Protein myths

(Anita Huska) #1

Is 42 grams of protein too little for 1300 calorie diet, if you weigh 115 pounds? I really am still having problem with that also fat grams all these different docs and sites say different amounts, I not trying to lose lots, how accurate are these macro calculators? They also say eat till you not hungry? Some days I hungry than others so confused still? My weight bounces around one pound back and forth inches a little smaller, but its been two months!

Protein Myths: Continued
(mole person) #2

I’m about your size and 45 grams works very well for me. I have no trouble adding lean mass at that level. You really do not need to over-worry about this level though. I have many days when I double that amount without ill effect. Just don’t overdo protein by too much or too often.

(mole person) #3

You want to add fat until you are satisfied. Don’t try to keep to a calorie amount. Eat only until you are satisfied. I have days where I will eat 750 calories of food and others where I bust through 2000. But when I look for an average it’s in the 1200 range. Just stick to 20 grams of carbs and eat enough to satisfy you at meals.

How long have you been eating ketogenically?

(Carl Keller) #4

I have a similar experience and my calories ranged from 1000 to 2000 when I ate to satiety. I admit that it did concern me a little but I trusted my hunger and everything worked out.

#5

Remember the key isn’t your total weight, it’s your Lean Body Mass. This is a more confusing and trickier number to pin down.

The reason your protein amount is based on your lean mass rather than your overall mass is that, for the most part, you don’t need protein to maintain your fat. You do need protein to help replace protein based parts of your body and maintain them though (muscle, parts of organs, etc).

But yea, there’s some debate on the exact range, and you could eat more without problems, but if you are somewhere between .61 and 1.5 grams per kg of lean body mass, you’ll probably do fine. From the research I’ve seen, I personally favor skewing on the lower end of that spectrum, though not the lowest end for various reasons, but you’ll probably be fine anyway.

So, 42 grams may not be too little for you, depending on how much lean body mass you have. Higher protein isn’t likely to help you loose more weight if that’s your issue, though it may help build some more lean body mass up to a certain point and with the right context. If your weight is staying the same though and you are getting a little smaller inches wise, then you are already developing lean body mass to replace any fat on you (which is a good thing, and why weight itself isn’t particularly meaningful for how fit you may be [athletes would often be considered obese if you just looked at their weight, rather than their body fat %]).

(Anita Huska) #6

Almost 2 months so I sitting at 65 grams of protein today but trying to keep it lower mostly, I hope its not too much I love my protein so its hard. I eat a good amount of health fat like oils.

(mole person) #7

I generally hit around 50 grams, but last night I overshot 90…lol. I really don’t find this hinders me as long as it’s not happening too frequently. In fact it might even be that intermittently overshooting like this is stimulating to the metabolism. I wouldn’t worry about your protein at those levels at all unless you get really stalled and can’t find any other explanation.

(mole person) #8

Also, at 115 lbs you can’t really have very much fat to lose. Fat losses get really slow at this point and you sometimes have to make several adjustments. Getting from 114 to my current weight of 106 took an entire year on keto. It’s just not a crash sort of diet. On the plus side, this is now the weight my body WANTS to be, and I don’t gain it back easily at all. How much are you trying to lose?

#9

IMO 42g is too little for somebody that’s alive and doesn’t want to loose what muscle they have.

(mole person) #10

I can gain muscle at 47 grams. I haven’t tried less so it might be I could go lower and still gain, but I don’t want to…lol.

(Robert C) #11

It seems that exercise is the deciding factor in adding / maintaining muscle (not so much protein intake). I guess scavenging allows for muscle growth without much dietary protein?

(mole person) #12

There is a lot of protein turnover every day. I wish I could remember the number but, if I remember correctly, it is in excess of the amount typically eaten. However we do lose quite a bit of protein every day as well. Some is lost to energy metabolism and more is lost to things like sloughed off skin, hair and nail growth etc. So we do need to replace a fair bit. However how much that is remains an open question. Further, we also know that it will be highly variable among individuals. Richard Morris has a graph from a study that shows that some fit, young adult males are in nitrogen balance as low as 0.3 g/kg of body mass while other need 1 g/kg.

I have no interest in over-consuming protein. I often do, but that’s more because of my willpower wars than any belief that it’s actually benign. Protein is insulogenic, expensive to metabolize for energy while at the same time being virtually entirely unstorable. Since it is unstorable we do end up using most excess as fuel and that is inefficient and leads to oxidative stress. I do want to ensure that I have enough for the needs of my lean tissue and continued strength, but I don’t want to have much more than that.

All that being said, I don’t think going somewhat over our protein needs has much negative effect on most people’s weight loss, in fact it may very well be the opposite. There is no question that protein (especially from meat sources) is deeply satiating.

(Anita Huska) #13

I am trying to lose about the same as you but yes its been a lot of bouncing around if I could find the right amount between protein and fat I be happy, I also do IF from supper to later around 12 or later, then dinner and over again but I change it a couple of times a week now with breakfast and the nothing till supper, just for a change,

(mole person) #14

IF worked for me but it had to be OMAD. I was just able to eat too much over even 6 hrs. When I switched to one meal a day in a one hour window I lost ten pounds quite quickly. It sounds hard but my body started to get used to it after about a week. Other than that I’d basically recommend the following:

  1. Don’t eat sweet things, even artificially sweetened things.

  2. Avoid keto foods that mimic carby foods.

  3. Don’t snack, even if you are hungry. Train your body that it’s fed at mealtimes only. If you find you’re hungry every day then increase the amount you eat at your mealtimes. But keep your insulin low throughout the rest of the day by not eating anything else.

  4. Don’t have too much dairy or nuts. Both those things stall many people. I can’t control myself around nuts so I no longer eat them at all. You may want to limit yourself to just an ounce or two of each a day.

Good luck!

(Anita Huska) #15

I eat a lot at meals and no more than a ounce of nuts and dairy no more than that, I don’t eat that many nuts everyday they are good for snack and its no more than 2 halves or 3. Eating once a day is not a option, I have too many health issues, I keep protein down and see and fats not too high but not low either, it doesn’t matter if it takes months, Summers coming won’t be as easy as long as I don’t gain. I swim 3 times a week, bad knee so can’t do a lot of heavy or aerobics. Thanks I appreciate it you are the first who didn’t have a lot to lose.

(Robert C) #16

I totally agree that over is better than most alternatives. If, at the end of a day macro-wise, you know you are supposed to eat about half a small sausage (in terms of protein) and you are starting to overload on hunger. Going for that (likely enough) butter-seared Ribeye is MUCH better than saying “the hell with it” and hunting for some pizza delivery number.

(mole person) #17

Ack…that’s under 2 grams of protein!

I actually don’t usually have much difficulty sticking to my protein macro. Last night I had two chicken thighs which came in at 46 grams. Dead on. I did have some Camembert afterwards which pushed me over but I was stuffing myself (really need to drop dairy again, I suck at self control :sleepy:). If it hadn’t been on the table I wouldn’t have thought of touching it.

I also find that when I DO really overdo it I get pretty ill. The last two times I’ve got to 90g I woke up in the night horribly nauseated. Clearly my body is screaming that I’m eating way too much protein.

#18

42g is enough to maintain ur muscle mass. Only ur body knows the accurate ammount how much calories u need, calculators just give rough estimate. Eat when ur hungry and stop when u hit satiety, not more than that. Dont know ur height but id guess ur already in normal weight range so any weight loss will be harder than usual.

(Robert C) #19

I don’t have nausea but I definitely overheat if I have too much protein near bedtime.
I guess, due to the “thermic effect” of protein being high (per the link below).
I have found - while trying to nail down sleep hygiene - that skipping lunch and moving dinner up to mid-afternoon (when I can) really helps with sleep.

You might find the same, that overdoing protein but not then falling asleep might avoid the nausea.

(mole person) #20

I’m sure eating earlier would help. The weird thing is that the nausea is helped by salt. Two nights ago I woke with awful bloating, stomach pain, and nausea so bad that I was sure I was going to vomit. I sipped some salt water and after a few sips I began to feel better, by the time the cup was empty I was fine again. Also, it felt like my digestion had stopped and the salt water started it up again. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on.