1.8 or 2.0 g Protein?

WernerZiegler1
WernerZiegler1 Posts: 43 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi, I’m 31 years old,
180cm tall,
91.25 kg heavy

I try to lose weight and build Muscles what do you think should be my protein?

Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,622 Member
    Try this evidence-based calculator:

    https://examine.com/protein-intake-calculator/
    https://examine.com/guides/protein-intake/

    If you consider yourself substantially overweight, note that the guide suggests it can be fine to use a reasonable goal weight as a basis for estimating.
  • deadlymosquito
    deadlymosquito Posts: 10 Member
    I use a little over 1.1 gram per pound of body weight. I am 225# 5’10”. About 16-17% BMR. Dr Mike on YouTube said 1 gram will probably get you where you want to go. He has a PhD in this stuff, is a professor and equally important he’s a bodybuilder. So he has a clue. I just feel better eating 1.1
  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,869 Member
    Big fan of Dr. Mike.

    He said, "past 0.8g only a small minority of users in a small minority of conditions will benefit from more than that". And, "any more than 1g has no benefits almost at all in any case except for a tiny tiny fraction like you're a natural bodybuilder two weeks away from a contest while you're starving".

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5HthGO03b8
  • _John_
    _John_ Posts: 8,646 Member
    (huge fan of Dr. Mike...but) like a lot of people (rightly) saying you don't NEED that much protein, they post their diet and they're actually eating A LOT more than what they say YOU need.

    Funny how that works.

    I personally eat about 30-50g per day OVER my lean body weight in lbs, but find it's nice what a high protein diet causes me to NOT eat vs. any actual other benefit. I do make sure to eat more nutritious foods for the remainder of my diet, especially as the caloric deficit gets bigger to compensate for what I know is an excess of protein in my diet vs. what I have to have for muscle retention or muscle building.
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,498 Member
    1.8g vs 2.0g Protein is a 10% difference. In the US the nutrition facts labels have a 20% margin of error allowed so 1.8g vs 2.0g is really a situation of majoring in the minors.

    Eat a diet concentrating on lean protein sources, veggies a bit of fruit and whole grains if you want to support muscle and lean out.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,622 Member
    Retroguy2000 wrote: »
    Big fan of Dr. Mike.

    He said, "past 0.8g only a small minority of users in a small minority of conditions will benefit from more than that". And, "any more than 1g has no benefits almost at all in any case except for a tiny tiny fraction like you're a natural bodybuilder two weeks away from a contest while you're starving".

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5HthGO03b8

    I admit I didn't watch the video . . . but I'm assuming Dr. Mike is talking 0.8g/pound, since pounds are his usual weight units. OP is talking 1.8 or 2g per kg, so 0.81-0.9g/pound.

    I'm not saying you didn't notice the distinction, Retro; I'm just underscoring it because some of these threads head South when participants start mixing up the measurement types.

    @WernerZiegler1, I know you're at BMI 28.2 (as of your OP), which is technically overweight BMI (though that can mislead), and you're male. Depending on your build (muscularity and/or skeletal architecture), you could be anywhere from only slightly overweight in reality, to quite overweight.

    You don't need to try to pin that down here, but I'll underscore that the research-based protein guide I linked up-thread mentions that it can be fine to use goal weight as the basis for estimating protein needs, if one still has a fair amount of fat to lose. Using an overweight starting weight as the basis can make balanced nutrition more difficult, in some cases. That's true whether you use one of the common rules of thumb, or a research-based formula like that one.
  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,869 Member
    Ann, fair point to clarify pounds. However, since my post was referencing the post immediately before it, I didn't feel the need to quote it. I doubt anyone reading the thread in order was confused.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,622 Member
    Retroguy2000 wrote: »
    Ann, fair point to clarify pounds. However, since my post was referencing the post immediately before it, I didn't feel the need to quote it. I doubt anyone reading the thread in order was confused.

    In a world where some people very obviously only read and respond to a thread title, not even reading the OP, you have more faith in our fellow humans than I do. :D:drinker:

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