Is it really possible to eat 245g of protein a day at 245 pounds?
tonjunee
Posts: 9 Member
Hi,
I'm wondering if it's possible to consume 245 grams of protein being at 245 pounds right now (without protein supplements).
To reach this marco ratio wouldn't I go over the caloric deficit level every time trying to consume 245g of protein?
I'm wondering if it's possible to consume 245 grams of protein being at 245 pounds right now (without protein supplements).
To reach this marco ratio wouldn't I go over the caloric deficit level every time trying to consume 245g of protein?
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Replies
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Sure, it's possible, depending on what your cals are and what else you are willing to sacrifice.
But why would you? Normal recommendation (even for those who are active and losing weight and wanting to retain muscle) is more like .8-1 g per lb of lean mass. You can roughly estimate that with a .6-.8 g per lb of your goal weight. If you have lots to lose, that will be a much lower number than you are trying to hit now. If you are close to goal, then your calories would presumably be reasonably high, as you wouldn't want a steep deficit.
Source is Examine.com and the sources linked on the articles about protein there, among others.0 -
As that's only 980 cals makes me wonder what your calorie goal is?
It's clearly not impossible. So to answer your question yes it is possible to eat 245g of protein and not exceed a reasonable calorie goal.
(Whether 245g is actually a suitable protein goal for you is another matter entirely.)3 -
Sure, it's possible, depending on what your cals are and what else you are willing to sacrifice.But why would you? Normal recommendation (even for those who are active and losing weight and wanting to retain muscle) is more like .8-1 g per lb of lean mass.
Right, yeah. The 0.8-1 g per lb sounds like what I've heard from bodybuilders who recommended 1 g per lb. I am trying to lose fat and keep muscle.
I've worked out the macros and I can never hit 245 grams of protein without going over my caloric deficit limit.
Sure I could reach 245 grams of protein eating pure beef all day, but then that would just get me under the caloric deficit level with no carbs whatsoever.
Is this correct?
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As that's only 980 cals makes me wonder what your calorie goal is?
It's clearly not impossible. So to answer your question yes it is possible to eat 245g of protein and not exceed a reasonable calorie goal.
How did you get 980 cal for 245 g of protein?
I see for ground beef it is 250 calories for 100 grams, but only 26 grams of protein in the 100 grams. My source is below:
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=beef+calories
So if I go 250 calories X 9 = 2250 calories ( my deficit is 2400 calories)
then 26 grams of protein X 9 = 234 grams of protein ( I'm close to 245 grams at 245 pounds)
Sure I reach my goal, but then there are no room for carbohydrates. Thus to take carbs I would only go over my caloric deficit.
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Sure, it's possible, depending on what your cals are and what else you are willing to sacrifice.But why would you? Normal recommendation (even for those who are active and losing weight and wanting to retain muscle) is more like .8-1 g per lb of lean mass.
Right, yeah. The 0.8-1 g per lb sounds like what I've heard from bodybuilders who recommended 1 g per lb. I am trying to lose fat and keep muscle.
I've worked out the macros and I can never hit 245 grams of protein without going over my caloric deficit limit.
Sure I could reach 245 grams of protein eating pure beef all day, but then that would just get me under the caloric deficit level with no carbs whatsoever.
Is this correct?
You haven't said what your calorie goal is, but you absolutely do not need to eat that much protein (1 g per lb with weight to lose) to keep muscle and lose fat.
I see 247 g protein for 1320 cal worth of chicken breast, which should leave you room for other foods too. I don't recommend, however.1 -
As that's only 980 cals makes me wonder what your calorie goal is?
It's clearly not impossible. So to answer your question yes it is possible to eat 245g of protein and not exceed a reasonable calorie goal.
How did you get 980 cal for 245 g of protein?
I see for ground beef it is 250 calories for 100 grams, but only 26 grams of protein in the 100 grams. My source is below:
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=beef+calories
So if I go 250 calories X 9 = 2250 calories ( my deficit is 2400 calories)
then 26 grams of protein X 9 = 234 grams of protein ( I'm close to 245 grams at 245 pounds)
Sure I reach my goal, but then there are no room for carbohydrates. Thus to take carbs I would only go over my caloric deficit.
Carbs and Protein are 4 calories per gram, Fat is 9 calories per gram. Many of the calories in that ground beef are from fat, not protein. Working in leaner sources of protein will make it easier to hit your goal.2 -
I would start with evaluating if that protein goal is really necessary. What is your goal weight? .8g of that would likely be a better target. It will still be enough to help preserve muscle and will still give you enough room in your calories for other foods.2
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As that's only 980 cals makes me wonder what your calorie goal is?
It's clearly not impossible. So to answer your question yes it is possible to eat 245g of protein and not exceed a reasonable calorie goal.
How did you get 980 cal for 245 g of protein?
I see for ground beef it is 250 calories for 100 grams, but only 26 grams of protein in the 100 grams. My source is below:
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=beef+calories
So if I go 250 calories X 9 = 2250 calories ( my deficit is 2400 calories)
then 26 grams of protein X 9 = 234 grams of protein ( I'm close to 245 grams at 245 pounds)
Sure I reach my goal, but then there are no room for carbohydrates. Thus to take carbs I would only go over my caloric deficit.
Carbs and Protein are 4 calories per gram, Fat is 9 calories per gram. Many of those calories are from fat, not protein. Working in leaner sources of protein will make it easier to hit your goal.
Yes, depending on the cut, beef can be fairly fatty. Same with pork and fish. Leaner cuts of meats, chicken breast, egg whites, tuna are all leaner protein sources.1 -
You haven't said what your calorie goal is, but you absolutely do not need to eat that much protein (1 g per lb with weight to lose) to keep muscle and lose fat.
So can I take 0.8 grams of protein per pound instead?
Right now my caloric goal is around 2400 per day, but I'm thinking of dropping it another 300 calories. I am sedentary with working out 4 times a week and cardio around 3 times a week.0 -
In the paraphrased words of Selena Gomez: "I mean you could, but why would you want to?" It is certainly possible. But for muscle maintenance you by no means need to eat that much. There is no one universal recommended protein intake amount, but 1g per pound of body weight is excessive to all of them. Different estimates I've heard range from 0.6g to 0.8g of your goal weight to 0.8g to 1g per pound of lean mass. Both methods should bring you to a protein goal of less than 200g.4
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As that's only 980 cals makes me wonder what your calorie goal is?
It's clearly not impossible. So to answer your question yes it is possible to eat 245g of protein and not exceed a reasonable calorie goal.
How did you get 980 cal for 245 g of protein?
I see for ground beef it is 250 calories for 100 grams, but only 26 grams of protein in the 100 grams. My source is below:
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=beef+calories
So if I go 250 calories X 9 = 2250 calories ( my deficit is 2400 calories)
then 26 grams of protein X 9 = 234 grams of protein ( I'm close to 245 grams at 245 pounds)
Sure I reach my goal, but then there are no room for carbohydrates. Thus to take carbs I would only go over my caloric deficit.
By multiplying the protein grams by 4.
You didn't say eating beef!
Context is entirely missing from this thread - no-one but you knows anything about you apart from your weight.
You could 4'6", sedentary and elderly and have an extremely high fat percentage. You could be a 6'6" lapsed body builder, in your 20's and fairly lean.
The more personal context you give the more targetted the advice can be.
Just asking "is it really possible" narrows the debate down to the level it's unlikely to be of benefit to you.5 -
The protein you need is based on your lean mass. If you know what that is (most don't), you could eat about 0.8-1 g per lb of that. A good way to estimate instead is 0.6-0.8 g per lb of a healthy goal weight. Take the higher end to be extra careful if you want.
So when I was 180 and had a goal weight of 120, I aimed for 0.8x120 or 96 g of protein.3 -
You also seem to be conflating calories, food weight, and macro grams.
100g of ground beef = x grams of protein, y grams of fat, and z grams of water.
And I agree with everyone else - while you could eat 245g of protein, it isn't necessary. That 1g per pound recommendation is usually 1g per lb of lean mass, or per lb of goal weight if you don't know your lean mass.1 -
Carbs and Protein are 4 calories per gram, Fat is 9 calories per gram. Many of the calories in that ground beef are from fat, not protein. Working in leaner sources of protein will make it easier to hit your goal.
You might be right. The one thing I do see is chicken breasts at 31g of protein per 165 calories.
So if I take 31g of chicken breast X 8 = 248 grams of protein
Which is 165 calories X 8 = 1320 calories
Which means I have around 1000 more calories to play with. But, I only see chicken breasts this high. Fish and other sources of protein don't seem to beat ground beef at 26 g of protein.
Do I have the right source for chicken breasts? It can't be this high, can it?
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/calories-in-chicken#breast
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Chicken breast is that high -- I gave the numbers above. Whitefish like cod is even higher -- eat insane amounts of cod to hit it in under 1150 cal.
But really, don't bother.0 -
You also seem to be conflating calories, food weight, and macro grams.
100g of ground beef = x grams of protein, y grams of fat, and z grams of water.
And I agree with everyone else - while you could eat 245g of protein, it isn't necessary. That 1g per pound recommendation is usually 1g per lb of lean mass, or per lb of goal weight if you don't know your lean mass.
Oh, so it's to measure protein against only my lean body mass?1 -
Edit: accidentally double posted
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You also seem to be conflating calories, food weight, and macro grams.
100g of ground beef = x grams of protein, y grams of fat, and z grams of water.
And I agree with everyone else - while you could eat 245g of protein, it isn't necessary. That 1g per pound recommendation is usually 1g per lb of lean mass, or per lb of goal weight if you don't know your lean mass.
Oh, so it's to measure protein against only my lean body mass?
Yes.2 -
Chicken breast is that high -- I gave the numbers above. Whitefish like cod is even higher -- eat insane amounts of cod to hit it in under 1150 cal.
But really, don't bother.
I can't eat cod actually. I can only eat basa, but I think I'm starting to see the numbers differently now.
Before I was looking at measuring protein and the weight of the meat rather than protein and calories.
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quiksylver296 wrote: »You also seem to be conflating calories, food weight, and macro grams.
100g of ground beef = x grams of protein, y grams of fat, and z grams of water.
And I agree with everyone else - while you could eat 245g of protein, it isn't necessary. That 1g per pound recommendation is usually 1g per lb of lean mass, or per lb of goal weight if you don't know your lean mass.
Oh, so it's to measure protein against only my lean body mass?
Yes.
Wow. I can't believe I didn't know that this whole time.
That would be why the numbers are conflated.
Thank you for pointing that out.
Time to go back over the numbers again.
I think now I'll have to probably buy some skin calipers as well.0 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »You also seem to be conflating calories, food weight, and macro grams.
100g of ground beef = x grams of protein, y grams of fat, and z grams of water.
And I agree with everyone else - while you could eat 245g of protein, it isn't necessary. That 1g per pound recommendation is usually 1g per lb of lean mass, or per lb of goal weight if you don't know your lean mass.
Oh, so it's to measure protein against only my lean body mass?
Yes.
Wow. I can't believe I didn't know that this whole time.
That would be why the numbers are conflated.
Thank you for pointing that out.
Time to go back over the numbers again.
I think now I'll have to probably buy some skin calipers as well.
No need to overcomplicate this.
Really, just use your goal weight times 0.8 as your protein grams goal, as long as you have a reasonably healthy goal weight in mind. If you don't have a goal, just use the middle of the normal BMI (body mass index) weight for your height. That's plenty close enough.
If you don't know what BMI is, tell us how tall you are, and we'll figure it out.
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As that's only 980 cals makes me wonder what your calorie goal is?
It's clearly not impossible. So to answer your question yes it is possible to eat 245g of protein and not exceed a reasonable calorie goal.
How did you get 980 cal for 245 g of protein?
I see for ground beef it is 250 calories for 100 grams, but only 26 grams of protein in the 100 grams. My source is below:
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=beef+calories
So if I go 250 calories X 9 = 2250 calories ( my deficit is 2400 calories)
then 26 grams of protein X 9 = 234 grams of protein ( I'm close to 245 grams at 245 pounds)
Sure I reach my goal, but then there are no room for carbohydrates. Thus to take carbs I would only go over my caloric deficit.
Carbs and Protein are 4 calories per gram, Fat is 9 calories per gram. Many of the calories in that ground beef are from fat, not protein. Working in leaner sources of protein will make it easier to hit your goal.
And even then, with respect to the math that @tonjunee questioned, a lot of the weight of any given food is just from the water it contains. Even if you found a perfectly lean, carb-free protein source, you shouldn't expect that all of its weight comes from protein, and hence, you can't expect to multiply the weight of the food by 4 and get the calories.
ETA the last clause for (hopefully) added clarity.0 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »As that's only 980 cals makes me wonder what your calorie goal is?
It's clearly not impossible. So to answer your question yes it is possible to eat 245g of protein and not exceed a reasonable calorie goal.
How did you get 980 cal for 245 g of protein?
I see for ground beef it is 250 calories for 100 grams, but only 26 grams of protein in the 100 grams. My source is below:
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=beef+calories
So if I go 250 calories X 9 = 2250 calories ( my deficit is 2400 calories)
then 26 grams of protein X 9 = 234 grams of protein ( I'm close to 245 grams at 245 pounds)
Sure I reach my goal, but then there are no room for carbohydrates. Thus to take carbs I would only go over my caloric deficit.
Carbs and Protein are 4 calories per gram, Fat is 9 calories per gram. Many of the calories in that ground beef are from fat, not protein. Working in leaner sources of protein will make it easier to hit your goal.
And even then, with respect to the math that @tonjunee questioned, a lot of the weight of any given food is just from the water it contains. Even if you found a perfectly lean, carb-free protein source, you shouldn't expect that all of its weight comes from protein, and hence, you can't expect to multiply the weight of the food by 4 and get the calories.
ETA the last clause for (hopefully) added clarity.
I don't think anyone was saying you can multiply the weight of the food by 4 and get 245 g.
How I understood it is that OP said that he would hit his calorie goal without eating anything else if he got 245 g of protein. Someone took that really literally and said that 245 g of protein (with nothing else) would be only 980 cal. Of course, there's no way to eat JUST protein (thank goodness, as that would not be a good idea and someone would likely go on that diet). Even with a protein shake you get some carbs or a tab bit of fat or both. The cod option is one of the lowest cal ways to do it, and still requires nearly 1150 cal, not 980.
In any case, OP would have lots of cals for other foods doing that, but it's not going to be sustainable and of course is not necessary.0 -
Just my 2 cents (Canadian), but 245 gms of Protein a day is unnecessary. Speaking from personal experience, ideally what you're looking for is 1gm (ish) per "lean" pound of muscle. I'm currently the lightest i've been in years at 205lbs, and my lean muscle weight is 160lbs, which is considered above average for sure. So I try to consume 150 gm a day. I'd say right now my average is around 125gm, but I'm cutting pretty hard.
There are many low carb protein shake options available as well, and drinking your protein is generally the cheapest as well, unless you're a giant fan of tuna. (cheap) The Protein powder I use is 3 carbs, 130 cal. / per shake but I drink it with water. ( not awesome, but you could use almond milk if you're looking for a bit better taste. Don't use Soy milk, it raises estrogen levels.)
All that being said; I haven't heard what your goals are? Why so much Protein? Are you looking to put on Muscle, lose weight, both?
In my experience, ppl aren't honest with themselves about what their goals actually are, nor are the prepared to do what it takes to achieve said goals.
Happy to help in anyway I can.
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Sure, it's possible, depending on what your cals are and what else you are willing to sacrifice.But why would you? Normal recommendation (even for those who are active and losing weight and wanting to retain muscle) is more like .8-1 g per lb of lean mass.
Right, yeah. The 0.8-1 g per lb sounds like what I've heard from bodybuilders who recommended 1 g per lb. I am trying to lose fat and keep muscle.
I've worked out the macros and I can never hit 245 grams of protein without going over my caloric deficit limit.
Sure I could reach 245 grams of protein eating pure beef all day, but then that would just get me under the caloric deficit level with no carbs whatsoever.
Is this correct?
It will save you time, money, and frustration if you learn to ignore the 'bro-science'. If you heard it in a gym or muscle mag, don't trust it. Take the time to research it (and by research I don't mean read other bro-science sites
). 0
This discussion has been closed.
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