What is the recommended protein intake per day?
shadster01
Posts: 5 Member
Hi all,
I am totally confused and worried that I am eating too much protein in a day. MFP recommends 60gr of protein per day. However, I have also read in various places that it should be 1gr/lbs?? I'm female, 41, 170lbs, 5ft 7inch. I workout everyday (I have set my exercise goal to slightly active), incorporating toning and cardio. I am looking lose weight and gain more muscle definition. I have been really struggling to slim down and want to work out what is going on. I hope someone has some great advice. thanks in advance!!
I am totally confused and worried that I am eating too much protein in a day. MFP recommends 60gr of protein per day. However, I have also read in various places that it should be 1gr/lbs?? I'm female, 41, 170lbs, 5ft 7inch. I workout everyday (I have set my exercise goal to slightly active), incorporating toning and cardio. I am looking lose weight and gain more muscle definition. I have been really struggling to slim down and want to work out what is going on. I hope someone has some great advice. thanks in advance!!
2
Replies
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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).
As for LBM, this should give you a good ballpark: Lean Body Mass Calculator3 -
Thank you! I'll give it a shot. I'd never heard about the ideal body weight part, so this would probably make sense.0
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Protein: I (JMO) suggest 0.6-0.8 grams per pound of healthy goal weight. For me, at 5'5", GW 120 pounds (built like a 14 y/o boy, won't work for other body types), that's 72-96g g/day. I shoot for 100 g/day (minimum, as a vegetarian) because I'm OCD, and I usually achieve more. YMMV.
Too muich? Not a big worry, within reason, as long as you're healthy (no kidney disease, or the like).1 -
thanks, I am still confused... lol..Protein: I (JMO) suggest 0.6-0.8 grams per pound of healthy goal weight. For me, at 5'5", GW 120 pounds (built like a 14 y/o boy, won't work for other body types), that's 72-96g g/day. I shoot for 100 g/day (minimum, as a vegetarian) because I'm OCD, and I usually achieve more. YMMV.
Too muich? Not a big worry, within reason, as long as you're healthy (no kidney disease, or the like).
So why are you using grams with pounds? I think this is where I am getting confused.
If I calculate my body KGs - .8gram x 67kg = 53.6g (total protein in grams), obviously it is going to be almost double if adjust it to pounds. .8gr x 170 = 136g protein (should this be calculated in ounces?) sorry, I'm Australian and we use the metric system.. so just wondering why we would multiply metric with pounds?0 -
I do 0.6 grams per pound of goal/ideal weight. You could go up to 0.8 grams per pound of goal/ideal weight. For me this is 90ish grams of protein and I am female, 5'4", 35 years old, sedentary lifestyle but with workouts 3 to 5 times per week. The more active you are and more weight lifting type exercise you do the more protein you need. For your size and exercise I would say try for at least 100 grams per day. 60 is not too much, if anything that's too little.1
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shadster01 wrote: »thanks, I am still confused... lol..Protein: I (JMO) suggest 0.6-0.8 grams per pound of healthy goal weight. For me, at 5'5", GW 120 pounds (built like a 14 y/o boy, won't work for other body types), that's 72-96g g/day. I shoot for 100 g/day (minimum, as a vegetarian) because I'm OCD, and I usually achieve more. YMMV.
Too muich? Not a big worry, within reason, as long as you're healthy (no kidney disease, or the like).
So why are you using grams with pounds? I think this is where I am getting confused.
Because protein is measured in grams and as @seska422 pointed out above: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).
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thank you.. I will give that a go
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shadster01 wrote: »thanks, I am still confused... lol..Protein: I (JMO) suggest 0.6-0.8 grams per pound of healthy goal weight. For me, at 5'5", GW 120 pounds (built like a 14 y/o boy, won't work for other body types), that's 72-96g g/day. I shoot for 100 g/day (minimum, as a vegetarian) because I'm OCD, and I usually achieve more. YMMV.
Too muich? Not a big worry, within reason, as long as you're healthy (no kidney disease, or the like).
So why are you using grams with pounds? I think this is where I am getting confused.
If I calculate my body KGs - .8gram x 67kg = 53.6g (total protein in grams), obviously it is going to be almost double if adjust it to pounds. .8gr x 170 = 136g protein (should this be calculated in ounces?) sorry, I'm Australian and we use the metric system.. so just wondering why we would multiply metric with pounds?
The "avoid malnutrition" minimums from WHO, USDA and others, are in the region of 0.6-0.8g per kg. After reading a bunch of research, I think that more than that minimum is optimal for people who are in a calorie deficit, who work out, who are aging, etc. Also, as a USA-ian, I think of body weight in pounds. So, digesting (intellectually, not physically
) the relevant research, and converting to body weights I can relate to, I think the right amount is 0.6-0.8g per pound of healthy goal weight.
Don't use current weight as the base, unless you are at a healthy body weight. Either your actual goal weight, or the middle of the BMI range for your height if you're not sure, would be reasonable. For me, I'm sure: 120 pounds is right.
But using current body weight, if overweight, is not correct: Protein is for maintaining lean mass. One doesn't need extra to account for fat. If one knows one's lean body mass from a valid test (not from something questionable like a body weight scale), smaller g/lb would apply, but most people don't know an accurate LBM, so I'd use these approximations/rules of thumb.
If you adjust body weight to kg, because that's how you think of it, adjust protein g by conversion. People usually round, so you often see 1.2-1.5 g protein per day per kg of healthy body weight.
I hope that makes sense.
(Weight is in pounds because that's how I think of it, as a USAian. Protein is in grams, because that's how it's usually expressed. Yes, they're two different systems, but they're each the conventional ones for their uses, in my world.)2 -
thank you so much! AnnPTT7. This is so clear now! So then I am assuming MFP is calculating my protein intake based on my body's KGs because that is what I have it set on. Thanks again saving my sanity!
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shadster01 wrote: »thank you so much! AnnPTT7. This is so clear now! So then I am assuming MFP is calculating my protein intake based on my body's KGs because that is what I have it set on. Thanks again saving my sanity!
It is probably calculating it as a % of your intake - I disregard mfp's numbers and use other calculators to determine my macro intake.0 -
livingleanlivingclean wrote: »shadster01 wrote: »thank you so much! AnnPTT7. This is so clear now! So then I am assuming MFP is calculating my protein intake based on my body's KGs because that is what I have it set on. Thanks again saving my sanity!
It is probably calculating it as a % of your intake - I disregard mfp's numbers and use other calculators to determine my macro intake.
Yes, exactly. MFP (free version) lets you set your protein goal in terms of a percent of daily calories. It also has a default percent it automatically uses if you don't pick something different. Free MSP doesn't use kg to set your protein goal, or anything else related to your weight.
For some reasonable range of people, MFP's default isn't terrible. But for others, it can be quite far off, and they should reset the percentages if they want more targeted nutrition. MFP may ask someone to eat substantially too much protein if a person is very overweight but losing slowly (potentially driving out other necessary nutrition, otherwise it's fine for a healthy person to eat more protein). Or, it may - more problematically - give people at a low calorie level too little protein. I see quite a few women eating too little protein, for my taste, among diaries I can see.
OP, look at the protein gram goal MFP puts on your daily diary page. Take that number of grams, and divide it by your goal weight ( so: protein-grams / goal-weight-kg, where the slash is the division symbol).
If the result is somewhere near the range of 1.2 to 2.0 g/kg, you're good. If it's wildly different, you might want to go to the goal page and change your protein percent. If you don't know your goal weight, Google "BMI calculator", put in your stats, and find a weight close to the center of the normal BMI range for you, and use that in the formula.
OP, I can't see enough data on your profile to do the arithmetic for you, or I would do it as an example.0 -
shadster01 wrote: »Hi all,
I am totally confused and worried that I am eating too much protein in a day. MFP recommends 60gr of protein per day. However, I have also read in various places that it should be 1gr/lbs?? I'm female, 41, 170lbs, 5ft 7inch. I workout everyday (I have set my exercise goal to slightly active), incorporating toning and cardio. I am looking lose weight and gain more muscle definition. I have been really struggling to slim down and want to work out what is going on. I hope someone has some great advice. thanks in advance!!
It depends on your goals. .8g/kilogram of your ideal body weight is the minimum that I've read. Don't confuse kilogram with pounds, and don't base it on your current weight if you are overweight. That's a minimum. That's not for gaining muscle, it's only for maintaining what you have if you have a minimum amount of muscle. People who want to build muscle or even maintain a higher amount of muscle make their minimum .8g/pound of their ideal body weight or 1g/pound of lean body mass. If you don't know your lean body mass or can't calculate it accurately you can go with .8g/pound of your target body weight which should be in the normal BMI range.
My target weight was originally 190 lbs. I went down to 180 before adjusting to maintenance, then over the last few months of maintenance, and a slight bulk phase, I'm up to 185. I figure that's probably about where I want to stay, so I calculate my minimum at 1g/pound of my current body weight which is 185g/day. I don't always meet it, and some days I go far above it which is also fine since I'm not trying to lose weight presently and have no medical issues with a high protein diet. If you want to lean out (reduce body fat), lose weight, maybe gain a little muscle while dieting and working out, then I'd suggest .8g/lb of your target weight. Shoot for that and you should be fine.0 -
What is a bit annoying with MFP is how the protein goal changes when you exercise. So as calories available get added, your protein goal goes up (% stays the same). Makes it a bit more confusing to hit a protein target when it is moving. Set you goal at whatever and ignore the fact that it changes. So if your goal is 100g, keep it in mind.0
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Tacklewasher wrote: »What is a bit annoying with MFP is how the protein goal changes when you exercise. So as calories available get added, your protein goal goes up (% stays the same). Makes it a bit more confusing to hit a protein target when it is moving. Set you goal at whatever and ignore the fact that it changes. So if your goal is 100g, keep it in mind.
You can turn that off if you pay for MFP. But if you're a free user you can't. It was the first thing I turned off when I went paid. After I hit maintenance I let my subscription go (it's just too expensive for the few perks you get), so I now set my macros by percentages which helps. I use iifym.com to calculate my daily calories, then adjust their macro slider to match 5% increments and import that into MFP. As long as I stay at my set goal the amounts of macros don't change even though I use a free account. But.. my exercise is calculated into my daily calories already so in order for the macros not to change I have to delete exercise when it shows up, which is what I do anyway (since it's already factored in). The catch is that I need to exercise the same amount and intensity every week or I might be giving myself too many calories. For me it works great this way.0 -
Spliner1969 wrote: »The catch is that I need to exercise the same amount and intensity every week or I might be giving myself too many calories. For me it works great this way.
I'm not consistent enough with my exercise to be able to use TDEE. Especially as I'm doing the C25K and the running part is getting longer (god I've got to run 20 mins straight tomorrow). Once I get into a more steady habit, I may switch up.
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Tacklewasher wrote: »Spliner1969 wrote: »The catch is that I need to exercise the same amount and intensity every week or I might be giving myself too many calories. For me it works great this way.
I'm not consistent enough with my exercise to be able to use TDEE. Especially as I'm doing the C25K and the running part is getting longer (god I've got to run 20 mins straight tomorrow). Once I get into a more steady habit, I may switch up.
You can do that 20 minute run! And when you finish it, you will feel amazing. Just remember, you've prepared for this with all the other runs you've done to this point.1 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »Spliner1969 wrote: »The catch is that I need to exercise the same amount and intensity every week or I might be giving myself too many calories. For me it works great this way.
I'm not consistent enough with my exercise to be able to use TDEE. Especially as I'm doing the C25K and the running part is getting longer (god I've got to run 20 mins straight tomorrow). Once I get into a more steady habit, I may switch up.
supposedly there is a free plugin you can use that will let you lock that without paying for premium0 -
deannalfisher wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »Spliner1969 wrote: »The catch is that I need to exercise the same amount and intensity every week or I might be giving myself too many calories. For me it works great this way.
I'm not consistent enough with my exercise to be able to use TDEE. Especially as I'm doing the C25K and the running part is getting longer (god I've got to run 20 mins straight tomorrow). Once I get into a more steady habit, I may switch up.
supposedly there is a free plugin you can use that will let you lock that without paying for premium
Any that don't require chrome? I really have issues with some of the chrome stuff, and stick to FF.0 -
shadster01 wrote: »thank you so much! AnnPTT7. This is so clear now! So then I am assuming MFP is calculating my protein intake based on my body's KGs because that is what I have it set on. Thanks again saving my sanity!
How and why MFP sets protein is covered below. (You can change your macros manually here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/my_goals )
http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/ask-the-dietitian-whats-the-best-carb-protein-and-fat-breakdown-for-weight-loss/
...Current Recommendations
The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends eating within the following ranges:
Carbohydrates: 45-65% of calories
Fat: 20-35% of calories
Protein: 10-35% of calories
Also worth mentioning here is the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for carbohydrates, which is 130 grams per day. This number is based upon the amount of carbohydrates (sugars and starches) required to fuel an adult’s brain, red blood cells and central nervous system. This is important because if we do not get enough carbohydrates from our diet, the body will break down protein (which it can turn into glucose) to maintain blood sugar levels and fuel the brain and red blood cells.
MyFitnessPal’s Current Default Goals
MyFitnessPal’s current default goals distribute calories as follows: 50% from carbohydrates, 20% from protein and 30% from fat.0 -
You could go the easy route and set your macros to 40/40/30 (or whatever works for you) and just do what MFP tells you.0
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I shoot for 0.6 to 0.8 grams per Lb of body weight...I shoot for the higher end when I'm cutting weight and it comes out to be roughly 1 gram per Lb of LBM...on the lower end of that spectrum in maintenance.0
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Tacklewasher wrote: »Spliner1969 wrote: »The catch is that I need to exercise the same amount and intensity every week or I might be giving myself too many calories. For me it works great this way.
I'm not consistent enough with my exercise to be able to use TDEE. Especially as I'm doing the C25K and the running part is getting longer (god I've got to run 20 mins straight tomorrow). Once I get into a more steady habit, I may switch up.
I didn't use it at first, and especially when I was dieting. It only worked for me once I hit maintenance. While I was at a deficit I still used iifym.com to calculate my TDEE but I opted not to enter exercise. So their calculator would give me my macros and I would just add exercise as I did it, and let MFP increase the macros. As was stated above, you just have to keep the original amounts in mind when trying to meet them daily doing that. But now that I'm in maintenance it's been great doing it this way.
Back when I was not using TDEE then on rest days I had less calories and I hated it. I got through it but it wasn't fun. Now I have the same calories every day to play with, and it's much nicer.0 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »deannalfisher wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »Spliner1969 wrote: »The catch is that I need to exercise the same amount and intensity every week or I might be giving myself too many calories. For me it works great this way.
I'm not consistent enough with my exercise to be able to use TDEE. Especially as I'm doing the C25K and the running part is getting longer (god I've got to run 20 mins straight tomorrow). Once I get into a more steady habit, I may switch up.
supposedly there is a free plugin you can use that will let you lock that without paying for premium
Any that don't require chrome? I really have issues with some of the chrome stuff, and stick to FF.
I can ask...I don't use it - but folks on the Eat to Perform group I work with do0 -
deannalfisher wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »deannalfisher wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »Spliner1969 wrote: »The catch is that I need to exercise the same amount and intensity every week or I might be giving myself too many calories. For me it works great this way.
I'm not consistent enough with my exercise to be able to use TDEE. Especially as I'm doing the C25K and the running part is getting longer (god I've got to run 20 mins straight tomorrow). Once I get into a more steady habit, I may switch up.
supposedly there is a free plugin you can use that will let you lock that without paying for premium
Any that don't require chrome? I really have issues with some of the chrome stuff, and stick to FF.
I can ask...I don't use it - but folks on the Eat to Perform group I work with do
Thanks. Maybe PM me the answer if it isn't too much trouble.0 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »So if your goal is 100g, keep it in mind.
This is what I do. I have an activity tracker synced, so anything percentage based is constantly changing all day. I just aim for 100 g protein daily and ignore whatever that minute's recommendation happens to be.1 -
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