The High-Protein Diet Trend: Has It Gone Too Far?

The fitness and wellness worlds are seemingly obsessed with upping protein intake. Has it gone too far?

Eating enough protein is an essential part of consuming a balanced diet, especially if you’re an active person. But on social media and in fitness circles, the fixation with protein has become somewhat extreme.

On TikTok, countless videos explain how to turn everything from coffee to pancakes to Diet Coke into high-protein treats. Clips with millions of views detail how to eat upwards of 150 grams of protein each day.

The obsession with ample protein is particularly rampant in the weightlifting and fitness worlds — where the nutrient is seen as the magic solution to building muscle and shedding fat. Weight gain, muscle mass, and excess protein intake are at the forefront of many weightlifters' goals. Reaching said protein goals through protein bars, shakes, or supplements has become incredibly popular.

While protein is important for building muscle and staying healthy, some experts argue that the trend has gone too far and that solely focusing on protein intake can lead to deficiencies in other essential nutrients.

An athlete’s experience with a high-protein diet

Adam Kemp, a professional basketball player and personal trainer with a Master’s in nutrition education, knows firsthand that focusing too much on protein can be harmful.

“I’ve definitely gone very high on protein, and it was largely driven by my desire to improve my body composition,” Kemp tells Healthnews.

Kemp became so fixated on his protein intake that he ignored other essential nutrients, particularly carbohydrates. This quickly impacted how he felt.

“The result was a noticeable drop in my energy levels,” he says. “I remember feeling consistently fatigued during training and even getting lightheaded during a couple of practices.”

On one occasion, he remembers feeling so weak and tired that he had to stop practice and eat a chocolate bar from a vending machine just to regain his energy. That experience, he recalls, was a turning point in his approach to diet.

It helped him realize that while protein is important, especially for athletes and those who participate in physical activity, it’s not the sole factor in performance or body composition.

“Now, I still prioritize protein, but I don’t try to push it to extreme levels,” Kemp says. “I’ve developed a much healthier relationship with carbs, ensuring they’re a significant part of my diet to fuel my energy needs. This balance has helped me perform better in training, recover more effectively, and feel healthier overall.”

More protein isn’t necessarily better

Kemp’s story highlights a widespread issue, according to Dana Ellis Hunnes, Ph.D., MPH, R.D., a senior clinical dietitian at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and an assistant professor in the department of community health sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She says the obsession with protein has, without a doubt, gone too far.

The common assumption about protein, she says, is that more is always better. But after a certain point, she says excessive protein consumption doesn’t have health benefits.

In reality, she says the average person needs about 1 gram of protein per kilogram of weight. This is more than sufficient for weight loss, weight maintenance, or muscle gain, she says. For individuals who lift weights, she says 1.3g/kg is enough for anabolism and muscle gain.

More than that is unnecessary, she says, and potentially even unhealthy — especially if you’re not prioritizing other essential nutrients and eating a well-balanced diet.

“The obsession is too far when you consider that too many people are excluding foods that we know are healthy such as fruits, beans, legumes, and high-fiber starches,” Hunnes tells Healthnews. “Focusing on protein while ignoring other essential nutrients means that we are actually harming our digestive tracts, increasing inflammation in our bodies, and overall are potentially actually harming ourselves and our long-term health.”

Too much protein can also have negative effects on the body, like harming the kidneys, she adds.

The protein tunnel vision at least somewhat stems from society’s obsession with weight, muscle, and appearance, rather than health, Hunnes says.

“We really need to stop looking at short-term ‘weight’ as the end-all be-all and care more about our overall health,” she says. “When we ignore other essential nutrients such as fiber, vitamins, minerals, fruits, vegetables, we are doing ourselves a major disservice.”

Balance is always key

Indeed, the importance of fiber, in particular, is often overlooked in the fitness world and beyond; research has shown that 95% of Americans don’t consume the recommended amounts of fiber.

Kemp says fiber, and particularly prebiotic fiber, is often overlooked by athletes due to concerns about digestion, yet it plays a key role in nourishing the gut microbiome — influencing everything from energy levels to immune health.

Healthy fats are also often overlooked yet necessary for a healthy diet.

In his own diet, Kemp says he now balances protein with plenty of carbohydrates and fiber to fuel his high-intensity activities and support endurance, which is especially important in a sport that demands both strength and stamina.

He says it’s clear that while the weightlifting community has certainly popularized a protein-centric approach — and while protein does help build and repair muscle — relying on it alone misses the bigger picture.

Instead of focusing so much on protein, it’s about balancing your plate and ensuring you’re getting sufficient amounts of all essential nutrients — ideally from whole foods rather than ultra-processed bars, shakes, and supplements — to optimize your health and wellbeing.