Another Protein Question????????

OK so I'm watching cable Discovery Health or something like that and there is a NUT or Trainer person on the show they stated that you should not eat more than 2oz-3oz of protein at each meal because the rest will just end up as extra calories and then stored as fat.  They also did say that you should eat 4-6 SMALL meals. (This I knew) What is your take on portion size for RNY people ???? Thanks,  Robin

Hi, I just had my first Nut appointment since my surgery and one of the questions I was asking was about protein...I had been having a Isopure protein shake each morning (approx. 56 grams of protein per shake) and my Nut said to break it into two servings.  Her reason was because 56 grams of protein is alot of protein to dump on your kidneys all at once, no reason to damage the kidneys so I have been using one scoop of Isopure twice a day for the last couple of days.  When I asked about how much protein in a day she basically looked at my daily intake of foods and protein shake and was happy with what she saw with the protein shake, which would be about 70-80 grams in a day.   She did tell me though that my goal is to get the protien from my diet and to eliminate the protien shakes. I have a hard time believing that your body would store protein as fat..just because of the Atkins diet philosophy...but I guess anything is possible. Just thought I would share with you what I found out about protein. Karen Schworm

Our body stores any excess energy, whether from carbs, fats, or proteins, as fat tissue.  I don't buy what this person is trying to sell, in part because my experience has shown me otherwise.  (I regularly eat more than 2-3 oz. of protein at a meal and, to my knowledge it's never affected my weight loss.)   I do know that that our bodies break down the foods we eat in the following order:  carbs, fats, then proteins.  It has to do with how long it takes our body to break eat item down into usable components.  So it may be that more calories from the protein we eat gets stored as fat because it's "processed" last, but I suspect it's far more complicated than that...   Anyway, I often eat 5-6 oz. of protein at one meal and it does not seem to have slowed down my weight loss...   Good luck on your continuing journey -  Kellie

I don't know of any science to support this claim about excess at 2-3 oz. Frankly, I don't believe it. Protein has the ability to be burned as energy, but the body reserves protein for other things and only burns it for energy if it has no other choice.  Protein metabolism is an area of great interest and study.  The research I've seen so far indicates that the breakdown of protein is far more dynamic than anyone initially imagined - protein sticks around for a while depending on which amino acids the body is needing. I do agree that excess calories (regardless of the source) can result in stored energy, in the form of fat.  There has been a lot of study to evaluate if multiple small meals vs. large meals are beneficial - the results are mixed.  Some people do better with small meals, others do fine with larger and less frequent meals. So what's the magic bullet for you?  I think if you are willing to try different methods of eating and see which makes you feel the best and helps you achieve your goals, then that's the one to choose.  But what works for you may not work for me.