[mathverse]

Have you tried protein heavy diet? Just try drinking protein whey protein powder drinks the whole day for a week and see what it does to you.

I dont have a problem with losing weight but It's incredibly difficult and annoying to get lean and burn fat while building muscles. I literally cant force myself to eat more if I try to do at least 200g protein every day. 2xmozarella light (42g protein), 2x66 protein drinks (132) and I am on 174g of protein and I cant force myself to eat anything else.

[msrenee]

It completely depends on your lean weight, but 200g of protein is very high for most people who aren't athletes. I'm not in a state to work out whether the normal chorus saying that much protein will damage your kidneys is true or if I've just heard it enough times that it sounds true. Here's a publication that looks informative, but I haven't worked all the way through it and it may or may not support my presumption that 200 g of protein a day is too much for a male of average height who is not in an intense exercise regimen.

https://jasn.asnjournals.org/content/31/8/1667

[zemvpferreira]

Not to defend (or bash) the proposed extreme diet but as far as we know your kidneys will be fine handling pretty much any amount of protein you can consume unless you have kidney disease. Most of it will end up being converted to glucose via gluconeogenesis. Said diet is certainly better for you than 30 years of fast food, as evidenced by the complete lack of protein-caused-disease in medical case studies opposed to... the obesity epidemic?

Don't worry about hypothetical lions around the bend when you're sprinting away from an angry tiger.

[msrenee]

Definitely agree. If it helps control your appetite, it's not worse than continuing to carry all that weight. I just thought I'd throw that paper up because it seemed like a different take than I usually see. And just to stick my nose in and mention that 200 g a day is more protein than the vast majority of people need.

My gut would have something to say about all that protein before my kidneys even noticed, honestly.

[netizen-936824]

I am not a physician. You don't need to worry about protein intake damaging kidneys unless you have preexisting kidney problems.

[stjohnswarts]

This seems dangerous unless you are very young and fit and your kidneys can take it. I can see replacing 1 meal a day with say a 200 calorie casein protein drink but that being all you consume seems like a bad idea.

[jimmydoreornot]

I'll try it.

[atchoo]

Oh god please don't, it's a terrible idea and recipe for gastric distress.

I've gone too far with protein shakes and felt terrible. I'm a body builder and have used almost all diets as I've bulk and cut. A protein shake only diet is effectively a Protein Sparing Modified Fast (PSMF) - zero carbs, zero fat, but shakes only is just the worst way to do it. Lyle McDonald's "Rapid Fat Loss Diet" is popular PSMF and more sensible. Focus on white fish, lean meats and moderate green vegetable with planned periodic cheat meals. Be in no doubt that it's an extreme crash diet with negative hormonal consequences. If you don't have a compelling reason to crash diet, I wouldn't do it.

The benefits I experienced with a PSMF are similar to keto which is much more sustainable with fat. Once I cut out carbs, my appetite just disappears. Without carbs, I don't get hungry as such, instead I get type of tiredness which indicates I should eat. The desire aspect of eating drops off which prevents overeating.

Doing keto for the first time was brutal for me though. 2-3 weeks of keto-flu - tired and ill feeling. But after adapting it's easy. These days I can snap in and out of keto without noticing any ill effects at all.

After 15+ years of various forms of diet, my main trick for cutting is just to eat less desirable food. Don't buy food I can lose control with. Don't use condiments that make things tasty. That turns out to be easier than portion control with delicious food but it's likely a personal thing.