Can you have too much protein????

Well, I have heard the body can't absorb more than 25 grams at once, and you just pee out the rest. I would think that over 100 grams a day would be too much.

too much Protein is supposed to be hard on the kidneys.

It has to be rather a lot to start causing actual problems -like several hundred grams a day.

But I reckon that eating Protein you dont stricly need in preference to other nutrients is pretty short sighted. I would argue that 50 to 60 grams a day is PLENTY for a woman of average physical activity and that for a bandster eating more than that means you're missing out on other things you need - like the fibre, antioxidands and Vitamins in fruit and veg and complex carbs like wholegrain breads or cereals. Focussing on protein too much means you dont get a balanced diet.

That is a pretty Australian viewpoint of it though, as our approach isnt quite so protein focussed. Very few people on this forum agree with me. None of us have dropped dead yet so I'd say there's room all along the continuum for various dietary practices and that probably ALL people who have had WLS fall short in various areas of their diet.

Yes you can have too much Protein. Protein is not stored by the body. It uses what it needs and then our liver breaks down the rest, the end product is urea and the kidneys excrete that. If you consistently take in too much it could cause Kidney stress. Too much could also lead to decrease in calcium=osteoporosis, slowed weight loss, etc.. Another issue is that excess protein is believed to increase your risk for some kinds cancers. Excess would be 30% more than your daily recomendation which varies by age, sex, activity level etc. but generally RDA is 60-70 grams. So, there is no real benefit to taking in excess and in the long-run, it could actually lead to health problems.

And like Jacqui said, as bandsters, eating much more than the RDA doesn't leave much room for the other essential nutrients.

I have always tried to get the 60 grams the my surgeon recommended. There was a while after surgery where I was taking in a little more due to hair loss but that was just for a short period of time.

Very good explanation. I knew it had to do with the kidneys.

I remember when the dietician came to our support group, she calculated for my height I need 60 grams per day. She said it goes by your height. I am 5'2"

In my support group one guy said he got Gout and his Dr told him it was from too much animal protein. He needed to also get vegetable proteins. He didn't go into detail about how much protein he was getting though. Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there.

Cheryl