Too much protein in my diet! Help!

For my weight and age I am supposed to have 43 grams of protein at the most per day. I am actually getting 86 grams per day! What do I do?

I eat yogurt with grape nuts in the morning. Later in the morning I have a banana. Then I might have carrots and grape tomatos with hummus or just a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese for a snack. For lunch I have a turkey sandwich with cheese, spinach and tomator OR I have a lean cuisine frozen dinner. For dinner, I usually have some kind of meat (fish, chicken, etc.). I think I eat too much food that comes from animals. What are your suggestions to cut back on my protein intake? My carbs, fat, and calories are just fine so I don't know what to do!

Thank you everyone!
--Katie

Don't worry about it.  Protein is good.

That doesn't sound high to me.  You need approx. 1 g of protein for every lb you weigh to support good muscle mass.  Especially if you lift weights.

Where did you read that the "most" protein is 43 grams?!  The absolute minimum for women is like 50 grams, just to support being alive.  I aim for about 100 grams for weight loss. 

Don't know what your weight or goal weights are but 86 grams sounds good if you're not working out. 

The calculation is .8 grams per kilogram. I weigh 54 kilograms which means 43.2 grams of protein needed. Too much protein can put stress on our kidneys as our bodies do not have a place to put extra, unused protein.

 Does anyone have any food substitutions I can use to lower my protein intake?

 Too much protein can put stress on our kidneys as our bodies do not have a place to put extra, unused protein. 

  

Never heard of such a thing...nor do i believe it.

~H~

I think you're confusing that with the absolute minimum like I said in my above post.  It's easy to do a search here in the forums because this subject has been discussed.  It's like 1 gram per kilogram, more for weight loss and weight training.  Those are minimums, not maximums. 

No one should be advising you to lower that amount of protein. 

Unless you are suffering from kidney failure, 86g of protein a day is NOT too much - it's about right! 43g of protein isn't enough for anyone bigger than a mouse...

This is what the paperwork the doc gave me about protein:

Minimum Daily Protein Requirement: W.H.O. recommends 0.45 grams of protein per kilogram of ideal body weight per day.

Maximum Daily Protein Requirement: US RDA recommends 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of ideal body weight per day. The UK Department of Health and Social Security is approximately the same.

I e-mailed him about too much protien hurting your kidneys. I will advise when he replies

here is his reply:

Paula, those at highest risk are people with high blood pressure, diabetes, or are older than age 65. High-protein diets like Atkins may accelerate the loss of kidney function in people with early problems. However, these controversial diets do not seem to affect people with normal kidneys. It is best to have a kidney function test prior to increasing protein consumption too more than 1 gram of animal protein for each gram of body weight.

Yeah, if you already have kidney problems, too much protein can make things worse, but if your kidney's are fine, then you don't have to worry too much about having too much protein.

Just out of curiousity, I wonder why your doc specified animal protein? I know that animal protein often comes with saturated fats and cholesterol, but I've never heard a lot of difference between animal and plant protein itself (except that it usually is more complete and has a greater variety of amino acids, but I think it's the nitrogen or the amine group that the kidneys have to deal with, and that's part of all protein)

probably because he knows I eat huge amounts of beef and chicken

Thank you so much for giving me a doctor's wisdom on this pgm. I feel much better knowing that my kidneys are healthy enough to get rid of extra protein. I think this is why they say not to have meat with every meal and to fill your plate with mostly veggies. Thanks again! I appreciate you taking me seriously and giving me an answer based on facts from a professional.

Looks like your issue has been resolved, I can only say I wish that was my problem lol

Yeah its thoses blasted carb's i have trouble keeping away ... grrrr

Also, if that much protein really did that much harm (unless you already have kidney problems of course)...many athletes and pretty much all bodybuilders would have kidney failure...

I'm amazed at some of these replies. Yes, of course there is such a thing as too much protein. You are correct in your facts-- 0.8 grams of protein/kg is a daily recommended maximum by the US government. Most Americans get way too much protein, and this is harmful, because like other people said, this puts stress on our kidneys. It's not something only old people have to worry about. 

Also, excess animal protein leeches calcium from our bones. 

Here's an article on it:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0815/i s_n10_v22/ai_19989437

Too much protein (more than 90g daily, I believe) was also linked to increased risk of osteoporosis in the Harvard Nurse's study.

A lot of my protein comes from milk and other high-calcium items.  I don't believe my high-protein diet is going to affect osteoporosis or calcium.

My typical amount of protein in a day:  70 - 90 (daily goal is 75 - 100, but usually don't make it).

My typical DV of Calcium in a day:  120%.

Original Post by purpleorchid89:

I'm amazed at some of these replies. Yes, of course there is such a thing as too much protein. You are correct in your facts-- 0.8 grams of protein/kg is a daily recommended maximum by the US government. Most Americans get way too much protein, and this is harmful, because like other people said, this puts stress on our kidneys. It's not something only old people have to worry about.

Also, excess animal protein leeches calcium from our bones.

Here's an article on it:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0815/i s_n10_v22/ai_19989437

1) Most Americans don't get way too much protein.  They have way too much starch and saturated fat in their diets and eat less protein than the FDA even recommends.

2) Protein is problematic in extremely high doses.  The nitrogen content CAN be very damaging to your liver and bones.  The recommended serving per day was recently increased by the FDA upon tests pointing in the direction that protein isn't dangerous in lower doses.  Dangerous doses of protein are around 4g per kg bodyweight.

It is NOT recommended to eat meals containing ONLY protein.  Doctors, scientists, and researchers recommend always eating protein with carbohydrates and/or lipids.

0.8g/kg is the daily recommended minimum for a sedentary couch potato whose only exercise is walking to the mailbox, and who isn't dieting. And even then it's only the minimum to avoid dying from protein malnutrition; it's only replacement level for what you lose through burning protein for energy, through sweat, and other excretions.

 Exercise and dieting both raise your protein needs. To about 1.4g/kg for dieting, and up to 1.8g/kg for exercise, depending on what you're doing for exercise.
 
 Read this from Journal of American College of Nutrition for details, but basically the minimum RDA is only valid for you if your only exercise is walking to the car, and the heaviest weight you lift is a box of Krispy Kreme donuts.