How much is too much protein I How much protein can you have at once
In this video Eric Roberts tackles the common question of whether one can consume too much protein. He first debunks the popular myth that the body can only absorb 20‑30 g of protein per meal, explaining that the claim stems from a single study on young, resistance‑trained men and does not apply universally. Roberts describes how protein is broken down into amino acids, absorbed via intestinal transporters, and notes that different protein sources (whey, casein, eggs, Greek yogurt) digest at varying rates, with the body capable of handling larger amounts when needed. He acknowledges a positive aspect of the “30 g per meal” guideline: spreading protein intake every 3‑5 hours can optimize muscle protein synthesis (MPS) and help control hunger. Roberts then explores scenarios where excessive protein could be problematic: pre‑existing kidney issues; digestive discomfort caused by specific protein sources (e.g., dairy for a sensitive individual); consuming a very large amount in a single meal; and rapidly increasing daily protein intake without adaptation. He advises gradual increases (e.g., 20 g steps) to allow the gut to adjust. The video also highlights the importance of balanced macronutrients. Over‑emphasizing protein at the expense of carbohydrates can impair workout performance, reduce fiber intake, and disturb hormonal health (mood, sleep, libido). Similarly, neglecting dietary fats—especially when relying on ultra‑lean protein sources—can lead to hormonal and recovery issues. Roberts recommends ensuring adequate carbs and healthy fats (e.g., whole eggs, fatty fish) alongside protein. Finally, he stresses that individual response matters: if a person feels good, performs well, and has no adverse symptoms, there is no need to worry about “too much” protein. He directs viewers to a separate, detailed video on calculating personal protein needs and encourages comments and likes.
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YouTube, what's going on? Welcome back to the channel. Welcome to the video. In this video, we are going to be covering the topic of can you eat too much protein? It is a question I get asked very often, and there is a lot of nuances that go into answering this question, which is why, like, when I do more of kind of like the short-form content, like my Instagram or my TikTok, which if you don't follow me there You can follow me @ericrobertsfitness. But when I do short-form content, I really can't dive into the in-depth weeds and the nuances of the actual question because the answer is, it's my favorite answer, it depends. Can you eat too much protein? It depends on so many different scenarios, which as you can see, we will touch on a lot of these scenarios right here, right now. So stick around, let's get into it. First and foremost, we're going to cover the scenario of You've probably heard this before. You can only digest 20, 25, 30 grams of protein at once. You shouldn't eat more than 30 grams of protein at one meal because your body won't absorb it or digest it or do whatever these people say it does or doesn't do. And so there's 2 things I want to talk about. I'm going to talk about the problem with this statement and I'm also going to talk about the positive thing with this statement. I tried to be very unbiased here and I try to give you again the most In-depth answer possible. So first and foremost, the problem is just it's not accurate. There are too many studies to show that even if your body can quote unquote only absorb 20, 25, 30 grams of protein at once, whatever the magical number is— and by the way, that magical number came from one study which I'll link here below— that basically had young resistance-trained Men after their workout showed roughly about 20 grams of protein was what their body digested at that particular moment in time. The issue is not everybody is a resistance-trained young man. Not everybody has the protein needs of a 20-year-old resistance-trained young man. Not everybody has the testosterone or the metabolism or the lean muscle mass, or basically you're different. You're an individual. So one study of just young resistance-trained men is not going to conclude what every single person should be doing forever. And the second thing is there have also been other studies that show, like this one right here, which I will link here again below. They had people, I believe it was younger females who I believe they had around 54 grams of protein at once, or they had 54 grams of protein spread out over the course of a few meals. And again, what the study showed was There was no real effect in protein metabolism, which just means their body digested the 54 grams of protein whether they ate 54 grams at once or they spread it out over the course of a day. And that's the thing, without getting too in-depth and too into the weeds here, essentially what happens is you eat protein, goes into your stomach, your stomach breaks it down into something called amino acids, which you may have heard before. Amino acids are just the building blocks of protein. And then your small intestine takes these amino acids and transports them into your bloodstream. But there is only so many transporter cells that can have you get this, get these amino acids and put them into your bloodstream. So people think, oh well, because you only have so many transporter cells, again, you can only digest 20, 30, 40, whatever it is, grams of protein at one time. There's a few faults with this, which is number one, there are different kinds of protein that digest at different rates. For example, let's just simply talk about a casein protein versus a whey protein. A casein protein is a slower digesting protein. So that would mean since it's slower digesting than whey protein would be, you're not going to have as many amino acids needed to be put into the bloodstream at once because it's digesting at a slower rate than whey protein is. Or for example, if you had egg whites versus Greek yogurt— Greek yogurt, again, it's a slower digesting form of protein, so you wouldn't need to have as much transporter cells to put the amino acids into the bloodstream because it digests slower to begin with. And the second part to this is your body has kind of, um, uh, like, like fail-safes if you want to call it sometimes where, for example, if you have protein in your stomach, what your body can do is it can delay the release of those proteins and the digestion of those proteins so that your, your body essentially puts the amino acids into your bloodstream when you need it or when it can take it. So essentially being the problem is it's just not true. And let's just say it was true. Your body is going to digest what you give it and absorb what you give it. When it comes to protein, at the end-all be-all, you would essentially break down the protein into something called glucose, which again, without getting too in-depth here, just think of glucose as potentially like energy for your brain or your liver or whatever you needed to have energy for. So that's the problem first and foremost. It's not true. You can have more than 20, 30, 40 grams of protein at one meal because even think about Think about myself. If I weigh 260 pounds and I have more lean muscle than you, or vice versa, right? I would need a higher protein goal for my body and my lean muscle mass and you know my structure than maybe you would if you're five three, 140 pounds. But what am I supposed to do? I can only eat 20 grams of protein at once, so I'm going to have 16 meals throughout the day. No, this depends on you as well. Like if If you are more active than I am, you would probably need more protein as well. So there's so many variables that come into play, which we'll talk about how much protein you should be eating later on at the end of this video. But please just know this whole concept of your body can only digest 20, 30 grams at once, it's not true. Your body's going to digest what you give it. Now with that being said, I do actually like the concept of this. I'm going to tell you why. It's not about an exact number. It's more so just having more frequent protein feedings throughout the day for 2 main reasons. Number one is because of something called muscle protein synthesis. There are studies that show if you have protein roughly every 3 to 5 hours, you are going to optimize your muscle protein synthesis, which muscle protein synthesis, or sometimes people will like refer to it and just put the acronym MPS. This is just essentially, again, without getting too in depth here, how your body builds strength and builds muscle and recovers from your workouts. So if you eat protein roughly every 3 to 5 hours, you may only get 20, 30 grams of protein at the meal, not because you can't digest more than that, but just because like you spread your protein out over the course of the entire day. Let's say you're somebody who's trying to eat 150 grams of protein. If you eat 30 grams of protein 5 times a day, that just spreads your protein out evenly throughout the day to optimize muscle protein synthesis. Not necessarily because you can't eat more than 30 grams at once. You're just roughly getting around. And again, if it's 35 grams one time or 27 grams one time, whatever the case may be, you're spreading out your protein intake evenly throughout the day to optimize muscle protein synthesis, not necessarily because you can't digest 30 grams at once. And number 2, I've just seen coaching literally thousands of people. If you eat protein more frequently throughout the day and spread it out evenly throughout the day, You can really keep your hunger at bay. And if you're somebody who's trying to stick to a diet or stay within your calories or whatever the case may be, if you eat protein more frequently throughout the day and spread it out a bit more evenly, not like have 10 grams of protein at breakfast and then like 15 grams at lunch and try to get like 120 grams of protein at dinner, which we'll talk about that whole scenario here in a second. But if you do that, that's probably— even though you are eating protein frequently, it's not really spread out. spread out evenly. And so you're probably going to get to the nighttime starving because you're not eating a ton of protein throughout the day. So for those 2 main reasons, I do actually like having that, like call it 20 to 40 grams of protein kind of spread out evenly throughout the day. But it's not because of the, you can't absorb it. It's more so for those 2 reasons, for muscle protein synthesis and to keep your hunger at bay throughout the day. So hopefully that covered that right there. If you have any questions on it, drop it below. And again, there'll be links to studies here in the description of this show if you want to check them out. Now, the second part is going to be talking about not just at one meal, but can you have too much protein overall for the entire day? And so there's a few it depends scenarios here, and we're going to talk about them right now. Number one, just first and foremost, I have to say, if you are somebody who has preexisting kidney issues, you may potentially be at risk for eating too much protein in one day. But if you're somebody who has this, you would probably it. And if not, please feel free to check with your doctor. But that is the overarching scenario of like, if you're having too much protein today, that might potentially be why. So I just want to say that first and foremost. The second scenario where you might be eating too much protein is if it causes really fucked up digestion. And even then, I want to touch on a few things here. So a super high protein diet can sometimes cause your digestion to be messed up. But I would first and foremost look at the actual protein sources that you are eating. For example, I had a client one time who she was eating a very high protein diet for her body weight, but, and, and she was getting some bad digestive issues. But when we took a look at the actual protein sources she was eating, she was having roughly 80 to 100 grams of protein per day coming from like protein shakes and protein bars and protein supplements. As well as things like Greek yogurt and just dairy in general. So we found out for her, it wasn't she was eating too much protein, she was eating too much protein coming from dairy. Because for that individual, dairy for her was something that kind of triggered some gut health issues. And that's not for everybody. I'm saying that was for her. You might— I like, for me, I'm totally fine with dairy, but for her, the excess amount she was having was just a bit too much for her. So we swapped out some of her protein shakes for like beef jerky. We swapped out some of the dairy and Greek yogurt for more like eggs in the morning and egg whites in the morning and just simple things like that. And she ate the same amount of protein and she was fine. She had no digestive issues because it was more so the things she was eating, not necessarily the fact that she was eating a certain amount of protein per day. So I would first and foremost look at that before you kind of say, oh, I'm eating too much protein. You may, But it actually might just be what are you eating that is causing you to potentially have some gut health issues. And again, it might not just be protein sometimes. It might be other things you may or may not be eating, which we'll talk about here in a second. This is also where this right here might actually come into play because I've also seen sometimes— this is different for every single person— but sometimes if you're somebody who, again, you don't eat a lot of protein in the morning, You don't eat a lot of protein throughout the day. It comes to, you know, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 PM. You have like 120 grams of protein left to hit and you're trying to fit 120 grams of protein into one meal. Yeah. If you do that, that very well may cause some digestive issues, which is why again, we talk about potentially spreading out your protein a bit more frequently and a bit more evenly throughout the day. To potentially rid yourself from some of those digestive issues from eating too much protein at one time. The third thing I'll say on this topic, and then we'll move on, I have also seen sometimes when people increase their protein maybe too quickly, let's say for example you're eating 50 grams of protein per day and you immediately try to go to 150 grams of protein per day, that might cause some digestive issues up front in the beginning because you're massively increasing your protein. I've honestly seen it normally goes away after about 2, 3, 4, 5 weeks. But if maybe you just want to take it step by step by step instead. So if you're eating 50 grams and you're supposed to be eating 150 grams, maybe go from 50 to 70, 70 to 90, 90 to 110, and slowly but surely kind of tack on these things kind of week by week, which might allow your body to get used to the protein amount a bit more, which can help save some digestive issues as well. But if you've tried all of those things, And you still have digestive issues, then yes, maybe slightly decreasing the amount of protein you are intaking per day may potentially help. The third scenario right here is if, if you can't eat enough carbohydrates. So if you're eating too much, and anybody who follows me, I typically usually just say, especially for fat loss, focus on calories and focus on protein. And I will say this, I have not met many people. I have definitely met people and honestly coached people But I have not met many people who are eating so much protein that they're not getting enough carbohydrates. But it does happen because, for example, if you are eating so much protein and you're not eating enough carbohydrates, there's a few things that could happen potentially from this. And number one is you are going to feel it in your workouts because carbohydrates are the main source of fuel for your workouts. So if you're eating, you know, 200 grams of protein per day And you're only eating 40 grams of carbs per day, you're, even though you're eating a ton of protein, which does help you recover from your workouts, you have no energy for your workouts because you're eating next to no carbohydrates. And so when you go into your workouts, you're going to be very lethargic. You're not going to lift as much weight. You're not going to build as much muscle. You're not going to do as many reps. Your performance is going to greatly suffer, which is why things like the carnivore diet or the keto diet is not the best, especially Especially for workout performance because you have no carbohydrates to help fuel your workouts. And so if you're somebody who cares about your workouts and you want to build muscle and get stronger and build more muscle definition, do all these things, carbohydrates are going to be incredibly important. And just make sure you're not eating too much protein to where you're not getting enough carbohydrates to fuel your workouts. And number 2, for example, if you're not eating enough carbohydrates, you're probably not eating enough fiber as well. Which again, when we talk about like, you know, the keto diet or the carnivore diet or stuff like that, fiber is one of the main things missing from those diets. Which if you don't have fiber, number one, good luck going to the bathroom. You'll be sitting down like looking like this every single time. And also fiber just provides a ton of health benefits as well. So if you're somebody who is eating so much protein and not getting enough dietary fiber, that could be an issue as well. And number 3, carbs do play a role in the hormonal process as well. Not as much as dietary fats, Which we'll talk about in a second. But carbs do play a role in the hormonal process. So for things like mood, for things like sleep, for things like, uh, you know, reproductive system, all that kind of stuff. So carbs do play a role in that as well. So if you want to make sure you maintain a healthy hormonal profile, you want to make sure you, again, you are intaking adequate carbs per day. And then number 4, which we kind of already touched on, is if you're not getting enough dietary fats per day as well. This is something that could potentially happen depending on the kind of protein sources you're using. If you are eating a lot of like very, very lean sources of protein, like 99/1 ground turkey, or you're only eating egg whites, and you're only eating chicken breasts, you're not eating things like whole eggs, or you're not eating things like steak, or you're not eating things like, you know, chicken thighs, or you're not eating things like 94/6 ground beef or ground turkey, because those things have some dietary fat in there. But if you're not eating those things, you're not going to get that, and you're not getting enough dietary fat in your diet because your protein is so high, well then that can cause some major hormonal issues as well, which again, when you talk about hormonal issues, you talk about things like lacking in sleep, lacking in energy, lacking in mood, potentially some reproductive system disturbances and so on and so forth, not being able to recover from your workouts. All of those things kind of start to creep up if you're not intaking enough dietary fat. Even things like libido, which I know you don't want to have happen to you. Also, dietary fat can help with it. Like for example, um, I, I take fish oil. I also recommend eating fish throughout the week because like for example, let's take a fatty, uh, a fatty fish like a salmon for example. If you're eating salmon, you are going to be able to get in those like omega-3 fatty acids, which is going to help with things like, you know, brain health, help with things like anti-inflammatory for your joints, all that kind of stuff as well. So getting in those healthy dietary fats is super important. But again, if you're eating so much, if you're eating 250 grams of protein per day and like 10 grams of dietary fat per day, yeah, you could potentially run into some issues where you're going to have some of these hormonal processes kind of start to creep up. And really quickly, by the way, if you want to kind of dive into all of the macros, I have a video on my channel going over literally for free, kind of like how you should set up your macros. So I'll put that here above if you want to check it out. But other than what we just talked about right there, I know there was kind of a lot of it depends scenarios. Yes, potentially you could be eating too much protein only if some of these things are happening. If these things aren't happening and like maybe let's say your protein goal is 120, but you're eating 160 grams per day and you feel great and your workouts are great and your energy is great and your sleep is great. And everything's great, you're super full, you're liking how your body looks, everything's going good. No, I wouldn't worry about it because things are going good. Your body is telling you things are going good. Over here, your body is telling you things are not going very well, so you may need to make a change. But if you're— but if your body's telling you you're good to go, I wouldn't overly stress about it. Does that make sense? So I hope you learned something from this video. And last but not least, really quickly, I said I was going to talk about how much protein you should be eating. I'm actually just going to link a video here above because I've done an entire, again, in-depth video on how much protein you should be eating, because once again, it depends. So for me to try to tell you in this video, it would be knocking you of knowledge. So feel free to check out that video. And if you enjoyed this video, please feel free to give it a thumbs up, leave a comment below, let me know you enjoyed it. Other than that, thank you so much for watching, and we'll chat soon.
