Do I REALLY need that much protein?!

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Replies

  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    gwenster89 wrote: »
    Hey everyone! Happy new year. I've been getting back on my food/lifting grind (and damn it feels good!) and I've been having a blast nerding out about macros and intermittent fasting and all the things I'm going to sort of mostly not do. However, one thing I've seen a lot is that we should be eating 0.8 to 1 gram of protein per pound that we weigh. Is that true?! I've found that a lot of these numbers are catered to normative bodies (TDEE is another one), but once someone has a higher amount of body fat than what those calculations were created from, the results are no longer accurate. So, if I'm 200 lbs, should I really be eating 160 to 200 g of protein? That just seems like a lot. My naturopath said 80 is good, which is a very different number.

    Just curious what your thoughts are! Thanks in advance!

    Depends on elegant your goals are. If you want to just lose weight then lower end is fine if you want to retain muscle and lose weight than .8 to 1 gram is the ideal number to hit.
  • sarah7591
    sarah7591 Posts: 415 Member
    How do you know what your lean body mass is?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,226 Member
    sarah7591 wrote: »
    How do you know what your lean body mass is?

    With reasonable accuracy? Dexa for $$. Maybe a few other lab-type tests, maybe calipers in the hands of someone skilled/experienced

    Less accurate, maybe good enough approximation for some purposes: Visual assessment by skilled/experienced person; maybe the online "Navy fat calculator"; maybe some BIA devices (4 point better than 2, probably) might be in the ballpark if used under appropriate conditions & averaged over time or outliers ignored; self-comparison to online compendia of photos of people of similar size at various (reported) body fat levels.

    For clarity: Not saying that last paragraph is *accurate* methods. Just saying it may be close enough for some purposes. For protein calculations specifically, once you do the math, you can be a little off on BF% without the number of grams being vastly different. For example, let's say my 2-point BIA scale is accurate (which it probably isn't). It's consistently around 23% lately. I'm around 125 pounds. The combination of those numbers suggests I have lean mass of 96.25 pounds, so 1g protein per pound is 96. Let's say it's wrong, BF% is really 27%. 91.25 lbs lean mass, 91g protein. Or, it's really 19%, so really 101.25lb LBM and 101g protein. My protein varies by that much daily anyway (I'm usually over 100g somewhere), so meh, who cares.

    YMMV.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,226 Member
    sarah7591 wrote: »
    How do you know what your lean body mass is?

    I tried to answer, but for some reason got "comment under review". 🤷‍♀️ It'll show up here later, after other people have given better answers. 😆
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,496 Member
    sarah7591 wrote: »
    How do you know what your lean body mass is?

    Basically it is the remainder of your body less fat. For example if someone is 200 pounds with 20% bodyfat, their lean body mass is 200 - (200 *20%) = 160 pounds.

    Of course you need to get a good idea of your bodyfat to do the calculation.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    sarah7591 wrote: »
    How do you know what your lean body mass is?

    @sarah7591

    It's hard to know accurately but can be easy to get a rough estimate which is good enough for this purpose as precision isn't required, especially if you are setting a minimum goal for protein.
    There's some sample pictures here to compare yourself against but depending on where your body composition is you might find the textual commentary more useful than the pictures.

    https://www.builtlean.com/body-fat-percentage-men-women/
  • gwenster89
    gwenster89 Posts: 48 Member
    Retroguy2000 wrote: »
    Just chipping in to add consensus to what multiple others have said:

    - The USDA minimum suggestion for general pop is irrelevant here.
    - More protein when doing strength training is very good.
    - More protein when in a calorie deficit is good, and it helps you feel fuller, which makes it easier to keep a deficit.
    - More protein if you're older is good.

    To that end, about 0.7g-0.9g per pound of your lean weight is good, and if you're in a calorie deficit you could maybe bump that a little higher. You said you're 200 pounds but didn't mention your lean weight. Still, that new 150g target you have sounds like a good amount. You could maybe do a few grams less if you're not in deficit. Time to get some whey protein powder.

    I'm gonna aim for 120. That feels attainable... 150 is daunting. I don't eat a ton of meat and I'm trying to stay under 100 g of carbs so I don't want to make up protein with beans and grains. I use a plant-based protein supplement after I work out but not on other days usually, so there's some room to increase protein there. Thanks!
  • darreneatschicken
    darreneatschicken Posts: 669 Member
    0.8 to 1 gram of protein per pound that you weigh seems to be the general consensus if you want to build muscle during a bulk or retain muscle during a cut.

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