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Where to set protein macros

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  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
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    my protein goal is 140g a day

    approx .93g/current body mass (NOT lean muscle mass)
    approx 1.22g/current lean muscle mass (based off last body comp assessment done in June)

  • richln
    richln Posts: 809 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    There's a huge range of numbers because there's a huge range of needs and wants so one size doesn't fit all.
    At one extreme there's a minimum for general health for a sedentary lifestyle, non-exercising, person who is maintaining their weight and at the other extreme you have an older person, training hard in a calorie deficit.
    The wants part is because some people often find protein satiating in a deficit or simply enjoy eating protein rich foods.

    Broadly...
    If you are losing weight more helps with muscle retention.
    If you are doing endurance cardio more is helpful.
    If you are doing hard strength training more again is helpful.

    Personally when I was cutting, doing endurance cardio and weight training hard I set my protein goal at 1g/1lb of estimated lean mass. Aiming for much more than that I would find restrictive on my food choices.

    At maintenance still doing the same exercise routine I don't log my food at all but do casually think about protein as part of my overall diet.

    Agreed.
    This discussion was intended for weightlifters getting down to pretty low bf%, but it includes some more broadly applicable science if you care to follow the links:
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10334013/protein-intake-for-highly-trained-natural-weight-lifters-during-caloric-deficit/p1
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    As I said above, my approach is really similar to Ann's:

    I think the protein amount should be geared to LBM.

    I agree that few people accurately know their LBM.

    I assume that LBM at healthy weight will be around 80% of total (for women that's actually erring on the high side, but as women age we probably need more protein per lb of LBM anyway, since we have more trouble maintaining muscle). For men it's on the low side, but .8 g/lb of total weight is on the high end of the normal ranges I've seen, so that's okay too.

    I then use a rough approach of 1 g per lb of LBM or -- according to my approach, the same thing -- .8 g per lb of a healthy goal weight. This prevents the problem that some run into if they have a lot to lose, as .8 of 200 is, say, 160, and for someone aiming for a goal of 120, that's going to be way more than necessary for any purpose.

    The question of goal vs. current weight is really an issue if someone has a good bit to lose, overall muscle mass is probably not that huge, and is eating low calories (as with many older women who aren't very tall). I think it's helpful on average to eat over the WHO recommendation (which does not take into account the weight loss goal, which makes more protein beneficial), and I also think protein is satiating, so good to emphasize on a lower cal (1200-1400) diet. BUT at those numbers, trying to get a protein amount pegged to a weight that is higher due to excess fat can make creating a sustainable deficit difficult, so it's worth making it a little less simple to acknowledge that you don't need to eat to support weight from fat.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-much-protein-do-you-need-every-day-201506188096

    Here is an interesting article for women.

    RDA is based on Minimums that are needed to meet basic nutritional requirements but lets be frank here...we know that more should be consumed...we want to be more than just meeting the bare minimums...



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