here's a question that I will pose. In the late summer/fall I was trying to eat a lot of protein, i was doing some weight training, i was "running" on an elliptical 5-6 days a week, and eating normal meals, protein at lunch and dinner, w/ 2 protein shakes a day. i just seemed to be ballooning up, and not musclemass, i felt like i was getting chubbier, does that make sense or was i just going about it all wrong?

If you were truly gaining fat, you were most likely eating too many calories per day.

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When I upped my protein, that was ALL that went up. Carbs maybe went up by 2-3 more carbs/day but almost the exact same besides 3 extra chicken breasts and another scoop of whey (which is ALL protein).

Normally when people up their protein that normally get more carbs and fat along with it, which is something you need to pay mind to.

If you eat more than you can use of any macronutrient, it is converted to fat.

If Im not mistaken the RDA for protein is .8g/lb.

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with some people it can effect your kidneys in a bad way. my husbands friend had to cut back on the protien b/c of that.

Do the raw amino acids themselves have calories that can be converted to fat?

I don't know this for a fact by any means, but I have always thought that kidney damage wasn't necessarily caused by the protein itself, but other byproducts of meat, and also a lack of carbs.

When you don't eat enough carbs, you body will try to burn protein as an energy source, which makes byproducts that are hard on your kidneys. I have always assumed that if you eat enough complex carbs to allow your body to fuel off of, that protein won't be burned as an energy source, and therefore kidney damage is at least minimized.

Also, alot of people who eat alot of protein will eat alot of meat, and the byproducts of the meat, including the animal's lactic acid, will be absorbed into the bloodstream, putting a big load on the kidneys. Supposedly these byproducts can even be absorbed through the colon walls and get back into your bloodstream.

Both of these issues were discussed in the Mountain Bike Training Bible. So, this is why I've always assumed that excess amino acids ALONE isn't necessarily harmful, just not needed. I think it's the other extra baggate that does damage.

Amino acids is protein.

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Yeah, I know, but I was just trying to clarify the question. I mean that protein in its rawest form... not protein powder, not chicken, not steak, just pure protein, the amino acids themselves and NOTHING else... would it have calories? Would branched chain amino acid supplements have calories that could be turned into fat? Just curious.

I'm trying to tighten up on my protein intake, but honestly I'm a pretty big guy and the recommended intake of 1g per pound of body weight would have me taking in about 235g/day. The problem isn't getting the protein but my concern is that if I stick to that intake my macro-nutrient ratio would be skewed at about 40% protein. I guess my QUESTION is whether or not that macro-nutrient difference is better than not getting enough protein? I was thinking about a 40c/40p/20f ratio.

Just FYI I'm going for weight loss of about 50 pounds the healthy way and exercising about 3 times/week taking in about 2300 calories a day.

Also, I'm going from a low protein diet to a very high (in comparison) protein diet, should I expect anything different physically?

Thanks!

That type of protein intake will do you no harm and will benefit you in retaining muscle mass while you lose weight. If you are a beginning trainee, you might even slightly increase your muscle mass or at least maintain it.

There is no detrimental health issue with that amount of protein at your size. Have at er!

Michael

Ok, I know wikipedia isn't the most credible place to get information, but this worried me:

Liver dysfunction due to increased toxic residues

Listed as an issue of excess protein intake

I also saw that a reccomended daily intake of 56g and that made me weary of taking in 235g... is there a more accurate way I can gauge how much to consume?

Thanks!

somewhere on here -steve's mentioned that it should be about 1 gram per pound of lean body mass -which is not your body weight -though there are formulas and calcutors on the web,, they really aren't reliable -so you're sort of guessing at that point...

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That's too bad... I guess I'll try to factor out my lean body mass? Yikes.

EDIT: It was actually easy to find:

Lean Body Mass Estimation:


Results:
According to your measurements - weight of 235 pounds and height of 6' 0", your lean body mass is estimated to be 162.54 . Since the ideal body fat percentage for men is 15%, your ideal lean body weight is 145.29 pounds.