Protein
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Phoenix_Dawn
Posts: 64 Member
What mfp percentage do you set your protein to for weight loss? I have about 20 lbs to lose. I'm 5'3" and 153 lbs. I hear it should be higher for weight loss but I don't know what percentage that should be. I have it set right now at 25 %
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Replies
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I have my protein set at 30% which is 158g, and I consider that a minimum goal, so if I go over, I'm not terribly worried about it.
Unless you have an adverse reaction to protein, there isn't any reason to limit protein.2 -
My goal is 45%1
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I don't chase protein. I keep my carbs and calories in check for weight loss and maintenance.
That said, to answer your question, I think my protein macro is set to 25% which is about 93 grams? I'm generally close on one side or the other. During weight loss it was set to 20% (the mfp default. It didn't really matter where it was set for weight loss. What mattered is how many calories I ate overall.
If you're a Workout Warrior protein intake might have more relevance. IMO.3 -
Mostly a cardio warrior lol. I just downloaded the Jillian micheals app so I'm going to try to do some strength training.3
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The bare minimum of protein intake is considered to be 0.36 g per pound of body weight. For you, that would be around 55g. BUT that's the bare minimum and not ideal for weight loss.... or anything.
To help preserve lean mass, adding on an extra 50% to 100+ %, or 80 to about 110+ g, would probably be more beneficial.
Plus many find protein to be very satiating - it is hard to over eat meat - and protein is thermogenic so you'll burn more calories per gram eaten than the other macros.
When you set protein goals, it may work better to start with a gram goal, multiply it by 4 to get calories and then figure out your percentage from there.
For example, if you ate 100g of protein, that's 400 Calories. If you only eat 1200 kcal a day, that is 30% of your total. If you eat 1600 kcal a day, that is only 25% of your total.4 -
I have weight loss and fitness goals (I'm running my first 10K in September. I'm a 5K kinda gal. lol) so I focus on eating protein. I use the equation @nvmomketo shared above and I add about 75%. I certainly don't make my goal daily but I always keep it in mind.1
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Protein may be the most controversial topic in the LCHF/Keto community. That said, Marty Kendall at Optimising Nutrition recently pulled the data from over 500,000 records in MFP for when people overate compared to their goal. With that data, he made graphs showing macro breakdowns. The one below is interesting as it shows the lower the protein, the more likely one is to overeat.
Now, in terms of weight loss, this matches research showing protein is the most satiating macronutrient.
However, for some/many, eating too much protein could cause you to not be in ketosis. To that, I would ask, what is more important? Is it more important to have some level of ketones or to achieve weight loss or some other goal?
For some, higher protein intake can lead to higher blood sugar levels, so if you are diabetic or pre-diabetic, then you may want to test how you personally respond to higher levels of protein. In the end, this is a situation where you need to do some self-experimentation (aka n=1).
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I have mine set to .8g per lean body mass which is 64g for me, 25%. I’m cutting but doing resistance training and trying to maintain muscle. If you’re not resistance training you could probably do less. If you’re trying to bulk or recomp you could do more.2
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Agreed....There are certain medical issues where keeping your ketones at a certain level are desirable, but it is not necessarily required for weight loss.1
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I have been doing keto with intermittent fasting since Feb 2 2018. I do 23 hrs fast ever day with a 1 hr eating window. I was doing 23.5 hrs fast prior to this month and just moved it to 23 hrs this month. I also weight lift and cycle. My goals are at a minimum to maintain my muscle while losing fat but I am trying to gain a bit of lean mass at the same time if possible. I have so far lost 57 lbs and have gained some lean mass and have maintained it this last month. The last month I had a back injury so my weight lifting suffered from that. I do Dexa body composition scans monthly to track body fat loss and lean mass. One thing to note with Dexa is that body hydration plays a big roll in the lean mass readings. So the hydration level has to be very much like it was the previous scan or the readings can get skewed. Muscles and organ cells hold a lot of water whereas fat doesn't (muscle holds about 75% water while fat holds only about 10%) so being dehydrated can lower lean mass readings on Dexa scans even if physical muscle has not been lost. This is where the Dexa scans show their weakness..They are very susceptible to water level/hydration changes.
When I first started Keto and intermittent fasting I was eating around .4 to .5 grams protein per lb body weight. I found that wasn't enough so I started to supplement with whey protein isolate. Currently I bumped it up to .6 gram per pound of body weight. I'm gonna see how this month goes and my next Dexa scan then will adjust from there if needed. I am in full ketosis 24 hrs a day even in the waking hours when levels normally drop so, so far I'm not worried about the protein being too high to bump me out. I test blood ketones regularly. This month I'll be watching it closely after bumping up the protein.
I'm also getting full blood/urine lab tests monthly to track the positive or negative changes. So far all of my health markers have improved across the board
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