How much is too much protein for a female losing weight ?

nocgirl72
nocgirl72 Posts: 139 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I’m on week 11 of a fitness plan with a trainer. I’m 46 years old. Good health except for IBS. I’ve lost some weight and inches and my arms are getting toned. I’m 5 ft 9’and I’ve lost 20 lbs and about 18 inches. I would like to tone up more and still lose about 10 more lbs. I dont even own a scale but my weight is probably around 168-170 right now

I went to the DR last week and had blood work for my annual women’s well check and my kidney GFR is a low 53. Down 6 pts from a year ago. I have no pain at all and I drink 75-100 oz of water most days.

I’m wondering if I’m eating too much protein. Between my eggs, tuna, a low carb low cal protein quest shake, fage yogurts, chicken breast, I’m eating anywhere from 100g-130g per day. I am keeping my fiber around 30g. Net carb between 25-40 most days.

Sugar is usually under 20g but today it was 23g.

Calories are not high enough I admit they are usually under 1000. I work out 1 hr a day 6 days a week doing some weights and cardio

My father is telling me my protein intake is way too high and probably causing my low GFR.

I am seeing a kidney Dr next week just as a precaution.
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Replies

  • Cahgetsfit
    Cahgetsfit Posts: 1,912 Member
    Some trainers overkill on the protein. I had a trainer who had me on 200+ protein at one point. Way more than necessary. My bloodwork, since I started all this bodybuilding stuff, always has me at having more urea in my kidneys than the recommended.

    I have since read that most athletes have this slightly higher than recommended levels of Urea in their bloodowork too. So A little bit over OK - but way too much over - not OK.

    I go for 2g protein per kilo bodyweight, or if on an aggressive cut, 2.2 Protein per kilo bodyweight. Not need for more than that. My Protein these days is like 140... nowhere near the above 200 that was being prescribed to me.

    YOur body can't even with that much protein, so there is no point.

    If you trainer is old school, chances are you are eating way more protein than necessary.

    Good luck!
  • nocgirl72
    nocgirl72 Posts: 139 Member
    My trainer is a female, 30 and lean and muscular and in terrific shape. She wants me at even higher protein and more calories. I’m not comfortable with eating any more protein in fact with my kidney numbers I want to cut back on the protein a little to under 100g. I take no NSAID just some IBS meds Which shouldn’t affect kidneys. Blood pressure is great around 110/68 or lower. In fact my BP the morning of DR appt was 98/61 it was in the am and I was relaxed.

    So I thinking I’m going to have to up my carbs and whole grains and slow down on protein while still maintaining low calories and healthy eating
  • Panini911
    Panini911 Posts: 2,325 Member
    agree with the above, i'm much more concerned about your total calories VS protein amount...1000 for even a sedentary person is too little much less with the work outs.
  • nocgirl72
    nocgirl72 Posts: 139 Member
    I have been saving my quest chocolate protein shake as my snack before bed. It’s only 100 calls 22g if protein 0 net carb but some days I have it as part of my breakfast. My snacks are also high protein ( fage yogurt. Or an egg or can of tuna) So is my lunch ( grilled chicken and egg) baby spinach salad dinner is either chicken breast or turkey burger and veggies.

    I’m going to limit my protein shake to 1 a day as my bedtime snack it does great for sugar craving

    I’m going to cut down on protein a little. This morning I had plain oatmeal with some berries.
  • nocgirl72
    nocgirl72 Posts: 139 Member
    I am going to be adding more carbs. I eat every couple hours
  • gvizzle74
    gvizzle74 Posts: 123 Member
    i thought this was a great article and outlines recommendations: https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-much-protein/
    the short version: "If you’re trying to lose fat, build muscle, maintain muscle or have any similar goal that would be helped by maximizing the benefits we covered earlier, then 0.8 – 1.3g of protein per pound of body weight is what I (and most others in this field) consider to be the ideal range for protein intake."
  • nocgirl72
    nocgirl72 Posts: 139 Member
    Thank you for that article. I stil want to lose weight and i can’t help but wonder though if my high protein is having some effect on the GFR it can’t be such coincidence I dropped 6 pts in a year.

    I’m going to see wha my kidney DR says but I’m going to try and limit myself to 90-100g of protein a day until I see him
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    nocgirl72 wrote: »
    Thank you for that article. I stil want to lose weight and i can’t help but wonder though if my high protein is having some effect on the GFR it can’t be such coincidence I dropped 6 pts in a year.

    I’m going to see wha my kidney DR says but I’m going to try and limit myself to 90-100g of protein a day until I see him

    Protein at the levels you mentioned is typically fine, but if you do have some sort of kidney issue you might need to limit it. I'd talk to your doctor (I haven't had kidney issues, so don't really know what the GFR numbers you are mentioning mean).
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,053 Member
    edited March 2019
    nocgirl72 wrote: »
    Thank you for that article. I stil want to lose weight and i can’t help but wonder though if my high protein is having some effect on the GFR it can’t be such coincidence I dropped 6 pts in a year.

    I’m going to see wha my kidney DR says but I’m going to try and limit myself to 90-100g of protein a day until I see him

    Wanting to lose more weight is fine but with only 10 pounds to lose do slow your rate of loss to a half pound per week.

    When you plug that into https://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided what do you get for daily calories (before exercise)?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 33,589 Member
    nocgirl72 wrote: »
    I am going to be adding more carbs. I eat every couple hours

    How much fat and what quantity of fruits/veggies have you been getting daily, typically, alongside the protein, if you're eating that few calories?

    When I was your current weight (a few inches shorter), 1000 calories would have been a debilitating level of undereating (even 1200 + exercise was too low, made me weak/fatigued). I don't know what the effect of muscle breakdown + undernutrition (fats, micros) + ultra-low calories (all of which you seem possibly to be risking) would be on kidneys/GFR, but I can't believe they have a positive impact on overall health risk.

    I agree that consulting a specialist, as you plan to do, sounds like an excellent course of action, as does getting more carbs (plus fats, if you're under on those). If you're undereating veggies/fruit now, maybe eat such of those as don't trigger IBS symptoms, as a carb source? And IMO it would be a good plan to get fats in the 56-72g daily range at minimum, at your size.

    Hope you get some (non-scary) answers from the specialist. Keep us posted, OK? Concerned! :flowerforyou:
  • kizanne2
    kizanne2 Posts: 123 Member
    edited March 2019
    From what little I"ve read healthy kidneys are not adversely affected by high protein. HOWEVER kidney's already in decline can have problems with protein. Why are you having your kidney function checked and definately talk to your doctor.

    a GFR of 53 would be stage 3 for CKD. This is not really a forum discussion anymore but a medical discussion to be had with a doctor.

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