{"id":24283,"date":"2014-09-05T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/\/\/uncategorized\/the-absence-of-logic-possible-versus-likely-athlete-journal-106"},"modified":"2022-10-25T17:13:36","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T22:13:36","slug":"the-absence-of-logic-possible-versus-likely-athlete-journal-106","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/the-absence-of-logic-possible-versus-likely-athlete-journal-106\/","title":{"rendered":"The Absence of Logic: Possible Versus Likely (Athlete Journal 106)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few years ago, I was having dinner at my local Outback when I overheard the following in the booth behind me:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy trainer says that if you eat too much protein, it\u2019ll turn to fat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you catch that? And if someone posed that suggestion to you, how would you respond? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Logic 101<\/h2>\n

This is a great exercise in logic, so let\u2019s look at it for a second:<\/p>\n

First, is it possible<\/em> to get fat by eating too much protein?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sure, in much the same way it\u2019s possible to die by getting hit by lightning while you\u2019re being eaten alive by a shark.<\/p>\n

Second, is it likely<\/em> that you\u2019ll get too fat from eating too much protein? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Well again, it\u2019s about as likely as getting hit by lightning while you\u2019re being eaten alive by a shark.<\/p>\n

Thermodynamics 101<\/h2>\n

To be slightly more serious, let\u2019s do a bit of thermodynamic<\/a> mathematics.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If your caloric needs are, say, 2,500 calories per day and you eat a high-protein diet consisting of 7,500 calories per day, you\u2019ll definitely get fat – that\u2019s my educated guess. However, let\u2019s examine the improbable mechanics of eating this much protein for a moment. <\/strong>If we say that your 7,500-calorie diet is eighty percent protein, this means that you\u2019re getting 6,000 calories from protein per day, which equates to 1,500 grams of protein.<\/p>\n

Further, if a six-ounce chicken breast contains forty grams of protein, you\u2019ll need to eat 37 chicken breasts a day to hit that number. <\/strong>Or to use another food source, you\u2019d need to consume about 37 protein shakes per day (assuming each shake contained forty grams of protein)<\/p>\n

Okay, that\u2019s obviously absurd, so let\u2019s modify the original example to a somewhat more likely scenario. <\/strong>Using strict thermodynamics, you\u2019d have to consume about 3,600 calories per week (or about 500 per day) above and beyond your normal caloric requirements, to gain a pound of excess body fat in that same period of time. So if your caloric requirements are 2,500 calories per day, we\u2019re now assuming you\u2019re eating 3,000 calories per day, where eighty percent of those calories come from protein. Now you\u2019re eating 600 grams of protein per day, or fifteen chicken breasts or shakes per day.<\/p>\n

Unlikely? Well okay, not as unlikely as getting hit by lightning while you\u2019re being eaten alive by a shark, but have you ever eaten fifteen chicken breasts in one day (or the equivalent of it)? I never have, not even once.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now I have eaten the same caloric equivalent in fats and\/or carbs – in fact, many times. And I bet you have, too. In fact, 3,000 calories in non-protein<\/em> form is amazingly easy to consume. Here are a few possible options you might consider:<\/strong><\/p>\n