Hey guys,

I am currently trying to eat 3500+ per day but to get there and to eat protein in every meal my protein intake gets up around the 280+ gram mark. I know it's good to eat protein but is the excess going to waste?

Of course I could eliminate one or two of my protein shakes however this just means I have to find calories elsewhere. Currently my macros are roughly 30 fat, 30 carb and 40 protein.

Is it safe and or common to eat so much protein on a fairly high daily caloric intake??

Cheers!

i'm not sure on the dangers of too much protein, but i don't think that you are going too overboard. if your protein was something like 60%, then i might be concerned, but you must be on some bulking plan and working out a lot to need that many calories, so i think you are good ... open to second opinions, of course.

How much do you weigh?

I wouldn't worry about that level of protein intake, what you don't use should pass out the other end

People are often amazed at my metabolic rate. I'm 6'1, hover around 190 and I maintain at around 4000 calories. I had the same problem as you.

First of all, you don't need shakes at all. It's quite easy to get enough protein when you eat that much real food. In fact I usually still get well over 200. How do I fill in the calories? Whole grain pasta, brown rice and peanut butter are all very calorie dense. Dried fruits such as prunes and dried apricots can help fill in some gaps too

Here's my public fitday account if you want to see my diet

FitDay.com - Diet and Fitness journal for theG00CH

Don't get too caught up on making protein 30 percent of your caloric intake. It's a lot if you are consuming as many calories as you do.

Just find out how many grams of protein you need a day, eat that or a little over it and get the rest of your calories from carbs and fats. The truth is, that protein will "go to waste" as you put it. Eating more protein than you really need won't make your muscles grow even more, it will just get burned off. Plus, it takes more calories to digest and burn off excess protein. If you're bulking and having trouble getting enough calories eat more carbs and fats.

Very true, 30% of my calories is 300 grams of protein and I only weigh about 190.

Thanks guys, much appreciated. Looks like i will cut out the protein shakes and up the carbs and fats.

I am 6'0 and weigh about 202. I think my calorie intake for a bulk is even a little conservative.....my maintenance was calculated at about 3900! However, I have been losing fat for the last year or thereabouts and hit a nasty plateau so I have decided to mix it up with an 8 week bulk/2-3 week cut cycle to build a bit of muscle. I didnt want to go too crazy with upping my calories so I will see how this goes for the time being. However, I did note that my body reacted instantly with the increase in calories after hitting the plateau which was a nice surprise.

Thanks for the fitday info Gooch. I have actually been starting to add a lot more milk to my diet. I will take your lead and up the peanut butter intake too. However, the biggest difference is the carb intake.....I need to up it bigtime!

Thanks again for the help.

Edit: OOPS! Just realised that my maintenance is 2900 not 3900!! Luckily I have been easing into the bulk or it could have gotten interesting!

3400 cals should be no problems but i will still have to up the carbs.