Are there ways to tell if you're getting too much protein?

[MrMatt]

I'm doing a cut, I've gone from 210ish to about 197. My strength has held up great; I haven't even lost a pound off some of my lifts despite the drop in weight. I'm averaging 340g protein on days I work out, and about 300 on days I do not. I know some here would think that extremely excessive, but I do better in the gym when I take in more protein. Still, I wonder if I could cut back to something like 275/250 for workout & nonworkout days...Short of having my piss tested is there any way to tell if I'm using all the protein I take in, and not pissing it out?

 

[scorpio110367]

You should take in between 1 gram to 1 1/2 gram per body pound per day. The protien you take in should be pharmaceutical grade whey. Take casien protien at night before you go to bed; that way your body doesn't eat at you. Casien meaning yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese. I personally, because of my genetic makeup, don't believe in taking supplements. The protien that are in the market nowadays are inferior to natural foods rich in protien. A lot of bodybuilders, strength athletes, football players that I train and train with really shit themselves out of these supplemental protien. I just eat 6 meals a day rich in protien and low in carb.

 

[brikis98]

My personal (non-scientific) opinion: if you are a healthy, young male with no existing kidney problems and you are doing a lot of exercise (especially weight training), you probably aren't going to see any negative health repercussions from that high of a protein intake. The only real downside is eating that much protein probably means you are not eating a lot of other stuff, such as veggies, fruits, fats and various other foods that contain vitamins & nutrients essential for your health. That, to me, is the most convincing argument against such a high protein intake, but that's still far from saying that it's "dangerous".

As for actual research on the matter, I've seen a lot of mixed opinions. "How Safe Are High-Protein Diets in Weight Training?" brings up a lot of good points and a general recommendation of eating under 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight (even for weight training), though frequently mentions that not enough research has been done on the subject matter. The ExRx Protein article brings up research that shows "that 2.0 to 2.6 g/kg/day of protein are required for periods of very intense weight training". And the Protein and exercise paper concludes that "protein intakes of 1.4 – 2.0 g/kg/day for physically active individuals is not only safe, but may improve the training adaptations to exercise training."

It looks like you are currently getting about 3.7 g / kg, which is substantially higher than any of the recommendations above. Again, this doesn't automatically mean it's dangerous, but it definitely seems excessive. Personally, for the sake of having a more "balanced" diet, you may want to cut back a bit.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

You should take in between 1 gram to 1 1/2 gram per body pound per day. The protien you take in should be pharmaceutical grade whey. Take casien protien at night before you go to bed; that way your body doesn't eat at you. Casien meaning yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese. I personally, because of my genetic makeup, don't believe in taking supplements. The protien that are in the market nowadays are inferior to natural foods rich in protien. A lot of bodybuilders, strength athletes, football players that I train and train with really shit themselves out of these supplemental protien. I just eat 6 meals a day rich in protien and low in carb.

Lol, it seems I'm gonna rag on your posts tonight. The ACTUAL suggestion from professionals (and not bodybuilders who played the telephone game and re-worded it incorrectly) is 1-1.5g per pound of lean body mass per day. LBM = (100 - % body fat)*(Body weight). That's quite a different number. Secondly casEIn protein actually doesn't matter. If you take in enough protein from your diet, the source doesn't exactly matter. If your body maintains a sufficient amino acid pool, which it will if you're getting 1-1.5g of protein/lb of LBM, going out of your way to get casein isn't going to really help you. This is where bodybuilding conflicts with science. An overall complete diet is superior to timing anything or trying to specifically get a certain thing (i.e. casein or beta-alanine or glutamine). When someone perfects, and I mean truly PERFECTS, his/her diet, then they can think about this stuff. But it won't make or break one's performance.

 

[surfsatwerk]

"Captain the Metamucil, it does NOTHING!!!!"

Yeah, that's when I've eaten too much protein.

 

[MrMatt]

Brikis pretty much hit the nail on the head with my reasoning. I don't get a lot of fruits & veggies. Because of the amount of eggs & meat I'm eating I'm at about 5x the amount of cholesterol, and relatively little fruits & veggies.

5 eggs, (1.5 servings oatmeal as well if I workout that day)
banana
apple
8 oz. chicken breast, skinless
10 oz. tuna & mayo
1 cup cottage cheese
12 oz. top round steak, fat trimmed off
8 oz. mixed vegetables
1 cup o.j.
8 oz. whole wheat pasta if it's a workout day.

So as you can see, not a whole ton of other stuff. On days I don't workout, 54% of my calories are from protein. I've been slowly switching over my diet, last couple of weeks I added in raspberry yogurt with breakfast. This week I'm starting to make smoothies with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries, soymilk & protein powder, and maybe 2 eggs. I'm also cutting back to 8 oz. of steak at night for dinner.

 

[z1ggy]

I live by chicken. High in protein, low in carbs. I will have one protein bar a day to give me a lil boost in the gym when I do lift, but mostly I do sparring and rolling around. Get your protein from things like fish and chicken. Shakes and supplements just weigh me down and make me feel bloated. So far this new year I have dropped 10 pounds and I haven't lost any strength either.

 

[Kaido]

My personal (non-scientific) opinion: if you are a healthy, young male with no existing kidney problems and you are doing a lot of exercise (especially weight training), you probably aren't going to see any negative health repercussions from that high of a protein intake.

What's the impact of a high protein diet to people with kidney problems?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

What's the impact of a high protein diet to people with kidney problems?

Well, too much of anything is a bad idea when it comes to kidney problems. The kidney can get overworked and can miss a lot of toxic stuff. That can result in increased toxic substances in the blood or flat out kidney failure. There's also everyone's favorite - kidney stones - which I've heard is second only to childbirth on the pain scale.

 

[Kipper]

What's the impact of a high protein diet to people with kidney problems?

Rapidly decreasing kidney function, which eventually means total kidney failure requiring dialysis or a transplant. A low-protein diet (0.6-0.8 g/KILOGRAM) is the main therapy for lowered kidney function. Kidney disease is very nasty stuff.

My personal (non-scientific) opinion: if you are a healthy, young male with no existing kidney problems and you are doing a lot of exercise (especially weight training), you probably aren't going to see any negative health repercussions from that high of a protein intake. The only real downside is eating that much protein probably means you are not eating a lot of other stuff, such as veggies, fruits, fats and various other foods that contain vitamins & nutrients essential for your health. That, to me, is the most convincing argument against such a high protein intake, but that's still far from saying that it's "dangerous".

There is no evidence connecting high protein intake and kidney failure/decreasing kidney function, so your opinion is pretty based in the science. But the lack of evidence doesn't prove that there is no connection. There is simply not enough research that has been done. I personally wouldn't go out of my way to recommend excessivel y high protein intakes. That said, the major risk factors for kidney disease are hypertension and diabetes - as well as a family history of kidney dysfunction.