Can I still gain muscle with 0.45g/lb of protein?

[jamesgray]

Young guy doing intermittent fasting here. been very happy with eating less but as I started working out for muscle gain recently, I increased my protein intake from 0.45 to 0.73g/lb, which seems to be only bare minimum for gaining muscle but only this amount makes me feel too full to think that I'm properly doing the intermittent fasting.

so I want to go back to 0.45g/lb but I'm worried if I won't gain any muscle. I wonder if anyone has been in a similar situation and how you resolved this issue of seemingly incompatible two different goals of eating less vs gaining muscles.

edit: thanks a lot guys, I wanted IF for longevity and general health. it says that eating less in a smaller time window in a day makes your genes to slow down aging. (you may search ‘sirtuin’ and ‘autophagy’)

I have 2 meals in 6 hours interval and it’s mostly vegetable and chicken breasts. I didn’t want to replace a lot of my vegetable intake to chicken to not feel too full and meet required protein intake but trying to meet different incompatible goals is quite hard.

I’d start by slightly eating more in total, slightly reducing vegetable and slightly eating more chicken breasts and see how it goes. let me post again how It’s been going later. thanks again guys for all your advices.

 

[katherine317]

@jamesgray .45 is too low.

In this study here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18379214/ The subjects were in a cut and consumed .41g/lb vs .82/lb. The .82 group was sparred from nitrogen loss. This was a very steep cut, but I am not sure .41 is protective enough.

The general consensus from a bunch of meta analysis is .6g/lb is enough for almost everything and will be good enough for 99% of the population. ..8g is the highest benefit found in any study.

Protein quality also very much matters. If you are eating mostly plant based protein, you are going to need a lot more.

 

[weepingwillow422]

@katherine317 0.82g is the double 95% confidence level found in most studies https://mennohenselmans.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-protein-intake-for-bodybuilders/

 

[whereismysalvation]

@katherine317 Did you mean to say per kilogram?

 

[easy813]

@whereismysalvation No. The standard recommendation (which this article seems to disprove) is g of protein per pound of bodyweight. We discuss weight, and most things, in pounds in the US, but things like nutrients are discussed in g. I can't remember exactly but the equivalent is something like 0.7 g/kg I think, harder number to remember obviously

 

[easy813]

Fuck I meant 1.3g/kg

 

[whereismysalvation]

@easy813 I ask because they use kg in the link you posted.

I took nutrition and dietetic classes in college. The protein formula was to take your weight in lbs, divide by 2.2 to get your weight in kg. Then multiply that by .6 to maintain, .8 for active people, and 1.1 for elite athletes.

Muscle is built through being torn down through exercise. Food helps repair muscle fibers, preparing them for the next tear down. That’s how food helps muscle.

I don’t know why so many people abuse this macro but as another poster stated…marketing.

 

[elijah_ride]

@jamesgray Definitely. People on the Internet immensely overestimate how much protein is required for muscle building.

 

[saturnsteve]

@elijah_ride I mean idk that’s totally true. There’s a pretty good amount of scientific literature showing higher protein diets being more optimal for muscle growth. I’m not saying this person will be unable to grow muscle at a low protein intake but from an empirical standpoint it’s definitely not optimal. If they’re new to the gym they’ll be able to make gains but this will probably cap out pretty quickly and be either an incredibly slow or stagnant process.
It’s like the same argument vegans make for protein intake. You can get complete protein sources, and meet a daily protein requirement even if it is a high requirement, eating plant based diet. But it might just not be totally optimal from a hypertrophy standpoint.

 

[atlas2023]

@saturnsteve 0.7g/lb isnt that what the Research Shows anyway?

 

[saturnsteve]

@atlas2023 Context is important. Those with athletic endeavours it may be a bit higher. Yea generally between 0.7-1g/lb is what is empirically supported but some have gone even higher and shown better results as well. Usually going below 0.7 is not enough for someone who wants to “optimize” muscle growth. You sure can build muscle at 0.5 or less like this thread was suggesting but you are probably just going to reach your end goal much slower or run into recovery issues (assuming you actually train hard).

 

[atlas2023]

@saturnsteve Could you share some of the research?

"Over 20 other studies have consistently failed to find any benefits of more than 1.6g/kg/d of protein."

This is 0.73g per pound.

https://mennohenselmans.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-protein-intake-for-bodybuilders/

 

[ewingill]

@elijah_ride Disagree

 

[dollydot]

@elijah_ride Yep most of it is made up by protein powder manufacturers, and people on steroids.

 

[weepingwillow422]

@dollydot Strong claim. Evidence?

 

[dollydot]

@weepingwillow422 Just do one month primarily on protein powder as your source of protein, and the next month eat real food. See the difference yourself.

 

[rozer]

@dollydot One month isn't a metric to gauge any progress or change.

 

[dollydot]

@rozer You'll see very quickly how you feel in general, how heavy you lift, how well you recover and how hard your muscles feel.

 

[rozer]

@dollydot I've done both, the difference isn't staggering in any way. You need protein to build muscle, does a protein shake help with getting the required numbers in? Yes it does. If your mood, muscle hardness or strength is somehow correlated with the consumption of protein powder, you have bigger problems to worry about.

 

[dollydot]

@rozer Yeah man, trust the 'science' protein powder companies present to you and chug them shakes regularly...

I guess it's individual. I'm sharing what works for me. I've never heard anyone saying that they've achieved great results from protein shakes, and I've been going to the gym for more than 20 years.

But sure, by all means if you think the shakes are absorbed by the body the same way as solid food go for it.