I have a question for you all. How many grams of protein does one have to eat to be high protein dieting? I don't want to high protein but I noticed through fitday I eat over 100g-160g of protein everyday.

I did find in Protein Power its 1 gram per lb of weight. That means I should eat 286g of protein... isn't that high protein?

Lessara:

Unknown here, but on the Zone diet, your daily dietary protein requirements are a function of your Lean Body Mass, not your overall weight.

Maybe PP is the same? e.g. a woman weighing 200, at 35% BF, should be consuming 130 grams of Protein per day?

Hogey

I think it's based on lean body mass (LBM) in the Protein Power formula, not total weight.

And the suggested numbers, 0.6 for the average person, 1 gram per LBM for athletes is the minmum protein requirement.

I have not read anywhere what is the maximum limit. If anyone finds such a formula, please share it.

I frequently go at double and tripple the minmum with no problems.

Wa'il

I wouldn't necessarily base the judgement on grams of protein. Probably a better guage would be to look at the percentage of total daily calories from protein. If you go the percentages route, it seems reasonable to say that if greater than 35% of total calories are from protein, you're probably edging into "high protein diet" territory.

...says the girl who is definitely doing the high protein thing.

Actually, I've rethought that a little. Probably better to say that when protein makes up the greatest percentage of your total caloric intake, you are into "high protein" territory.

(note to self: always think through what you're actually saying before hitting the 'submit reply' button)

I have been reading a lot of low carb books so forgive me for not being able to name the source but I just found a notation for simple protein requirnments is .5 grams a day times your ideal/goal body weight. THis calc is much simplier that the long one in PP which I could not bring myself to do.

I hope this helps.

That means if my lean body is ~160 then I'm doing just fine then, right? Cool.

Lessara, why are you worried if your diet could be considered "high protein"? From your stat line you seem to be losing quite well. The problem with trying to determine if you are high protein is who's definition are you going to use? Most dieticians will advise about .6 grams*lbm if sedentary, or up to .9 grams*lbm if highly athletic. Looking at your stat line your goal is 160 lbs at 25% BF, which would make your lbm 120. So by their number you should be eating between 72 and 108 grams of protein a day, so most definately the would consider you high protein. Of course these same dieticians would advise you to sandwich your protein in between 250-300 grams of carbs, so lets ignore them.
I am coupling low carb with resistance training. My goal protein is 150 grams min, which eventually I will increase up over 225+ as I increase muscle mass. In my opinion protein gets a bad rap.
High protein supposedly causes kidney damage, this is based off studies in which kidney disfunction increased in people with damaged kidneys on a high protein diet. Using this type of science one could show walking is bad for ones health, because people with broken legs further injured themselves when forced to walk on them. There has been no studies to my knowledge which have linked high protein diets with damaged kidneys. Body builders have been pumping 300+ grams of protein for years, yet there is no epidemic of renal failure in this sport.
Protein has been shown to improve the autoimmune system, is required for muscle growth and repair, and can even be converted to glucose/glycogen if necessary. Its good stuff!!!!
So even if you are high protein, don't sweat it. Those warnings are coming from the same people who told you your cholestorol would skyrocket on this diet.

June is the month I get my blood tested and besides cholesterol, my liver and kidneys also get checked as well as sugar. My doctor has put the fear of high protein diets effecting my kidneys. He seems fine with high fat and Atkins so I did listen to him...was I wrong?

IMHO, this whole nonsense of referring to LC dieting as high protein is the result of a big disinformation campaign by people like Dean Ornish. They try to convince everyone that Atkins prescribed we eat vast quantities of protein and not a shred of veggies! We who know better know that Atkins never said anything like that! But people who have never read the book and know only what they have read in the press about the WOE don't know that, which is what people like Ornish intend.

And don't you think that if there were even one case of damage to healthy kidneys from LC eating that they would be parading that person on every talk show on the planet? Well, they aren't because there hasn't been one!

The percentages in my diet naturally are about 70-75% fat, 5% carbs, and the other 20-25% protein, which does not qualify as a high protein diet to me.

Karla

People often get causation and association mixed up, so this does NOT suprise me one bit

Lessara, what does he define as high protein? There is nothing wrong with getting everything checked as you go along, I just don't believe there has been enough evidence linking high protein with damage to healthy kidneys.

Karla I do agree that most low carb diets are not high protein; however, my diet is most definately high protein and it is intended to be. It disturbs me that people use bad science to bash something. This aversion to protein is just another example of how people will give recommendations without really knowing how it will affect people.

1. Low carb is bad because it is high fat, and we only lose water weight. Fact: Then I have lost over 40 lbs of water, the majority of which was around my waistline.
2. Low carb is bad because our cholestorol will sky rocket due to increase of animal based products. Fact: My cholestorol has dropped 25 points.
3. Low carb is really a low cal diet in disquise. Fact: I'm losing weight, and I am not hungry. Who cares!
4. Low carb does not include enough vegetibles. Fact: Most Low carbers who follow Atkins recommendations eat a larger quantity and more variety of vegetables than most low fat people. Unfortunately there is a growing number of "Fad" Low carbers who do not understand what the whole program entails.
5. Low carb is hard on your kidneys because of the high amounts of protein involved. Fact: Most low carbers do not consume high quantities of protein, and if they did there has been no studies which link high protein to kidney damage when the kidneys were healthy to begin with.
6. Low carb is bad because it causes.... bad breath, low energy, irritability, and holes in the ozone layer.. Fact: Maybe the people who have been advising us don't have a clue, and still refuse to admit it.