Is too much protein in your diet bad??

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rachelilb
rachelilb Posts: 179 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I recently started eating protein bars to bump up my daily calories a little bit because I felt that I was under eating for the amount of exercise I do. I have noticed that the past few days I have been over in protein by about 50-60g, Is this a bad thing?? Help! I am so clueless about this kind of thing.

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  • trenley
    trenley Posts: 35 Member
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    No, this is absolutely fine if your intake isn't ridiculously surpassing the recommendation- that's when it can get bad. Here's a link written by people smarter than me! http://www.daveywaveyfitness.com/nutrition/8-side-effects-of-too-much-protein/
  • akaOtherWise
    akaOtherWise Posts: 110 Member
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    http://www.phfitness.net/2012/03/protein-needs-for-women.html
  • kwin91
    kwin91 Posts: 128
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    Well how much protein you need is determined by your weight I believe, but I don't know how to get the calculation. And MFP sets protein pretty low, so it all depends on what you personally need. I have mine set to 106 Grams and usually get about 95-100. I would just do some research and figure out what YOU need everyday and then fix it in your goals:)
  • GodsGirl37
    GodsGirl37 Posts: 348
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    I have the opposite problem my proteins are always to low. any advice for that
  • keepitcroosh
    keepitcroosh Posts: 301 Member
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    I thought about this as well. According to my body builder friend, she says you can have about the same amount of weight you are. For example, i am 146lbs, so i can eat as much as 146gs of protein. I was concerned at first, but if your exercising regularly and eat good foods, its important to incorporate lots of protein to help with muscle. She weighed 170 and she would eat over 300gs+ a day as she is competing for Fitness. Stick to around your weight, you will not become excessively muscular or anything like that i promise!!!!!
  • Spartan_Maker
    Spartan_Maker Posts: 683 Member
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    No, it's not too much in my view. Today, you had 113 grams of protein. As a general rule, anyone who is following an intense workout program (as you are) and losing weight, should take in between 0.7 and 1.0 grams of protein per pound of body weight to preserve/gain muscle.
  • AddA2UDE
    AddA2UDE Posts: 382
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    I've been noticing that everyone that looks like I WANT to look on here has a high protein intake. I started adding 104g of protein powder to my diet every day. Check back with me in 90 days for results of this one-man experiment. :)

    And, as a sidenote, akaOtherWise suggested last week that I compare expensive protein labels to the cheap stuff at Wal-Mart. I did and was surprised at the similarities. (I don't care about silly stuff like taste and clumping. I only use 4 ounces of water and slam it like a shot anyway.) I may go back to Dymatize someday but for now, Wal-Mart's Body Fortress Vanilla is my new staple.
  • akaOtherWise
    akaOtherWise Posts: 110 Member
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    I thought about this as well. According to my body builder friend, she says you can have about the same amount of weight you are. For example, i am 146lbs, so i can eat as much as 146gs of protein. I was concerned at first, but if your exercising regularly and eat good foods, its important to incorporate lots of protein to help with muscle. She weighed 170 and she would eat over 300gs+ a day as she is competing for Fitness. Stick to around your weight, you will not become excessively muscular or anything like that i promise!!!!!
    No, it's not too much in my view. Today, you had 113 grams of protein. As a general rule, anyone who is following an intense workout program (as you are) and losing weight, should take in between 0.7 and 1.0 grams of protein per pound of body weight to preserve/gain muscle.

    While dieting to lose weight, it is said to have more than 1 gram of protein per pound of LBM to help perserve muscle while losing fat. You can not gain muscle while in a calorie deficit, (while trying to lose weight). I tend to set most people I train up with around 1.25gs of protein per pound of LBM while losing weight.

    Again, a link to my blog about protein needs for women, including a lab study.
    http://www.phfitness.net/2012/03/protein-needs-for-women.html
  • keepitcroosh
    keepitcroosh Posts: 301 Member
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    godsgirl37. Include more protein in your diet by adding it as an extra ingredient
    Here is a list of foods high in protein

    Chicken (pork/ham as well, but either way should be limited in ones diet as its not good to eat red meats all the time)
    Fish
    Eggs
    Dairy like cottage cheese, milk, most beans (ex: black, pinto,lentils etc)
    Nuts and seeds like almonds, peanuts, cashews , flax seed , sunflower seeds etc

    You can also buy protein drinks. Either a powder, or already ready to drink. There is also the option of protein bars, AND you can find great recipes for making your own protein cakes/bars on bodybuilding.com
  • rachelilb
    rachelilb Posts: 179 Member
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    Thank you all for your help!! This is all still so new to me,
  • raystark
    raystark Posts: 403 Member
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    I have the opposite problem my proteins are always to low. any advice for that

    beef, pork, chicken, turkey, any kind of fish, eggs, whey protein.
  • blonde71
    blonde71 Posts: 955 Member
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    No, it's not too much in my view. Today, you had 113 grams of protein. As a general rule, anyone who is following an intense workout program (as you are) and losing weight, should take in between 0.7 and 1.0 grams of protein per pound of body weight to preserve/gain muscle.

    Good to know as I'm currently doing this. I kept thinking it was too low of a number.
  • lilybeth1222
    lilybeth1222 Posts: 2
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    thanks for all the advice and to the OP for asking, I was just wondering this =)
  • taylor5877
    taylor5877 Posts: 1,792 Member
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    I'm 240 and I eat between 250-330 grams/day.

    No, with healthy kidneys there is no harm in eating more protein.

    The RDA is set at a level to keep sedentary individuals at a neutral nitrogen balance (not waste away), so the protein default is a MINIMUM. As mentioned, studies show 0.7-1g per pound for excercising individuals is good, though even higher levels aren't harmful and may actually be ideal (not a lot of peer reviewed articles testing even higher levels).

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