Many people know that people who work out like to eat protein very much. Fitness also requires eating a lot of protein.

Generally speaking, a daily intake of 1.6 to 2.3 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight is reasonable.

But what if you eat more? Will it have more benefits and be more conducive to building muscle, or will it damage the kidneys and the like as many people think?

At present, when it comes to weight loss and fat loss diets, the usual idea is to adjust and reduce the intake of carbohydrates and fats, and increase the intake of protein.

Some people believe that protein also has calories, and eating too much protein can also cause excessive calories, which can lead to an increase in body fat.

In fact, this is not the case.

In a 2014 report in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition, a group of subjects adopted a high-protein diet for eight weeks while maintaining the same intake of carbohydrates and fats. The results showed that their weight averaged There is an increase, but there is no significant increase in fat. In other words, the increase is basically muscle.

The interesting part of the experiment is that the group with high protein intake needs to consume 4.4 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight every day, which means that an 80-kg adult will consume 352 grams of protein. Another subject group had less protein, with an average of 307 grams per day, but it was also a relatively high intake.

The most surprising part of the data, however, was not the amount of protein but the total calories consumed.

The high-protein group consumed more than 800 kcal more calories per day than their average previous intake. But after eight weeks, their weight had only increased by 1.6 kilograms, and most of the gain was muscle rather than fat.

What does this result mean?

01. Not all calories are exactly the same

If you look at this experiment carefully, you will find that each nutrient has a different effect.

Excess carbohydrates and fat will be stored in the form of fat. Protein is amazing and is rarely used as surplus energy because the body mainly uses it to build muscle.

02. Protein, "digesting 1,000 will damage you by 300"

Furthermore, it takes a lot of calories to metabolize protein (that is, the thermic effect of food). Therefore, the body will think that it is better not to digest protein, because digesting protein requires more energy from the body itself.

Digesting protein approximately offsets 35% of its own heat production. Digesting fat and carbohydrates can only offset 15% and 5% of calories respectively.

In other words, for the same food calories, only 65% ??can be absorbed by eating protein, 85% can be absorbed by eating fat, and 95% can be absorbed by eating carbohydrates.

So the higher the protein intake, the more calories you consume. In fact, you absorb less calories, and your body looks slimmer.

03. A high-protein diet is beneficial to maintaining low body fat

Studies believe that protein intake has a greater impact on body fat.

A 2012 report pointed out that there is an obvious close relationship between low body fat and protein intake. At the same time, there is not much correlation between protein intake and fat gain.

The researchers conducted further experiments. They believe that in the 2014 experiment just mentioned, the reason why the subjects' body fat did not change much was not because they did not consume enough protein, but probably because the subjects did not carry out appropriate training.

So, they conducted another experiment in 2015 and compared groups that consumed 2.3 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight with those that consumed 3.4 grams. Both are paired with training programs five times a week.

The results showed that the group with high protein intake did not gain weight, but the group with lower intake did. Muscle mass increased in both groups, but the difference was not significant.

There was a significant difference in the fat content of the two groups. The lower protein intake group lost only 0.3 kilograms of fat. But the group with higher protein intake significantly lost 1.6 kilograms of fat.

The average body fat of the lower protein intake group dropped from 20.2% to 19.6%, while the higher protein intake group dropped from 18.3% to 15.9%.

Both groups consumed significantly more calories than usual and lost fat without gaining weight when consuming a high protein ratio.

04. If you eat too much protein, be careful about getting in shape

So, back to the question we asked at the beginning - does a large amount of protein intake have any impact on the human body?

Eating a lot of protein combined with an effective training program will not harm your health, but will promote muscle growth and fat loss, as long as you train adequately.

Some people may ask, is it really safe to eat too much protein?

A 2015 study showed the impact of protein intake on various health indicators, such as glomerular filtration and creatinine. It was found that high protein had no impact on these indicators, but this was only based on After an 8-week experiment, the long-term effects are still unknown.

If you have related health risks, please treat these study results with caution and consult your doctor and nutrition expert first.

Nevertheless, from the editor's point of view, based on a large number of long-term practical experiences of fitness professionals, the protein intake range of 1.6 to 2.3 grams per kilogram is still more recommended.

Because this intake currently does not cause diseases in large areas, and it can also achieve excellent results. There is no need for us to conduct experiments on ourselves anymore.

Just remember that if you are already healthy, high protein intake will not cause health risks.