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Comment by leereeves | Hacker News Reader

> Protein pacing refers to 4–6 meals/day evenly-spaced, where each meal contains 25–40g of protein

That's a lot of protein, comparable to the amount that bodybuilders consume. Does fasting increase protein requirements?

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"High Carb" for 2200 Cals a day: Carbs:330g Protein:110g Fat:49g

"Low Carb" for 2200 Cals a day : Carbs:138g Protein:248g Fat:73g

Via: https://musclewiki.com/Macro_calculator

I think most of the modern world is actually not getting enough protein.

Every single person I talk to when I help coach them on macros we find out they are not getting near enough protein. (Myself Included)

With all the protein enriched foods[2] I can actually get too much protein. 2.5g per kg is too much even if you workout [1].

[1] https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/taking-200-grams-protein-sa...

[2] https://www.migros.ch/en/search?query=Protein

I've been adding 0% greek yogurt to my breakfast - nice way to sneak some protein in there. I had no idea how low cal/ high protein that stuff was until recently.

Low fat cottage cheese has almost as favorable a protein to calorie ratio in case you want some variety. Also you can buy egg whites in a carton and that’s a pure complete protein. I like to chop up some vegetables fill up a muffin tin with those and egg white, and bake little fritata type snacks.

That's a good call - I used to love cottage cheese as a kid. I'm putting that on my list. I've never experimented with egg whites but I love the idea of no cholesterol, I think I'll try that too.

I really wish their was more definitive studies on protein needs, based on exercise/lifestyle. All of the studies I've read tend to contradict with each other. During a phase of bodybuilding training I befriended a guy at the gym and he went on to train me.

He convinced me that I needed more protein than ever before. This guys was massive, and had success locally at competitions. So I took his advice and started to consume on average 350 grams of protein, he wanted 400 but I just couldn't do it.

I'm honestly not sure if it made a difference but I was at my most biggest, and strongest when I trained with him.

I dunno if you got downvoted to oblivion but this comment was dead. I vouched for you. Maybe reach out to the mods to see if you've been shadowbanned?

I am current eating around that, and I am by no means a bodybuilder. I shoot for between 150 to 160 grams of protein per day.

There's new discussion these days that western diets are woefully under consuming protein. Based on my own anecdotal evidence this year, I would certainly agree.

Minimum for normal people should be 0.8*kg/day and muscle building gains top out at around 1.6*kg/day. If these people are fat then just 1.0*kg/day could be 125g/day.

> If these people are fat

I've always wondered - do the 0.8 / 1.6 grams of protein per kg apply equally across someone's whole weight? If someone has a lot of body fat compared to lean mass (bones / muscle etc), would the protein requirement per kg go down accordingly?

In other words, does having more fat tissue increase protein requirements, or should we instead think of protein requirements only for lean body mass?

Recommendations I've seen that are targeted at people trying to lose fat are given in grams per kg of lean body mass.

I can't imagine a mechanism for fat to increase the need for more protein beyond needing more muscle to carry around the extra weight but that's already reflected in LBM.

They targeted a BMI > 27.5, which could be ‘fat’ or it could be ‘a little soft’, or it could be someone who’s really swole.

For reference a 27.5 BMI is 5’9” at 186lbs. I can attest that when I’m well muscled, nobody thinks I’m fat at 186, but when I’m not yolked, I look like a tad doughy.

The average adult male in the US has a BMI of 26.6 btw…

Let's be honest, a 99.999% of people with a BMI > 27.5 did not get that way from hitting the gym too much. Weight lifters love to call out BMI as being worthless, but they ignore the fact that any exercise for American adults is rare, much less the amount of exercise required to hit a BMI of >25 due to pure muscle mass.

The average adult male is in terrible shape.

FWIW, people who exercise regularly should combine waist to height ratio (WHtR) with BMI. If you're BMI is high, but your WHtR is <0.5, then you're good. Otherwise, you're at risks for heart disease and stroke, even if you "look" healthy.

> Does fasting increase protein requirements?

My understanding is no, the body conserves protein during fasting conditions.

Fasting is often combined with resistance exercise to reduce sarcopenia. Thus increased protein intake is reasonable.

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