When Did Nutrition Become Macro Extremism

Protein is having a moment, and it’s starting to mess with people’s heads. We see it everywhere: protein bars, protein cereal, protein chips, protein coffee, even “protein” drinks in the drive-thru. So we slow the noise down and ask a simple question: are you building a better diet, or are you just becoming a proteinoholic who’s afraid to eat a piece of fruit?

We walk through the big three macronutrients in plain English and put carbs and fats back where they belong in the conversation. Fats support hormones, brain health, and vitamin absorption. Carbohydrates fuel training, glycogen, and your nervous system, and they’re not inherently fattening. Then we get specific about protein intake: what protein actually does in the body, why it’s more than “muscle food,” and why lifting hard is what triggers muscle growth while protein supplies the raw materials for repair.

We also tackle two influencer favorites: the one-gram-per-pound rule and the thermic effect of food. We explain who truly needs higher protein (lean athletes, aggressive deficits, high training volume) and why forcing huge protein numbers on sedentary or overweight people can crowd out fiber, micronutrients, and overall diet quality. If you want sustainable fat loss, we bring it back to the basics: balanced whole foods meals, enough protein to stay full, and a plan you can stick to.

Subscribe to the podcast, share this with a friend who’s stuck in macro fear, and leave a review if it helps you eat with more confidence. What “protein rule” have you been following?

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We’re a father-son coaching team behind Time Under Tension PT, and this podcast is built for men 30+ who used to be in great shape but now struggle with low energy, weight gain, and inconsistent habits due to work and life demands.

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Transcript

Welcome And The Big Promise

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey everyone, you're listening to Tut Radio. I'm your host, Brian, here alongside my co-host and business partner Vincent, and we are a father-son fitness and nutrition coaching team. And if you have dieted in the past and hated it so much that you just gave up, then you're in the right place. We teach our listeners how to eat big, stay full, lose weight, and keep it off. Welcome to the show.

The Rise Of Proteinoholics

SPEAKER_01 0:22

In today's episode, this is about protecting you from becoming a protein alic. So what does that mean? Well, we'll get to that in just a minute. But let me start by saying today's fitness influencers have oversimplified nutrition into like basically protein equaling good, carbs equals bad, and you know, fat doesn't even get discussed anymore. So today I want to focus on the growing obsession with one of the big three macros, which is protein. So somewhere along the way, the fitness culture stopped teaching nutrition and started teaching macro extremism. So what does that mean? So now everybody walks around with protein bars, protein cereal, protein chips, coffee, protein ice cream, and God forbid, if you eat a banana instead of a protein bar, social media acts like you committed a crime against gains. So I believe I happen to agree with the Dr. Garth Davis that we are creating a generation of what he calls proteinoholics.

Macros Explained Without The Hype

SPEAKER_01 1:20

So before we get into the proteins, let me first explain the three major macronutrients and what they do. So very quickly, fats, which are rarely even talked about today, and back in the 70s, they were you know the evil villain, but they play a very important role in your body. And fats are responsible for hormone production, testosterone synthesis, cell membrane repair, vitamin absorption, vitamins A, D, E, and K, brain health, satiety, and long-term energy. And then, you know, your next category is carbohydrates. Their main roles include glycogen storage, brain fuel, exercise performance, nervous system function, and your body's pref and is your body's preferred energy source, and that's important. So let's just clear this up once and for all. Carbs are not inherently fattening. Okay? They are the body's easiest to use fuel source. So if you overeat them, your body has no choice but to store the excess energy in your fat cells. So I'm not pointing any fingers here, but you can tell where the real problem lies. It's not the carbohydrates itself. And so finally, let's talk about the main topic today, and that's protein. So protein's main contribution to your health is this, and listen carefully, okay? Tissue repair, enzyme production, hormone function, immune function, production of neurotransmitters, and then finally muscle repair. So protein is not just muscle food. Your body uses amino acids everywhere hair, skin, organs, immune cells, hormones, and brain chemistry. So remember, muscle growth is only one use.

What Protein Actually Does

SPEAKER_01 3:11

So, Vincent, I think this would be a good time to maybe explain muscle protein synthesis. So, so please.

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Yeah, sure. So basically, I think that there's this misunderstanding that the more protein that you kind of intake, the greater sort of gains and opportunities for muscle protein synthesis that you'll actually have. But in reality, the harder resistance training workouts are is what is actually gonna create the mechanical tension, the small muscle damage and signaling pathways that is required to create muscle. And and so protein, it's gonna provide, like, think of it like the raw materials for the repair of the work that you do while you're in the gym. So, like it's not like you're going to have more muscle protein synthesis by increasing your protein intake. The function of protein is is to repair your muscles, not so much for the breakdown and what is the creation of the opportunity for muscle protein synthesis.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

I think you're saying that, wait, let me interrupt you, because I think you saying that there's going to be a ton of people who just had no idea. They thought, well, in order for me, and this happens all the time, in order for me to work out in the gym and get any sort of positive outcome in the gym, I better eat a lot of protein because protein builds muscle. Like that you hear that, but that's that's true. But like you just said, it's actually the reactionary part of it, it's not the creation part of the muscle protein synthesis or muscle growth. So that's I I think super eye-opening for people. So go ahead. I'm sorry to interrupt.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Yeah, no, sure. And and so I think that a large part of that issue that you just brought up is the fact that people don't really understand how much protein they really should be intaking on a given day. And so the golden rule per all the bodybuilders and all of the hyper-aware fitness influencers has always been, you know, one gram of protein for one pound of your body weight. And so, as you can imagine, that rule doesn't necessarily uh make any sense for specific types of people, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:23

So I hate that rule.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Yeah, I mean it's it's it's like it's a mass generalization and it's a one size fits all answer to your your protein intake, and it just it almost it almost assumes that you're too stupid to figure any other math out.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Yeah, it's ridiculous. But anyway, go say, and because and then it's misleading. So I'm sorry. Go ahead. Yeah, and so a little emotional about this stuff. Yeah, I can tell. It pisses me off.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

So anyway, yeah, because it's it's not it's not as detailed information as it it could be, right? So sports nutrition literature, the National Academy of Sports Medicine, which we got our certifications under, we've studied under them for a while. They think, and

Muscle Protein Synthesis Gets Misunderstood

SPEAKER_00 6:10

their recommendation suggests that for active individuals, 0.5 to 1 gram per body weight is sufficient, right? And so the you said active, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:24

And that's a big piece of this. So remember folks, remember that you're not talking about the guy sitting on the couch all day long. We're talking about active individuals here, and there's the range. So 0.5 to 1.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

So it's actually 0.5 to 1 gram, right, as opposed to this blanket statement of one gram per body, you know, per pound of body weight.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Right. So who should be at one? Who should be at one?

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Right. So this higher end of one is for athletes that are already kind of lean. When you are in an aggressive calorie deficit and you're trying to preserve as much muscle as you can, super high training volumes, think like double sessions for like athletes again, sort of things. And if you are trying to step on stage to do some sort of physique competition, you're a bodybuilder, whatever that looks like for you, that's when that like extra 1% of like, okay, let's make sure all of our bases are covered, let's make sure that we're we're eliminating not enough protein as a variable as to why we don't look or perform the way that we should, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:31

And this is important, yeah. It's important because because you mentioned lean athletes, because now you're gonna talk about the second part of it, because this next person you're gonna discuss is not a lean athlete.

SPEAKER_00 7:40

Right. And so where I think you know you spend too much time on the internet and you can start to make sort of like a bunch of different choices for yourself as far as how you're gonna approach a calorie deficit, how you're gonna start to work out, things like that. And so if you're a sedentary person, right? Let's say you're an overweight person, you're sedentary, you're 300 pounds, right? Again, if you were to just listen to the blanket statement advice of one pound equals one gram of protein per day, that person is now expected to consume 300 grams of protein every single day, right? And so it seems it seems like crazy to even say out loud, but I guarantee that there are some people out there that just hear the information and they're like, oh, okay, well, this is this is the way that I have to go about doing this. So now I have to struggle every day to supplement and to actually eat lean sources of protein way more often than I probably should or need to or want to, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:41

So so here, so I I wrote this down for you because because again, the math part of it is is really important to understand. So just again, just no, I'm I'm you you can read it again. I wrote it down just just for you because this is what I think important because uh what's not here, what I didn't write down

How Much Protein Do You Need

SPEAKER_01 8:58

was that the average American male between 30 to 50 weighs approximately 207 pounds. So this is this when we talk about you know 200 pounds, we're talking about a big portion of the public. So now do the math for everybody to help them understand what the real recommendation should be for somebody for for their for their health.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Right. So let's say you are this sedentary individual, you're a guy, you weigh about 200 pounds, like like my father was just saying. The recommendation would be, you know, on the 0.5 side of the equation, right? So you take 200 pi times 0.5, you got about 1, you know, 10 grams of protein if you want to err on the side of caution, not 200, right? And so you see a lot of these fitness and nutrition influencers, they're gonna drive this point home that you need to match or exceed your body weight. And it's just not true. And so most scientific recommendations are also based on another variety of of factors, right? Lean body mass, activity level, recovery demands, and total caloric intake is also all going to play a role in how much protein you really should consume on any given day.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

And it never gets mentioned. That does not get talked about on Instagram, TikTok, never. It never gets brought up. And so the this is not the general public, you know, but yet we've somehow taken this equation and said, okay, this is for everybody. And oh, by the way, you're a loser if you don't. Yeah. Which is totally wrong.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

And so again, you take this person that weighs 200 pounds, right? Let's say their caloric intake on any given day is about 1700 total calories because they're in a moderate calorie deficit, they're trying to lose weight, and you attempt, right, as this 200-pound guy, to consume 200 grams of protein. And if you do the math, it it boils down, it's like half of your caloric intake for that day would be from protein.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

And so, okay, well, that's not okay. Because yeah, the recommendation through the Mayo Clinic and other health organizations is anywhere from 10 to 35 percent of your daily caloric intake should come from protein. So you're saying it's 50 percent. So again, that's way way off. And so there's reasons why that's important. So go ahead. I again, sorry to interrupt, but

Why The One Gram Rule Fails

SPEAKER_01 11:16

go.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Right. And so when people when people overprioritize protein, well, because you can only eat so much food in any one given day, some things are also going to drop off. Your carbs are gonna drop too low, maybe your fats are gonna drop too low, you're not gonna get maybe as much fiber, macronutrient diversity is gonna kind of decrease because you're not, you know, consuming a bunch of vegetables and things like that if if a lot of your diet is strictly protein, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:43

You can miss out on all the vitamins and minerals.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Correct. And so because of this protein sort of movement, and you see it even in like the stores, like go go walk down what used to be like the Pop Tart and like cereal aisle on like your local store. Like, you will see now all of these like protein solutions for like everything. Oatmeal, it's in the Pop Tarts, it's in the cereals, it's in the and it's like I understand that based off of you know recent news and things like that, that there is an emphasis on protein, they just flip the uh the the uh the pyramid upside down. And so I understand from like a marketing standpoint how it maybe could be advantageous right now. But when you when you put all of your diet and your calories into processed protein kind of replacements, you're going to start to convince yourself that, okay, you know, fruit has carbs in it, and I gotta like, you know, avoid fruit, you know. They they're they're they're gonna search for the leanest cuts of protein and things like that, like chicken, and they're gonna avoid fats, and that's gonna have hormone implications as well. They're gonna start replacing real meals that they should be sitting down and actually digesting and chewing and with these high protein snacks. Yeah, to your point too.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

You know, I'm a fan of Dunkin' Donuts. Yeah, and then I I gotta go the other day and I'm sitting there and it's all over the windows. It's posted all protein smooth, like all these things. Like they're they're taking just their drinks and adding pro it's like, do we really need this? It's Dunkin' Donuts. I get it. It's not, it's not I don't you don't have to tell me that you know I need protein from Dunkin' Donuts. Just get give me the donut if I want the donut. I get it, it doesn't have protein in it. It's okay. I don't need you to add it to everything.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

And I think that it's again, like kind of what I was saying earlier. I think it's just because right now it's like in to be on top of your protein, like at least as far as like for the health conscious people out there, there's always going to be some sort of like trend or like whatever. And right now, obviously, if you're paying any attention at all, it's about protein. And so as a result of that, you're in the drive-thru at Dunkin' Donuts and you're you're faced with all of these again. What what is it? Like protein coffee? Is it like a protein like smoothie, whatever it is? It's the refreshers. Yeah, see, like that doesn't even that doesn't even I think I know what you're talking about now because I've so I've seen the the commercials for it and they're they're advertising. I don't want because you know what happens when you have a fruity protein drink? It it's not good, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Right, yeah, yeah. It's so I think eliminated protein powder to it.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

I think that people are kind of like they're they're missing the point in the sense that yeah, is protein like super, super, super important for muscle repair and a bunch of other things that that your body like requires from it? Absolutely, it's important, and it's you could even argue that you know, among the three, if you are someone who is looking

What High Protein Crowds Out

SPEAKER_00 14:36

for a sustainable fat loss solution, prioritizing protein perhaps over some of the other macronutrients might be advantageous for you from a satiety standpoint, because that's the real use case that we know if you if you eat protein and if you eat high fiber, it's gonna keep you satiated. And that's the appeal for us, and that's why we are proponents of protein. But at the end of the day, if you are conscious enough to try and fit it in at each meal to like an okay amount that most people would be okay with, again, like have chicken, have ground beef, have some eggs in the morning. Like these, it's not overly complicated. And if you're really trying to be on top of it, you supplement once, maybe twice a day, and it's it's really not that hard. You don't have to make choices at Dunkin' Donuts that you don't want to because you're in fear of not hitting your protein goal. Because it's you probably don't need as much as you think anyway.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

And so that's just the truth. And here's the other thing, too. Like this should you be paying attention to protein? Sure. Especially if you're a type of person who eats the majority of your food comes from processed foods. Okay, so if that's the case, then yeah, it's likely you're deficient because most of the processed foods that you buy don't have a high uh degree of protein in them. So carbohydrate density. I get it. Right. That's the only good, but if you eat a whole foods diet and you try and get, let's say you eat three meals a day, not to make this complicated, it's real simple, you know. Try and get a vegetable on your plate, get some piece of protein of meat or whatever. If you're vegetarian, you got tofu, whatever it is, you know, and if you do that three times a day and you're you're satisfied, you're probably okay based on wherever your body weight is. Because like we're doing 200 pounds, you know. What about the guy who's 150? Right. And all he hears is, you know, now that that person is overeating. And by the way, it with the protein, but there's another thing people don't understand. If you overeat the protein, it just ultimately becomes an energy source. Once the amino acids are broken down and it and and there's the body has no more use for them when it comes to all the things you mentioned earlier for tissue repair and so on and so forth, it's an energy source. And so now you're stuck with this energy store. Well, your body is, it has to do something with it. So, what do you think it does? Just like carbohydrates, it'll store it if you don't use it. So, again, it's so misleading, and that's a part of it that pisses me off. And and so I'm gonna jump into the the last frontier here for fitness influencers,

Processed Protein Everywhere Now

SPEAKER_01 17:10

and now they've again taken a simple truth and made it their platform. This is ridiculous. Because so now let me talk about the thermic effect of food. Okay. So, what is a thermic effect of food? So, all of a sudden, people have started, you know, eating chicken like it burns calories as if they were, you know, if if it was the equivalent of running a 5K. Because they're thinking, because people are saying, no, it's true, because people are saying, oh, the thermic effect of food, if you eat more protein, it bur it burns more calories. Yeah, that's absolutely 100% true. So, don't get me wrong. The thermic effect of food is a real thing, but its overall impact is nominal when you compare all three macros. So let me explain this so it makes sense. The thermic effect of food is the the amount of energy your body uses to digest, absorb, transport, and process nutrients. In simple terms, your body burns calories processing food. That's that's how it works. It's just part of the energy equation. But different macronutrients require different amounts of energy to process. So let me explain it. Protein is about 20 to 30 percent, meaning if you eat 100 calories of protein, your body may use roughly 20 to 30 calories to process the protein, which leaves you about 70 to 80 usable calories for energy. For carbohydrates, typically about 5 to 10 percent. So if you eat 100 calories of carbohydrates, your body may use 5 to 10 calories processing them. And then fats, it's about 3%. So let's let's do more math here so people understand this. So if you ate 200 calories from protein at about 25% thermic effective food, your body would burn approximately 15 calories just to process the protein. That leaves you about 150 calories of usable energy. If you ate 200 calories from carbs at 7% thermic effective food, your body burns around 14 calories to do it, which leaves you about a 186. Okay, so the net overall effect from eating 200 calories of protein versus carbohydrates, and this is what's important, is around 36 calories. So this in no way is significant in relationship to the entire day's worth of eating. It's just again another over-exaggeration of the truth. Okay, so in regard to the thermic effect of food, if you're eating protein, here's what you're not doing: you're not melting fat, you're not boosting metabolism into overdrive or creating a ma a massive calorie deficit simply because you added an extra protein shake. That's just not the way it works. So again, think about it, right? That go back to this guy at 1700 calories because he's on a okay, well, all right, so the 36, that's the difference there. It's not an even swap, by the way. You know, when you're eating food, you're usually eating a combination of at least the three. It's hard to even eat protein at all without fat, because it usually comes from meat, and there's usually some sort of fat source in it. So, anyway, in reality, so here's the thing high protein diets, and you mentioned this, Vin, because this I'll repeat it. Protein diets often help fat loss more because of these reasons. Protein is satiating,

Thermic Effect Of Food Reality

SPEAKER_01 20:22

helps preserve muscle, improves fullness, stabilizes appetite, and supports adherence, which is my favorite thing. Not because its thermic effective food creates any notable calorie deficit. Right. That's not it. So let's wrap this up. You you finish, drive us, take us home, brother. Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Yeah, and so don't don't don't misunderstand what we're trying to say. This is not an attack on protein. This is not to say that protein isn't important. This is not our point whatsoever. It's an attack on misinformation. It's it's yeah, I mean it's protein is extremely important, it matters a lot, right? But when an over-emphasis of protein brings you to an unbalanced state, right? If you are not going to consistently be able to eat, you know, healthy whole food meals, right? If if your total diet quality is suffering because of your obsession with protein, that's when it can come it can become this sort of problematic situation, right? So you do not need to fear carbohydrates, right? You do not need to drown every meal in protein powder, and you don't need to be some sort of nutritional expert to eat healthy. It's really very simple. You just eat a whole foods diet with an emphasis on protein to an extent, right? You want to make sure that you're getting enough protein in for the muscle repair and all the other physiological processes that it's important for. It's gonna keep you full throughout the day. That with the fiber is gonna help you to stay in a calorie deficit. You can eat big no matter how incredible your appetite is. And the goal of nutrition should not be turning every meal into some sort of chemistry experiment. It should be about building a body and lifestyle you can actually sustain. And it's conducive to your to your life and the way you want to live it.

SPEAKER_01 22:17

So that's the difference between, and this that's what I guess kind of got me mad about the whole thing is that this is the difference between someone's on the internet as claiming to be an influencer that may not even be certified as a nutrition person or or even a personal trainer, and and they're looking for clicks. Like that's their thing. But as a coach, it it pisses me off. It really bothers me because what we care about, what we talk about is the things that matter more. That's balance, consistency, right? Total diet quality. That matters way more than isolating or macro extremism, because I think that's a good way to say it. And then most of all, sustainability. This is what goes wrong with everybody. Like they go on a diet, then they gain the way back and they're upset. Well, yeah, because your approach to it has been asked backwards. And that's not your fault. I mean, we're in this world of infinite information. We can you can get any information you want. The problem is, where'd you get it? And was it reliable information? And so I hate to say it as a warning or maybe it's a public service announcement. I don't, I don't care, whatever you want to call this, but it is super important, at least to me, and I know it is to you, that that people are given a chance to be successful because at least they're looking at and listening to the right information, you know. So that that's important to me. And so, you know, at the very end of this, you know, I like this this statement. The human body survived long before

Balance Sustainability And Smarter Sources

SPEAKER_01 23:43

TikTok influencers discovered protein cereals. I think that's funny because it's true, because it's absolutely true. So, anyway, if you want to just close us out here, Van, I'd appreciate it, buddy.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

Sure. Yeah. So again, be be up to date on the science, understand the context of what it is you're actually listening to or watching or whatever. Understand that people have motives beyond actually helping people when they are making content on the internet. And sometimes people say outrageous things for clicks and they make statements that make you think that they have the answers when in reality they're they're emphasizing a piece of the bigger picture that is really insignificant, right? You have to stop outsourcing your physiology to the loudest guy, right? You you can't, yeah, because because you'll just end up listening, not necessarily to misinformation all the time, but to information that I think is cherry-picked for motives that are beyond actually helping people lose weight and and and and lead healthier lifestyles, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:50

And keeping it off of their life for sure.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

Yeah, I mean that's it.

Final Warning And How To Follow

SPEAKER_00 24:54

So again, guys, thanks for listening. Make sure you follow us on all social medias at time attentionpt. And don't forget to subscribe to Top Radio. Uh, thanks again for listening, and we'll talk to you guys next time.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

Goodbye, everybody.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

See ya.