What Happens When You Eat A Whole Pound Of Ground Beef (And How Much Protein You'll Get)

What can't you do with a pound of ground beef? Ground beef adds protein to your bolognese sauce and a lot of protein to your favorite chili recipe. Add an egg, bread crumbs, and some salt and pepper to a pound of ground beef to make a simple hamburger.

A pound of raw ground beef (80% meat, 20% fat) gives you almost 78 grams of protein in 1,148 calories. You'll also get more than your daily recommended amount of zinc, selenium, and niacin, plus four times the vitamin B12.

While eating a whole pound of ground beef in one sitting might sound crazy, people following the carnivore diet might eat more than that in a day. However, that doesn't mean your body can absorb that much protein. What your body can't absorb will stay in your gut, which can cause gastrointestinal issues such as constipation or bloating. Consuming too much protein at once, especially ground beef, can stress your kidneys and increase your risk of kidney stones.

When you eat protein, your body breaks it down into amino acids for your body to build muscle, boost your immune system, and make hormones. If you consume more protein than your body needs, your body doesn't store these amino acids. Instead, they're broken down, and the nitrogen is removed as urea in your urine. The remaining keto acids can be used for energy or turned into carbs or fat.

Red meat is high in purines, which can cause levels of uric acid to rise. Too much uric acid can cause uric acid kidney stones to form. Uric acid in your bloodstream can cause urate crystals to collect in your joints, resulting in gout. High levels of uric acid in your system can go beyond kidney stones and gout, according to a 2023 review in the Ibnosina Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. While low levels of uric acid can act like an antioxidant, an excess of uric acid can trigger chronic inflammation, leading to cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and kidney disease. Uric acid could play a role in hypertension by reducing nitric oxide, which helps your blood vessels relax.

Joey Chestnut holds the record for eating 83 hot dogs in 10 minutes, so you know that eating that much protein is possible. If you're curious, that's 553 grams of protein and almost 15,000 calories. While Chestnut is a pro, your gut might not be able to handle that much protein at once. Your body secretes the digestive hormone CCK plus other satiety hormones when you eat protein. The CCK signals your digestive system to slow down so it can maximize the absorption of amino acids.

You've probably heard of eating between 20 and 30 grams of protein in a single meal to make the most out of the amino acid absorption without overloading your system and gaining weight. How much protein your body can handle at once depends on your current weight, according to a 2018 review in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. An upper limit of protein intake per meal is 0.55 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. That would mean about 37 grams of protein for someone weighing 150 pounds. For someone weighing 200 pounds, the upper limit would be about 50 grams to maximize protein synthesis.