Will Eating Too Much Protein Make Me Fat

If you eat more protein than your body requires, it cannot simply disappear - so where do you think it goes?

Added:Tue, 1st December 09

The simple answer is YES!

The principal contents of protein are amino acids. Strictly, protein or amino acid cannot be stored in the body. However, if you consume more protein that is required it does not just disappear. Your body converts the excess amino acids into "acetyl CoA" and used to make fatty acids and is stored as body fat.

So the important thing is to eat only what the body needs. So you need to find out what that is. To do this, you need to find out your lean body weight and then multiply it by your activity level.

1

Take your body weight in pounds

Example: 194 lbs

2

Find your body fat %.

You need to obtain a pair of callipers and do the skin fold test, which is typically performed on the triceps or biceps, but can also be done on the top of the thigh or around the midrift. Pop along to your local gym. They should be able to help.

Ensure that all of the skin fold measurements are located on the right side of the body and that the measurements are taken in millimetres

Pick up the skin fold between the thumb and the index finger so as to include two thicknesses of skin and subcutaneous fat

Apply the callipers about one centimetre from the fingers and at a depth about equal to the thickness of the fold

Quick Tip!

It is recommended that you repeat the procedure 3 times over 3 days. The mesurement should be taken by the same person at the same time of day, ideally in the morning.

Add the results of each measurement to get a total value in millimetres

Example: 15.7% (which is .157 for the step below)

3

Take your body weight in pounds and subtract the % body fat

Example: 194 lbs - (194 x .157 = 30.45 lbs of fat) = 163.54 lbs of lean body weight

4

Choose your activity factor to best reflect your typical activity level

0.5 Sedentary
0.6 light to moderate daily activity (walking, gardening,
housework, etc)
0.7 exercising for approximately 1- 2 hours a day at least 3-5 times
a week
0.8 exercising for approximately 2-3 hours at least 3-5 times a
week
0.9 exercising for approximately 2 hours every day in the week
1.0 exercising for several hours a day

Take your lean body weight and multiply by your activity factor

Example: 163.54 lbs x 0.7 = 114.47 g of protein a day

5

Divide your daily protein requirements by 3 meals and 2 snacks (with breakfast and lunch containing more than the evening meal) and that is what your protein target is for each meal.