How you can tell if your body isn’t getting enough protein? Protein deficiency is more common than you might think. Especially those who pay little attention to their diet or have an increased need for proteins (e.g., athletes) can quickly be affected. Most of those affected only have a mild form, which is hardly noticeable and can still cost a lot of performance and quality of life.
The proteins or the amino acids from which they are made are not only the most important nutrients when it comes to building and regenerating your muscles. They are also central building blocks of your cells, hormones, and enzymes which make them vital.
Based on some common symptoms and an objective assessment of your own protein intake, it is relatively easy to assess for yourself whether you are not consuming enough protein and could benefit from more intake. So, let’s understand, how you can tell if your body isn’t getting enough protein.
Protein Deficiency
Actually, a protein deficiency already occurs when you supply your body with less protein than it needs. But we only consider a “real” protein deficiency when a doctor diagnoses it due to clear symptoms.
As mentioned before, however, the negative effects of too little protein intake can appear much earlier and remain undetected for a long time if you don’t deal with them.
The frequency of malnutrition with too little protein is difficult to estimate because those affected are often aware of it for a long time or even never. As a rule, those affected only see a doctor if their symptoms are severe.
A protein deficiency is particularly common among people who do a lot of exercise, who want to lose weight and therefore eat little food, older people, or simply people who do not eat consciously.
Vegans are also more likely to have a protein deficiency, as they have to pay particular attention to getting enough high-quality protein if they eat a diet without animal foods.
A lot of high-quality protein is mainly found in animal foods such as fish, meat, and dairy products. While it only happens rarely that someone actually consumes too much protein, when analyzing the eating habits of many people, I have already noticed that they often consume too little protein (particularly in diets).
In addition to an insufficient dietary supply, various diseases (such as celiac disease ) can also be responsible for protein deficiency.
Why can too little protein be harmful?
Proteins or their building blocks, the amino acids, are essential nutrients that our body needs in a certain amount in order to function properly. If the body lacks these building blocks, it has to manage with them. This results in the restriction or even shutdown of body functions that rely on amino acids. This then leads to various deficiency symptoms.
The body can certainly shut down some functions. After all, not every function of the body has to be running at full speed in order to survive. However, the more the body is forced to take austerity measures, the more unhealthy it is for our organism. A severe protein deficiency over a longer period is potentially even life-threatening. Therefore, try to recognize a possible protein deficiency early and make sure that you consume enough protein.
What are the consequences of a protein deficiency?
If you don’t consume enough protein, this can manifest itself in various ways. Especially when there is a slight undersupply, the effects are primarily annoying because you are wasting your potential. If there is a severe protein deficiency, the effects can also be harmful to your health.
I tried to arrange the symptoms in such a way that they indicate an increasingly severe deficiency in descending order.
It is important to me that you know that the symptoms described can also have other causes. So if you have any of the following symptoms and are sure you are getting enough protein, you should definitely contact a doctor. This can then arrange a blood test and further examinations. Of course, this applies, primarily to the last symptoms. Now let’s look at the possible consequences of Protein Deficiency.
1) You are not making any progress with your training
If you consistently follow your training plan and at the same time pay attention to a healthy diet with lots of healthy foods and still don’t make the desired progress in your training, then this may be due to a lack of protein.
If your body doesn’t get enough protein, then regeneration and building muscle isn’t a particularly high priority. Accordingly, savings are made at this point and you don’t make the progress you could.
You may even not be making any progress at all, but rather going backward. With hypertrophy training, which involves building more muscle mass, you can see this quickly.
This effect probably occurs first. So if you’re not making progress in your training, check whether it could be due to insufficient protein supply. If that’s not the case then you might want to change your training plan (e.g. from a split training plan to a whole-body training plan or vice versa).
2) Your regeneration and wound healing is significantly slowed down
During your training, you repeatedly inflict small injuries on your muscles that have to heal during your regeneration phase. Your body needs proteins for these repairs. If these are not available in sufficient quantities, the repair process will logically experience a delay. The result is slower healing and regeneration.
This also increases your risk of injury because structures may not be reproduced with the same quality as they otherwise would be. You will probably only recognize this as a symptom if you have already injured yourself. However, it is a good argument to avoid a protein deficiency or to remedy it quickly.
Sore muscles can also be seen as such a (small) injury. You probably already know that it doesn’t make sense to train with sore muscles. If you want to avoid muscle soreness or get rid of it quickly in order to train more effectively, then adequate protein intake is essential.
3) You are often sick and take every cold with you
Protein plays a crucial role in your immune system. Without the necessary amino acids, your body cannot produce enough white blood cells, among other things.
The result is that you are ailing more often than you should. If you often catch the cold that someone in the office has, it could be because you don’t have enough protein.
4) You occasionally have difficulty concentrating
Of course, there can be various reasons for fatigue and difficulty concentrating. However, if these symptoms occur quite frequently in your diet, for example, then you should check whether you have enough proteins in your diet meal plan.
That’s why I recommended protein as one of my natural energy boosters.
5) Your hair is getting thinner
If you go to a doctor, he or she will probably be able to diagnose a protein deficiency by examining your hair, among other things. Your hair will grow thinner and with reduced pigmentation if you don’t consume enough protein.
The shampoo industry and its marketing have been taking advantage of this fact for some time now by selling shampoo enriched with amino acids at high prices. In most cases, a sufficient supply of proteins through food would be the more sensible choice.
6) Your muscles lose weight
This is basically the next step from the first possible consequence. Here, however, the protein deficiency is so high that not only is there no progress in training, but there is also a significant decline in the muscles
The topic of muscle loss is a common one, especially among older people, who incidentally have a higher protein requirement than younger people.
To maximize muscle retention as you age, you should make sure you consume enough protein and exercise properly on a regular basis.
7) Your hair is falling out
If there is a severe protein deficiency, the hair not only becomes thinner and loses some of its pigmentations, but it also grows more slowly and can fall out. However, if there is a short-term deficiency, most hair will come back if it is corrected quickly.
There are a few other possible consequences of too little protein intake, but the ones listed are particularly common in this context.
What can you do about a protein deficiency?
The answer to this question is quite easy to admit. If you haven’t consumed enough protein so far, you should change your diet so that you can cover your protein needs in the future.
In this case, a change to a more conscious diet is unavoidable. It’s best to try to make sure you have protein-rich food on your plate at every meal.
However, you should not just rely on your feelings. Most people significantly overestimate the amount of protein they consume in their daily diet and at the same time underestimate their needs.
Therefore, think about how much protein your body needs and which foods contain how much protein. There are a lot of protein-containing foods, many of them low in calories, that are also suitable for a diet.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have one or two protein shakes as a supplement. In a diet, it makes sense to consume as much protein as possible with as few calories as possible, and one should avoid sweet things as much as possible.
But if you want to build muscle and reward yourself after a hard workout, you can’t go wrong with a shake. However, if your protein deficiency is related to illness, you should definitely consult a doctor.
Conclusion – How much protein is enough?
The question of the right amount is sure to be asked by one or the other at this point. In principle, a minimum amount of around 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight is recommended for every person.
However, this is only sufficient if you don’t do any sports. Since it is not recommended to avoid sports, I would suggest a minimum intake of 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight. That’s the amount I recommend to people who are active in sports. This means you are usually on the safe side.
Furthermore, don’t underestimate the amount you’ll need to eat. For a man weighing 80 kilograms, 120 grams of protein is the protein content of one kilo of low-fat quark. In a diet, it even makes sense to consume 2.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight to maximize muscle retention.
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