Protein

There's a lot of hype over protein. The truth is, if you eat anywhere from 18 to 30% of your calories from protein and do cardio for a majority of your exercise, that's plenty. The body can only use so much at any one time, it will use a little extra (a LITTLE) when you are building muscle, I.E. after weight training, but not a LOT extra, and protein is also used for the creation of other functions as well. But generally, you can gain fat by eating too much of any of the 3 macro nutrients (fat, carbs, or protein) as a whole. by that I mean, it doesn't matter which nutrient you take in too much of, if you go over your total calories burned for a day, you ARE adding weight and usually fat to your body, whether you go over by eating protein, fat, or carbs doesn't matter.

Certain age groups and specific body types can handle more protein than others, but in general, if you're over 15% you're probably all right. Tweaking the percentages is a process that we all need to go through to get it exactly right, but that's an individual thing. Eating more protein doesn't make you "bulk up", in fact, protein without the necessary carbohydrates in the body will do very little for your muscles. In the absence of carbohydrates, with both muscle and energy needs, the body will use protein for energy first. So you need carbs to release those carbs to build, repair, and strengthen muscles. A 2 to 1 ratio of carbs and protein immediately after a hard weight training session is what is generally recommended.

Thanks heaps for that Banks, thats brilliant. A lot of people on these boards have said over time that ging over on your protein allowance within your calories is fine and not to worry, but your saying that it should be pretty much spot on or a little bit over the allowance?? (sorry im a bit slow on the uptake)

I've been wondering the same thing as well. I almost always go over a little bit on my protein everyday (I have not changed my %s - I am still with the org mfp plan). However, I would like to have a protein shake in the morning with my breakfast (after my run). But, I want it to do more good than bad to me.

I'm just as confused about all this....:ohwell:

I used to date this hunky body builder. He would always eat after lifting weights, not necessarily tons of protein, just something healthy. He said he always took his supplements after a workout, with the idea that his muscles needed water and nutrients right then to recover and grow.

I still take vitamins after a workout, even though that hunky boy has moved on.

Thanks heaps for that Banks, thats brilliant. A lot of people on these boards have said over time that ging over on your protein allowance within your calories is fine and not to worry, but your saying that it should be pretty much spot on or a little bit over the allowance?? (sorry im a bit slow on the uptake)

Banks can we go into this a little deeper?
Please correct me if I'm wrong.

MFP starts us off at 55% carb 15% protein and 30% fat.

So when Pink said that above about people saying it's ok to go over in protein but within calories.
I'm assuming the ratio might be similiar to someone doing 40%C 30%P 30%F or 45%C 30%P 25%F or 50% 25% 25%.

going over by a few percent really shouldn't make much difference. Especially if you're talking a cumulative amount, like you went over by 2 or 3 grams this meal, then over by another 3 or so in your next meal. As opposed to going over by like 20 or 30 grams all at once (like I said, the body can process only so much at once, the rest, CANNOT be stored for later as protein

Someone having 15% protein at 1200 calories is 45grams of protein.
Someone having 30% protein at 1600 calories (400 exercise added on) is 120grams of protein.

So, isn't this flexible to the person who is at 15% protein and has a bit of leeway to go over in protein?

Banks can we go into this a little deeper?
Please correct me if I'm wrong.

MFP starts us off at 55% carb 15% protein and 30% fat.

So when Pink said that above about people saying it's ok to go over in protein but within calories.
I'm assuming the ratio might be similiar to someone doing 40%C 30%P 30%F or 45%C 30%P 25%F or 50% 25% 25%.

going over by a few percent really shouldn't make much difference. Especially if you're talking a cumulative amount, like you went over by 2 or 3 grams this meal, then over by another 3 or so in your next meal. As opposed to going over by like 20 or 30 grams all at once (like I said, the body can process only so much at once, the rest, CANNOT be stored for later as protein

Someone having 15% protein at 1200 calories is 45grams of protein.
Someone having 30% protein at 1600 calories (400 exercise added on) is 120grams of protein.

So, isn't this flexible to the person who is at 15% protein and has a bit of leeway to go over in protein?

all of those ratios are acceptable amounts IMHO, but each would be better for different people at different stages, generally, more cardio means more carbs, and more HIIT type cardio means you can up your protein a bit, so a high HIIT training regimen would probably mean something like 45/30/25 (carbs/protein/fats). But again, tweak it as needed to find the right balance for you.

to the flexibility, correct. there is some leeway there, I would say 15% is good for someone who is only dieting, as you increase your exercise amount and durations then protein % should rise.

bump