🍗 3 Signs You’re Consuming Too Much Protein & Losing Muscle (2024)

Video Summary

Today’s topic is about a high-protein diet, especially as it pertains to maximum muscle growth.

How do you know if you are eating too much protein? And is eating more protein going to help you gain that much more muscle?

Not really.

Muscle growth takes a lot of time, many months.

Genetics aside, it’s very much hormone-controlled. Better hormones = more muscle and less fat.

The Problem With High Protein Diet

A high-protein diet will make you:

  • Feel totally run down and tired all the time
  • Cause stomach & digestive problems
  • Thirsty and dehydrated
  • Not sleeping well and poor sleep causes a million health problems.

And you will NOT gain a ton of muscle, anyway.

A very high protein diet is not sustainable long-term.

The truth is, for the most extreme athletes, the absolute highest amount of protein they need is no more than 1.5 grams per pound of body weight.

Most will do perfectly fine with 1 gram. And if you don’t exercise, half of that is fine.

Opposite Effects

Eating protein increases protein synthesis – which means more muscle. This is good.

However, the more protein you eat, the more you also oxidize. Which means the more protein you burn.

This decreases protein synthesis.

So after a certain amount, the opposite effects happen and you can slowly become a little more catabolic, instead of anabolic.

Speaking of anabolic, by optimizing your hormones, you dramatically increase anabolism and protein synthesis.

Also, it’s not good for your kidneys to eat so much protein for years and years.

So, What’s The Solution?

Lastly, you better make sure if you’re eating all that protein, it’s of great quality. Such as grass-fed beef and bison, wild-caught salmon, pasture-raised chicken and eggs, and so forth.

Regular junky protein which most of you will be eating will only cause more damage to your body, inflammation, gut problems, and hormonal imbalances.

Instead of extra protein, add healthy fats and more carbs. BOTH will help hormones and allow you to build more muscle and have more stamina and strength.

Again, stop going to extremes. It never works.