Originally Posted by usualsuspect
First, one of the problems with the studies you posted is that we don't know what they're energy expediture is nor do we know what their intake is. That difference quickly changes the entire outcome.
Second, what would be the point of eating an excess amount of protein anyways? I guess "if a little is good, then a lot is even better?" Is that the thinking?
Here is the most direct evidence you can find, better than some lab study. What do most people who eat more than they expend look like? We call them fat. Excess energy goes into fat after the muscle glycogen is restored (a trivial amount). Eating more protein doesn't mean that protein is what you get when the body is through with it. A lot of it will go into fat. Taken from paragraph 3, word for word!
Now let's talk about thermodynamic equilibrium....
You can't violate the laws of thermodynamics, whether you eat too much or too little. If you take in excess energy, you store the excess. The energy is still there and none is lost or destroyed. As you gain mass your energy expenditure rises. You continue to gain mass until you reach a fixed point body mass where intake and expenditure are equal again. No laws of thermodynamics are violated. But, you sure look bad at your new equilibrium state because a lot of the gain will be fat. Taken from paragraph 7, word for word!
Yeah it takes a while to get there. And yeah much depends on how much excess energy goes into fat or muscle. But you need quite a lot of fat to carry around before your expenditures equal your intake. So, if you work out you will tend to partition the nutrients into more muscle than fat. Paragraph 8.
And that's not even including the fact you lose insulin sensitivity, which tends to shift nitrogen retention toward fat rather than muscle, you hit your liver with a lot of nitrogen or ammonia and it starts to adapt in ways not yet understood but can't be good. A lot of other things happen too. Paragraph 9.
But I don't have any more time to waste here. I'm done here. Believe what you want and drink/eat as much protein as you like.
The info is here. Take it or leave it.