too much protein?

Wt loss and wt gain is all about the law of thermodynamics. energy can neither be created nor destroyed only transformed from one source to another.

Food= Energy or calories.
wt loss and wt gain boils down to this:
Your Energy in VS Your Energy out
If E in > E out = gain wt
If E in = E out = stay the same
if E in < E out = lose wt.

All food consists of three macro nutrients
protein=4cal
carb=4cal
fat=9cal

if you need 2000 cal to maintain and ate 1500 cal of cupcakes and twinkes you will lose wt. The macro nutrients Protein, Carbs, and fat have specific roles in your body. The proper ratio is different for everyone. You need enough protein to support your muscle and cell growth, You need enough carbs to maintain your energy levels through the day( preferably complex so they break down slower and release energy longer. You need enough fat to maintain your satiation. Fat contains a hormone that acts like an appetite suppressor . Many people make the mistake of eating fat free everything and then they have a problem with ravenous hunger.

Protein can be used as an energetic source via pyruvate metabolism in the citric acid cycle so that you will burn that and retain fat from fat that you have eaten but biochemically there is no way for the human body to convert amino acids to fatty acid chains. In otherwords if you eat to much protein and are above your caloric need you very well may retain and store fat that you have also injested and therefore gain fat but you do NOT covert protein to fat catabolically.

I should ammend my comment. You can actually trace a biochemical pathway within the various metabolic and catabolic systems of the human body to go from protein to fat but it would be so energetically unfavorable that you wouldn't end up getting any benefit out of doing so (ie it would cost more energy to do the conversion than you would retain in the bonds within the fatty acid chain). Bottom line if you eat ANY macronutrient in such a way where your caloric intake is in excess of your use your body will store the fat you intake rather than burn it and you will put on fat. HOWEVER, your body does not directly convert protein to fat in any practical sense.


Just to be perfectly clear I am making a distinction between eating to much of something and thus getting fat and the actual physical conversion of one macronutrient into another. Yes, if you eat to much protein calorically your body will store fat, however that fat did not originate from the protein (ie there was no conversion).

Excuse me?? Excess protein will be converted to glucose and stored as fat. I am a personal trainer and have been doing this for 13 yrs. If you dont believe me look at ACE( american counsel on Excercise) website http://www.acefitness.org/fitnessqanda/fitnessqanda_display.aspx?itemid=272

A: The human body is unable to store extra protein. Protein consumed in excess of the body's needs is not used to build muscle; rather, it is used for non-protein bodily functions.
If individuals consume protein in excess of their caloric and protein needs, the extra protein will not be stored as protein. Unfortunately such extra protein is converted to and stored as fat. As a result, if individuals consume large amounts of extra protein in addition to their regular dietary intake, any weight gain would very likely be in the form of fat.

Not sure if serious.

No excess protein won't be stored as fat unless that excess protein intake caused your daily calorie intake to rise above your TDEE.

I eat alot of extra protein and I continue to lose 2 lbs per week and maintain as much muscle mass as possible given my goals. You might be a personal trainer and are good with exercise and training regimes, but your nutritional knowledge is subpar at best if this is what you really think.

No offense intended.

Well, to be fair the info he has there states that as well:

If individuals consume protein in excess of their caloric and protein needs, the extra protein will not be stored as protein. Unfortunately such extra protein is converted to and stored as fat

The problem is of course with the generic statement earlier:

Excess protein will be converted to fat.

which implys that the excess is excess protein and not excess calories.

You're absolutely right. I should have qualified my response based on the fact that he first says excess protein will be stored as fat, and then in the 2nd paragraph says that "if individuals consume protein in excess of their caloric and protein needs...".

So his post was 3/4 wrong and 1/4 correct.

If I eat 2000 calories to maintain weight and eat 2500 calories, all in protein (real world impossible I know) then the excess absolutely will be broken down into components and stored in the fat cells.

If I eat 2000 calories to maintain weight and eat 2500 calories, all in protein (real world impossible I know) then the excess absolutely will be broken down into components and stored in the fat cells.

Not all of the excess will be broken down and stored as fat unless you just laid on the couch and did nothing. But some will be built into muscle especially if you are doing any type of resistance training program.

How can I change my setting to 30% protein? I am new to this website so far I love it but i'm already going to go over on my protein intake. I have 1 gram left & it's only 2:30 Help???

Excuse me?? Excess protein will be converted to glucose and stored as fat. I am a personal trainer and have been doing this for 13 yrs. If you dont believe me look at ACE( american counsel on Excercise) website http://www.acefitness.org/fitnessqanda/fitnessqanda_display.aspx?itemid=272

A: The human body is unable to store extra protein. Protein consumed in excess of the body's needs is not used to build muscle; rather, it is used for non-protein bodily functions.
If individuals consume protein in EXCESS of their CALORIC and protein needs, the extra protein will not be stored as protein. Unfortunately such extra protein is converted to and stored as fat. As a result, if individuals consume large amounts of extra protein in addition to their regular dietary intake, any weight gain would very likely be in the form of fat.

Not sure if serious.

No excess protein won't be stored as fat unless that excess protein intake caused your daily calorie intake to rise above your TDEE.

I eat alot of extra protein and I continue to lose 2 lbs per week and maintain as much muscle mass as possible given my goals. You might be a personal trainer and are good with exercise and training regimes, but your nutritional knowledge is subpar at best if this is what you really think.

No offense intended.
NONE TAKEN... Im sure you can read right.. it clearly states If individuals consume protein in EXCESS of their daily CALORIC and protein needs, the extra protein will not be stored as protein. Unfortunately such extra protein is converted t glycogen and stored as fat.

Of course you can lose wt just eating 1200 calories of just protein, but why would you do that? Eating more protein than you need is simply wasteful. Your muscles only need so much, You would be better off using those calories in fat or carbs to maintain satiation. Im glad you can read so I dont need to explain myself further

No seriously, zero of it will be "broken down and turned into fat" because your body just doesn't do that catabolic process. Your body will utilize carbs and protein above fat for energy and if you eat to many calories your body will end up with excess fat and store that fat, but it doesnt convert protein to fat.

Now I suppose really all people on this site care about is whether or not doing something will make them fatter. Will eating so much protein that you are above your caloric need make you fat...yeah it will, but not due to conversion.

What are you talking about?? Excess protein over your daily caloric needs is converted to glycogen and stored as fat! Where is your science coming from? Fat is stored energy!! It will be used. Protein is not used for energy unless your starving. Anytime you do any working out the first source of energy is muscle glycogen (blood sugar) when that is all gone your body will turn to your fat stores, thats what they are there for. Please do some research and see how protein is broken down by the body and how its is converted into glycogen by the body before you mistakenly give people advice.

During protein metabolism, some protein is converted to glucose in a process called gluconeogenesis, the formation of glucose from non-carbohydrate sources.

The basic difference between protein and carbohydrate is that while carbohydrates are made out of simple sugars (carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen), protein is made from amino acids (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sufur). The nitrogen is a basic component of the protein's amino acids and accounts for 13 to 20% of the total mass.

The first step in protein metabolism is to break it into its constituent amino acids. These are absorbed into the blood stream.

The second step is to break down the amino acids into their constituent parts--catabolism, if you want to get technical about it. This removes the nitrogen or amino group from the amino acids. The process is called deamination.

Deamination breaks the amino group down into ammonia and what is termed the carbon skeleton. Ammonia is converted to urea, filtered through the kidneys, and excreted in urine. The carbon skeleton--which is composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen--can then by used either for protein synthesis, energy production (ATP), or converted to glucose by gluconeogenesis.