Protein Question

galgenstrick

If someone goes on a vegan diet for years, or perhaps you're anorexic and have completely neglected protein intake for a long period of time, say 5-10 years, resulting in a very low lean body mass; can increasing your protein intake by itself increase your lean body mass? Or in other words, is it much easier to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time than someone who has been steadily supplying their body with a decent amount of protein?

neanderthin

No, food in general increases body mass and when in a surplus of calories. Consuming adequate protein along with weighted exercise builds muscle. Trying to gain muscle and lose body fat at the same time and being very lean is a fools task. Eat and lift.

Jbrad89

Calorie surplus + lifting = muscle mass increase. Calorie deficit + lifting = fat loss. In a surplus adequate protein helps to repair and build muscle and in a deficit it helps maintain the muscle and stops your body burning it for fuel. Both at the same time is not a good idea.

JacquiH73

From what I've read lowering carbs and upping protein doesn't make you lose weight any faster than say switching to a vegetarian or vegan diet.

Also don't assume just because a person doesn't eat meat, eggs or dairy that they are not getting protein. There's plenty of plant foods that contain protein - think seeds, nuts, soy, grains, avocados, etc etc etc.

The American Institutes of Health Sciences, The American Heart Association, Kidney Association etc have for decades recommended a diet high in complex carbohydrates, that is whole fruits, vegetables and grains at about 50-60% of you entire calorie intake, and low protein about 10-15% of you caloric intake and even less than that (5-8%) should come from dairy or meat sources. Meat, eggs and dairy is loaded with saturated fats and cholesterol that lead to heart disease and dietary related cancers like colon cancer.

http://www.nutritionmd.org/nutrition_tips/nutrition_tips_athletes/power_up.html

galgenstrick

Thanks. I'm asking because I was vegan for about 5 years and seem to have a pretty low LBM as well as high Body fat (25%). for the last 40 days I've been lifting while in a calorie deficit (1810 calories) and eating approx 170 grams of protein/day.

For the last 2 weeks or so my weight has stayed pretty constant at 185 but my body fat % has gone down 2% (from 25 to 23). I've also noticed my clothes are looser. I was just curious if this was a measurement problem, or if I've been gaining some muscle. Maybe just water?

Stats:
Male
28 years
6' 0"
185 pounds
sedentary - besides workouts
1810 calories per day

My goal is to get down to about 10% body fat before slowly increasing calories to bulk.

janejellyroll

I just want to point out that although it may not have happened in your case, it is totally possible for vegans to meet their protein needs. Conflating veganism with anorexia is totally inaccurate.

Jbrad89

Can i ask your height?

galgenstrick

janejellyroll wrote: »

I just want to point out that although it may not have happened in your case, it is totally possible for vegans to meet their protein needs. Conflating veganism with anorexia is totally inaccurate.

I was talking about me. I definitely didn't get nearly enough protein in my vegan lifestyle. I was just throwing out a scenario to better explain my question.

galgenstrick

Jbrad89 wrote: »

Can i ask your height?

Yes, I forgot to put that down. I edited my post. I'm 6' 0"

Jbrad89

By my calculations your total daily energy expenditure (thats the calories your body burns if you were to just lay in bed all day) is 2542. To lose weight and maintain muscle you are looking at around 2050 calories a day. Any less and its possible to lose muscle. You could up your calories slightly. -500 of your tdee = cut and +500 of your tdee = bulk. These are estimates and the more you work out the more you need to tweak the numbers.

galgenstrick

Hmm. I was using the katch-McCardle equation for TDEE since I know my body fat %. That gives me a TDEE of 2122 when setting it to sedentary. How did you get 2542?