Massive eating-Protien Intake

30% of my caloric intake comes out to 274g protien. i only weigh 168, is that to much? Ive been doing about 215 and raising my fat intake to compensate. My breakdown is 50-30-20
im gradually easing into it…this week im designed to hit it.

And the award for most incomprehensible message of the month goes to…

if i have a gram per pound i will come out way under 30% of my macro for protien.
when i count my macro breakdown, should i count a gram of protien as 5.65, carb as 4.2, and fat at 9.4. This also alters the finals totals.

ok…basically is 274 grams of protien for a 168lb of body weight to much. Because that is around 30% of my intake.
if i count a my protien as 5.65 cals per gram it lowers to probably around 220, and i think im going to stick arround there

Hi, Ryan!!! Let’s go with the 1g of protein per pound of body weight. You need 168g of protein (minimum) per day. That’s probably good if you’re trying to maintain. However, if you’re in a cutting (calorie restricted) phase or a mass building phase, you might even raise your protein intake to 252g per day (1.5g of protein per pound of BW).

Your confusion lies in “30% of your caloric requirements,” when in actuality the way the numbers are calculated, it’s 30% of the total GRAMS of macronutrient (i.e., carb grams, protein grams and fat grams). You need to be tracking percentage of grams, not percentage of calories.

If you want to take in 168g of protein at a 50/30/20 split (meaning 50% of your grams in carbs, 30% of your grams in protein and 20% of your grams in fats) you would need to take in 280g of carbs, 168g of protein and 112g of fat. To figure out roughly what that translates into calories, figure 4 kcal per gram of carbs, 4 kcal per gram of protein and 9 kcal per gram of fat (2800 kcal per day).

(Note: If someone disagrees with how I ran the numbers, please come by and correct – er, educate me.)

You asked if that’s enough. Unfortunately, you haven’t provided us enough information, Ryan. You need to tell us your BF%, your goals (cutting or bulking), how hard you’re working out (cardio and weights, both), your age, what the rest of your day is like (sedentary vs. hard physical labor). It goes on and on. The best bet to pick a number (like the 2,800 kcal I gave you above, diet for two weeks, recording everything you eat (by macronutrient grams and calories, both) and see how much weight you lose and change things around slightly every two weeks so that you’re making the progress you want.

Hey, I didn’t say it was going to be easy. My other suggestion is to read everything you can on this site in the archives on diet and nutrition, specifically anything written by John Berardi.

Good luck!!!

You wanted to know if 274 grams of protein was too much. Too much for what?


If you are asking if this amount is unhealthy or dangerous : The answer is ‘no’, its not dangerous and is not unhealthy assuming that your protein choice arent full of saturated fat.


IF you are asking if if its necessary to eat 274 grams of protein in order to gain lean mass? : the answer is ‘no’, most experts agree that 1 gram per pound of bodyweight is adequate.

Will eating more protein than 1 gram per pound body weight make u gain lean mass faster? : ‘No’ , thats unless you are on anabolics of some kind.

If you dont want to eat that much protein I’d swap to a 55c-20p-25f macro ratio. Make sure you arent gaining more then a pound per week after the third week you are on the diet. IF you are, then you’ll have to readjust your calories a little lower.

shouldent i be calculating my macros based on 5.65protien, 4.2 carb, 9.4 fat, to get the most accurate? second i am gaining right now…or atleast making a transition. Ive been adding 350 cals a week. and adding 5% carbs. I am folowing Berardi’s massive eating…therefore 30-50-20. Im up to 3600 cals a day, little more. But in the last 4 weeks i put on 11lb of muslce and my body fat went up a little to 7.7%
The reason i am calculating my protien based on 5.65 is so that my total grams of protien can be less. Does anyone else have expeirience with massive eating?
another thing, im pretty sure u count your macros by calories, because a gram of fat is about 2x’s a gram of cabrs and protien.

I wouldn’t worry about eating too much protein, especially since massive eating requires protein with every meal. If you eat just 30 grams of protein with each of your 8 meals, that would be 240 grams.

We are pretty close in weight (I weigh 170) and I currently eat 255g of protein. I tried a 4/4 (4 p+f, 4 p+c) diet, but I felt sluggish so I am trying a 5/3 (5 p+c, 3 p+f). If you want to know, my exact breakdown is 255p, 150.5f, 463c and 3,671 cal. I should also add I am not on this diet to gain weight, I just thought the diet worked well with my goals.

damn…thats very close to mine…except i should be comming in at about 10 grams of fat
mine should be around 460carbs, 220 protien, 100 grams of fat…and it comes to around 3600
im constantly increasing cals so i can never really get a set number…once i do, its time to increase cals

i have read most of berardis stuff, thats why im folowing this plan. ive been ading 350 cals a week in the first 4 weeks i put on 11lb of lean muslce, and gained .9% fat up to 7.7. but im giving the 50-30-20 breakdown a shot, and my protien comes out to about 220-230 if it is 30% of my intake based on a calorie of 5.65, im using that exact numbber so my intake insn’t to high. Im having trouble getting into a routine of how much of everything im eating because once i figure everything out, its time to increase cals, not to bad though.

You already gained a good amount of weight, most probably do to glycogen stored in your muscles. As I meantioned before I would only try to gain no more then 1 lbs of weight per week or else you’ll come to realize in the future that you’re putting on too much fat. Be patient and learn from people’s mistakes. 1 pound a week is HUGE, in a year its 50 some-odd pounds gained!!!

yea…well i just came out of a cutting cycle that5 could b a reason…if my body fat hits to high, ill cut back and go maintenence a few weeks before cutting down

if im gaining weight to fast, should i maybe only increase like 100 cals a week or 200 instead of 350? the only thing is that way i will never hit my designed number, and that is about 4500 cals according to massive eating.
the way it is i will only be able to be at that number for 3 weeks at most

Ryan, I think you are confused about the purpose of the massive eating calorie recommendation. It is suppose to situate tranees on how many calories it ‘might’ require to gain weight. IF you are already gaining at your current calorie level there is no reason to bump up your calories unless you stop gaining.

I would say that after the initial weight jump do to gylcogen storing you should even decrease your calories if you are gaining more then 1 pound per week.

Remember, when you read any article you should view them as informative guidlines, not an absolute law. The authors of of these will be the first ones to agree to that.

Read, learn, but dont forget to use you head.

ok thank you… i will check my weight tomarow, if ive gained more then a pound i should cut back? i gain wight rather easy.
how uch should i cut back? 100 cals? once i hit this number, how long should i stay at a given caloric intake? Should i vary my intake on diffent days? somedays i just lift some days i lift and train bjj, somedays just bjj etc. i get my bodyfat and composition every 4 weeks, is that frequent enough?thanx

Go to the search engine on this site and put in protein roundtable. it was wrote a couple of years ago but it tells you everything you need to know.

I dont know if you are pulling my chain, but here goes incase you arent.

I would increase or decreased [depending on needs] by 250 calories per day.

How long do you stay at any calorie level? Well, stay at that level as long as you are making gains!!! IF ever you stop putting on weight; for 2 weeks, then consider increasing your calories by 250.

Sewerhook is right on for the purpose of Massive Eating.
My first piece of advice coming off of a hypercaloric cut would be to find your newely lowered maintenance calories and stay there from 1-2 weeks to get your metabolism going again because of you jump straight to bulking leptin is too low and you put on a higher percentage of fat, for what it’s worth in the future.

I wouldn’t suggest adjusting calories anymore often than once a week. The recommendations I have always heard is adjust +/- 200kcal. The research that I recall says that in general with AAS 1lb/week is about max in 75% of male population. Of course for scale weight (and BF%) to get that 1lb of most you will gain more than that a week, ie water, and hopefully less than 1lb of fat.

Protein needs - Although I use 1g/lb and it is more cost effective, several people that I know have made extraordinary gains from 1.25-2g/lb. If you have the money, experiment, and chart.

pulling ur chain about what?
ive been staying at each caloric level for a week. it is slightley altered by about 250 cals on days i dont train. decrease 250 cals a day? for how long? if i decrease by 250 a day, ill end up dropping 1500 cals in a week, is that ok? do i come back up?
im at about 3600 on workout days right now,
and ive increased 350 cals a week for the past 4 weeks

You’re killing me ryan.

IF you gain or lose more then 1 pound at the end of the week [depending on whether u want to gain or lose weight], adjust your calories by 250 a day and KEEP THAT NEW VALUE FOR AN ENTIRE WEEK.

Example: You say you are consuming 3600 cal per day, if you put on more then 1 pound this week lower your cals to 3350 cal per day, FOR THE ENTIRE WEEK!!! If at this point you are gaining no more then a pound a week, KEEP THIS NEW LEVEL WITHOUT FURTHER MODIFYING IT. Stay at 3350 a day until you no longer gain any weight for 2 weeks straight. IF after those 2 weeks you havent gained anything add 350 a day [aka go back to 3600 a day, all week]. etc etc

Good luck Ryan, I’m off this thread.