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1g protein for 1lb of body weight?

Abriellefulton
Abriellefulton Posts: 41 Member
edited November 2024 in Food and Nutrition
Hey guys,

So for about a year now I have always been keeping my protein super high (as recommended by my trainer). He had me at about 200g of protein a day, and for the past couple months I have been consuming 165g protein per day (closer to my body weight). I have also seen some studies say that strength athletes benefit from 0.75g/lb and endurance athletes benefit from 1.6 g/lb and I would consider myself both endurance and strength athlete haha, more endurance. Just wondering what you guys typically use for your protein intake, specifically when cutting?

Replies

  • jessef593
    jessef593 Posts: 2,272 Member
    I generally aim for 1g per pound of body weight. 200g a day? You must've been barely getting anything else into your diet. At most Id say 1g per pound if you're lifting seriously. I see no reason at all for you to be eating anymore than that a day. Mind if I ask their reasoning for eating that much a day?
  • galgenstrick
    galgenstrick Posts: 2,086 Member
    1g per pound is my target. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. Works out to about 179-180 grams. A lot more and I end up not getting enough fiber in because it takes up my valuable carb calories.
  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
    The 1 gram should be per pound LEAN BODY MASS. If you weigh 100 lbs, and are 20% fat, then 80 lbs is your LBM, and that's what you use to calculate protein requirement. ie: 80 grams protein/day.
  • allstarelmo23
    allstarelmo23 Posts: 120 Member
    A pound / BW sounds about right. I know tons of people that eat 2x their bodyweight but that seems ridiculous.
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
    2-2.5g per lean BW in kg for me (about equivalent to 1-1.5g lean BW in lbs) whether cutting or otherwise.

    Something that is a pain in the *kitten* in the standard version of MFP is that macros are calculated on %, so if you add in exercise calories, then your macros (in this case protein) will increase also - which is not always required or desirable. I think premium has the ability to set macros as grams (there used to be a TamperMonkey script that you could use to do this on a standard account but it recently stopped working).
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    It sounds crazy high to me.

    The main issue is that you want to find a diet that you will STICK to. And with a lower calorie goal, eating so much protein must royally suck. I ate around 130g while I was losing (out of 1700 calories) and can't really imagine eating more. And frankly it just seems like overkill. I always heard that you're supposed to eat 1g per pound of LEAN body weight.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    My main issue with that high amount would be it cramps your calorie allowance and you will have to exclude other foods and restrict your food choices.
    1g/1lb of lean mass is my goal when dieting. Seen little to suggest any great benefit above that level.

    Three good reasons to increase over the normal RDA would be:
    In a calorie deficit.
    Endurance cardio.
    Strength/weight training.

    But you wouldn't add an allowance for cardio and then also for strength training.
  • Abriellefulton
    Abriellefulton Posts: 41 Member
    jessef593 wrote: »
    I generally aim for 1g per pound of body weight. 200g a day? You must've been barely getting anything else into your diet. At most Id say 1g per pound if you're lifting seriously. I see no reason at all for you to be eating anymore than that a day. Mind if I ask their reasoning for eating that much a day?

    Ya, so back when I was eating about 200 a day I was actually eating paleo, so lots of nuts and meat and veggies, minimal fruit. I was not limited on that, in that I had no idea what my calories were but I actually did lose 4% body fat rather quick. But then I found it kind of hard to keep eat so strict after 3 months.

    I am a national team athlete lol, I paddle. So I do end up having some programs which I am working out 2x a day (1 weight, 1 erg or 2 weight sessions) about 5x a week, so that was the reasoning behind that.

    I do not find it incredibly difficult to get to 160g a day, and most days I don't feel to deprived from other macros such as carbs since I ate paleo for a while, so I am actually pretty used to having just meat and veggie meals.

  • toughmudderMN
    toughmudderMN Posts: 129 Member
    I stick to at least 1 gram per pound of lean body weight. I usually end the day around 1.25-1.5 grams per pound of lean mass. If I go too high I can't fit enough carbs in for my training sessions.
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