How Much Protein Do You Need?

FAT LOSS

Determining the maximum amount of protein you can and should take in for optimal fat loss is entirely dependent on the type of diet you’re using. In fact, this is primarily relevant for those who are on low carb diets.

The prevailing theory behind being on a lower carb diet is to keep insulin in check, and in many cases enter into ketosis.

As we’ve established, taking in lower carbohydrates often means taking in higher amounts of protein—but as you can imagine, there is a point of diminishing returns.
In this case, it’s lower than you might expect.

You see, if the goal is to keep insulin low and approach ketosis, too much protein can offset this due to a phenomenon called gluconeogenesis.

This is a metabolic pathway that results in the generation of glucose from non-carbohydrate sources. Without getting too far off topic, gluconeogenesis is actually a pretty important mechanism, as it allows us to keep blood glucose levels from dropping too low and becoming hypoglycemic when carbohydrates are not available.

In the case of survival, that can be important and beneficial, for obvious reasons.

For the purposes of fat loss, however, it means that if you’re taking in “too much” protein, the glucogenic amino acids will be broken down into glucose or substances that react very much like glucose, which in turn will impact insulin levels and prevent whatever ketogenic effect you’re attempting to achieve.
Put simply: protein becomes carb. (Well, sort of. But you get the idea.)

Which means this: if you are on a diet that depends on insulin control, it is detrimental to over-eat protein.

Some studies have shown that gluconeogenesis can occur with as little as .8g protein per pound of LBM. Using that number, I’d only need 142 grams of protein at 192 pounds and 8% bodyfat.