diet to renal disease. As the WHO report [2] states, “… the suggestion that the decline of glomerular filtration rate that occurs … in healthy subjects … can be attenuated by reducing the protein in the diet appears to have no foundation”.
In agreement with the WHO’s conclusion, the panel setting the Australian and New Zealand Nutrient Reference Values [43] concluded “There is no published evidence that a diet containing up to 2.8 g protein/kg/day produces adverse effects on kidney metabolism in athletes. In addition, no known association of protein intake with progressive renal insufficiency has been determined [44]”.
From the conclusion section:
"Finally, despite a widespread belief that higher protein diets will somehow compromise renal function, no such evidence exists to support this belief."1 -
Fluffy2Fit2Shredded wrote: »I've done 1g of protein per pound of my weight. But I'm lifting pretty much daily pretty aggressively to maintain and try and build muscle while losing fat also. I was 235lb 35% body fat and in 6mo got it down to 174 13% body fat. I take daily protein shakes to meet protein needs since my goal is to build muscle and lean mass while losing fat. Be sure to look up the harmful affects of too much whey or casein protein on your liver, kidney, and body in general due to over consumption. Everyone's body is different but good to know if you plan, or currently take protein shakes regularly. I know someone who's experienced this from daily usage, got ill, had kidney damage and it was attributed to daily high usage of his whey and casein protein. He then switched to various vegan/plant based proteins. Ive done the same.
I've tried a vegan one before and it was so gritty I couldn't deal haha
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ashleyShades wrote: »Fluffy2Fit2Shredded wrote: »I've done 1g of protein per pound of my weight. But I'm lifting pretty much daily pretty aggressively to maintain and try and build muscle while losing fat also. I was 235lb 35% body fat and in 6mo got it down to 174 13% body fat. I take daily protein shakes to meet protein needs since my goal is to build muscle and lean mass while losing fat. Be sure to look up the harmful affects of too much whey or casein protein on your liver, kidney, and body in general due to over consumption. Everyone's body is different but good to know if you plan, or currently take protein shakes regularly. I know someone who's experienced this from daily usage, got ill, had kidney damage and it was attributed to daily high usage of his whey and casein protein. He then switched to various vegan/plant based proteins. Ive done the same.
I've tried a vegan one before and it was so gritty I couldn't deal haha
Just like non-vegan protein powders, the consistency/texture of vegan ones can vary. I've had several non-gritty vegan protein powders over the years, along with some that I didn't care for at all.0
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