Is too much protein a bad thing?

martinkristyk
martinkristyk Posts: 26 Member
edited October 2 in Food and Nutrition
Hi All

I've noticed that in recent days I've done quite well in terms of my calories, fat, and carbs consumed. But, I'm frequently eating more protein than I "should" according to my numbers on this site.

Is too much protein a bad thing? It seems to me that it should be fine-- better than having too many carbs or too much fat, but I'd love to hear your opinion.

Thanks,
Kristy

Replies

  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 Member
    if you're using the MFP default setting for protein you're fine... it's set to 15% which I find very low. I changed mine (home...goals...change goals...custom... set your numbers) to 35% carbs 35% protein and 30% fat.
  • AdAstra47
    AdAstra47 Posts: 823 Member
    Absolutely not. There's really no such thing (unless you have some sort of kidney or liver damage already, that might make it difficult for you to process protein well).

    The protein levels on MFP should be considered a minimum, you should *try* to get them in the red each day, especially if you're trying to lose weight without losing muscle. The chemical reaction that burns fatty acids also requires amino acids, and your body gets those from protein. If you don't eat enough protein, your body will harvest it from your muscles instead. Many people find that, for their particular metabolism, the carb setting in MFP is way too high and the protein setting too low. You can manually adjust them to what works best for your body. My doctor has me at 5% carbs, 30% fat and 65% protein (which works out to around 300g protein a day for me).
  • Zeromilediet
    Zeromilediet Posts: 787 Member
    Hard to comment without seeing your diary and what settings are for protein etc. Whatever you set your overall daily protein goals, try to aim for no more than 35gr per meal/snack ... too much more at a time is not the optimum for your body to handle at a sitting.
  • Bankman1989
    Bankman1989 Posts: 1,116 Member
    Whatever protein you don't use you will only pee it out anyway. I am always over my protein limits. Help builds muscle!
  • YepLilly
    YepLilly Posts: 129 Member
    I think in terms of MFP goals carbs and fat are maximums, while protein is a minimum. I'm not sure how much is too much though, so I'm looking forward to the replies as well :)
  • AdAstra47
    AdAstra47 Posts: 823 Member
    My instructions from my doctor are: eat at least 50g protein every three hours while you're awake. That works out to 300-350 per day for me. That's a specific diet to combat hyperinsulinemia, so it's not for everyone. But I've met people who've been eating this level of protein for a decade or more, and they're perfectly healthy. So I certainly wouldn't worry about going over your MFP settings, even by quite a bit.
  • Darkness2120
    Darkness2120 Posts: 38
    Whatever protein you don't use you will only pee it out anyway. I am always over my protein limits. Help builds muscle!

    False. The body can and will store protein as fat if too much is taken in, don't forget that amino acids are carbon based structures just like fatty acids. Plus over consumption of protein can lead to excess ammonia accumulation in the body (though this would require a considerable amount to do). This is biochem 101, and the concept that "protein can't be stored as fat" is one of many long standing myths in the fitness industry. Anything you consume be it protein, carbs, and fat can be stored as body fat if eaten in excess. As for the original question, it depends on how much you're overconsuming; a little over is nothing to worry about. But yes you can have too much protein.
  • Lift_hard_eat_big
    Lift_hard_eat_big Posts: 2,278 Member
    Whatever protein you don't use you will only pee it out anyway. I am always over my protein limits. Help builds muscle!

    False. The body can and will store protein as fat if too much is taken in, don't forget that amino acids are carbon based structures just like fatty acids. Plus over consumption of protein can lead to excess ammonia accumulation in the body (though this would require a considerable amount to do). This is biochem 101, and the concept that "protein can't be stored as fat" is one of many long standing myths in the fitness industry. Anything you consume be it protein, carbs, and fat can be stored as body fat if eaten in excess. As for the original question, it depends on how much you're overconsuming; a little over is nothing to worry about. But yes you can have too much protein.

    I've read it takes an extremely high amount of protein for the body to convert the excess into fat. Doesn't it need to convert it to glucose first, then if the body is saturated with glucose it will convert to fat storage?
  • Darkness2120
    Darkness2120 Posts: 38
    Whatever protein you don't use you will only pee it out anyway. I am always over my protein limits. Help builds muscle!

    False. The body can and will store protein as fat if too much is taken in, don't forget that amino acids are carbon based structures just like fatty acids. Plus over consumption of protein can lead to excess ammonia accumulation in the body (though this would require a considerable amount to do). This is biochem 101, and the concept that "protein can't be stored as fat" is one of many long standing myths in the fitness industry. Anything you consume be it protein, carbs, and fat can be stored as body fat if eaten in excess. As for the original question, it depends on how much you're overconsuming; a little over is nothing to worry about. But yes you can have too much protein.

    I've read it takes an extremely high amount of protein for the body to convert the excess into fat. Doesn't it need to convert it to glucose first, then if the body is saturated with glucose it will convert to fat storage?

    I'll be honest I don't know the exact amount it takes, hence why I said a little bit over is not cause for concern. But my main point was to hammer home that protein can be stored as fat as I all too often here people say "you can eat as much protein as you want because it can't be stored as fat." That statement is false.
  • melholden10
    melholden10 Posts: 35
    Whatever protein you don't use you will only pee it out anyway. I am always over my protein limits. Help builds muscle!

    False. The body can and will store protein as fat if too much is taken in, don't forget that amino acids are carbon based structures just like fatty acids. Plus over consumption of protein can lead to excess ammonia accumulation in the body (though this would require a considerable amount to do). This is biochem 101, and the concept that "protein can't be stored as fat" is one of many long standing myths in the fitness industry. Anything you consume be it protein, carbs, and fat can be stored as body fat if eaten in excess. As for the original question, it depends on how much you're overconsuming; a little over is nothing to worry about. But yes you can have too much protein.

    The body doesn't store ammonia. The liver processes ammonia to urea which is excreted in urine if you have liver issues then you would get high levels of circulating ammonia which would cause hepatic encephalopathy.
  • Darkness2120
    Darkness2120 Posts: 38
    Whatever protein you don't use you will only pee it out anyway. I am always over my protein limits. Help builds muscle!

    False. The body can and will store protein as fat if too much is taken in, don't forget that amino acids are carbon based structures just like fatty acids. Plus over consumption of protein can lead to excess ammonia accumulation in the body (though this would require a considerable amount to do). This is biochem 101, and the concept that "protein can't be stored as fat" is one of many long standing myths in the fitness industry. Anything you consume be it protein, carbs, and fat can be stored as body fat if eaten in excess. As for the original question, it depends on how much you're overconsuming; a little over is nothing to worry about. But yes you can have too much protein.

    The body doesn't store ammonia. The liver processes ammonia to urea which is excreted in urine if you have liver issues then you would get high levels of circulating ammonia which would cause hepatic encephalopathy.

    I didn't say it stores ammonia, but yes accumulation was probably a poor choice of words.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    Fat conversion, storage, and retrieval is a 24/7 process. Fats/carbs/proteins are broken down, whatever is immediately needed is used for whatever purpose it's needed for, and the rest is stored away until needed.
  • Lift_hard_eat_big
    Lift_hard_eat_big Posts: 2,278 Member

    I'll be honest I don't know the exact amount it takes, hence why I said a little bit over is not cause for concern. But my main point was to hammer home that protein can be stored as fat as I all too often here people say "you can eat as much protein as you want because it can't be stored as fat." That statement is false.

    You're absolutely right, protein can be converted to fat, but I just recall my professor saying it's extremely rare, either it takes an insanely high amount of protein or it take several pathways to become fat but it's usually all used up before it becomes fat.
  • Darkness2120
    Darkness2120 Posts: 38

    I'll be honest I don't know the exact amount it takes, hence why I said a little bit over is not cause for concern. But my main point was to hammer home that protein can be stored as fat as I all too often here people say "you can eat as much protein as you want because it can't be stored as fat." That statement is false.

    You're absolutely right, protein can be converted to fat, but I just recall my professor saying it's extremely rare, either it takes an insanely high amount of protein or it take several pathways to become fat but it's usually all used up before it becomes fat.

    One of the things my professors used as an example when discussing the urea cycle was this weird "collagen based diet" fad from the 90's i think. Essentially people consumed nothing but collagen in order to lose weight and the problems it had besides malnutrition was the fact that amino acids were the only source of carbon to synthesize glucose from and probably where I got the case of the ammonia problem from. Better go dust off my copy of lehningers I'd say :smile:
  • evelyngrice
    evelyngrice Posts: 349 Member
    I don't really worry if I go over protein (or fibre).
    At the moment I am giving my exercise a boost, so I am trying to eat a lot more protein as it repairs muscle damage, which I bound to encounter :)
  • Saffyra
    Saffyra Posts: 607 Member
    I'm glad you asked this question. I didnt know that MFP gives a low number for protein. I'm constantly in the red with it. At least now I know its not a bad thing at all :)
  • ABT2003
    ABT2003 Posts: 5
    I am always in the red as well and I just started doing this so, I was concerned. I am glad that there was a post on this with some great answers! Thanks!
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