New Member Introduction and Question

LifeIsActionmpw

Hello, My name is Mike Whitehouse and I am a new member trying to figure it all out. I have started the 2022 - 14 day challenge and already have a question about protein? MyFitnessPal says I should get 75 grams of protein a day but the first day of my 2022 challenge says my protein level should be my weight in Kg multiplied by 1.4 to 1.6. Since I weigh 80kg that would be 112 grams to 128 grams - significantly higher than what MyFitnessPal has inserted as my default protein daily amount. Can anyone help me to understand the discrepancy in these numbers? Also, in my first couple of days of keeping track of my food I am about half of the 75 grams of the recommended protein level. Any thoughts anyone?

Lietchi

Unfortunate that MFP has different goals in the challenge and the food diary...
Protein recommandations will vary according to different sources and depending on your goals etc. Some are based on body weight, lean body weight,... The MFP food diary takes a percentage of the daily calorie goal.

For weight loss, a bit higher is usually better, to avoid losing lean muscle mass. A goal of 75 grams sounds quite low to me.

As an independent source, you could use this:
https://examine.com/nutrition/protein-intake-calculator/

As for not even reaching those 75gr, you might find this spreadsheet useful to find sources of protein:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10247171/carbs-and-fats-are-cheap-heres-a-guide-to-getting-your-proteins-worth-fiber-also
Easy sources are meat and fish, but there's also eggs, dairy, legumes, etc.

AnnPT77

What lietchi said.

Also, I think MFP would be giving better advice if they suggested using healthy goal weight as the basis for that protein calculation, rather than current weight.

Protein has multiple uses in the body, but the big deal is maintaining lean tissue. IMU, we don't need bunches of extra protein because we temporarily have extra body fat.

If you're not sure what a healthy goal weight would be for you, the middle of the normal BMI range for your height would be fine, or maybe more toward the upper end of that range since you're male (men's best weight is more likely to be a little higher in the range) and you look like you might be closer to my age (66) than to, I dunno, 23 or something. (There's some research suggesting we metabolize protein a bit less efficiently as we age, so getting enough is an extra-good plan.)

While I was losing, I used a goal of 0.6-0.8g of protein per pound of healthy goal weight, which would be 1.32-1.76g per kg, which rounds to what the MFP stuff is saying.

For quite a range of people, that'll be somewhere in the range that that good calculator lietchi linked suggests, and not far off from the MFP defaults if (1) not setting a too-aggressive loss rate (way too many people are led toward aggression by reality TV and blogosphere nonsense!), and (2) eating back exercise calories as MFP recommends. When exercise calories are added, that adds some protein grams to the base protein goal, along with adding calories to the day. (Exercise is good for a body, as well as earning a few extra calories to eat.)

These days, I shoot for 100g protein, as 5'5", 66 y/o, female, active, vegetarian aiming to maintain around 125 pounds (57 kg). People with different situations may differ.

Welcome to MFP, and best wishes for much success!