Is strength training even worth it with insufficient protein?

[nanathalieee]

I'm lifting weights at the gym 3-4x a week. Trying to lose about 10 lbs of fat. On some days I make mistakes by eating too many carbs and because I want to maintain a calorie deficit as my first priority, I don't eat enough protein on those days (enough meaning 0.8g per pound of lean body weight). So I am wondering, how much am I shooting myself in the foot on these days? The obvious answer is to stop doing this but I sometimes let it happen.

 

[nathan2018]

@nanathalieee Yes, it’s still worth it. There’s a lot more to strength training than just muscle gain. And it’s not like your gains fall off a cliff if you’re only eating .5 g per lbs of bodyweight. You may not be optimizing your gains, but you’re still getting gains.

Perfect, enemy of the good and all that.

 

[abowden]

@nanathalieee I find myself in that scenario a lot. I decided that hitting my protein goal is more important than my caloric deficit target. If I'm short protein at the end of the day, I make a protein shake.

 

[antponetteoaks]

@nanathalieee Yes, it's worth it. Strength training signals to your body that you need to hold on to the muscle so it will be more likely to use the fat for energy and keep the muscle.

 

[amn]

@nanathalieee Absolutely it is.

Even people with chronic kidney disease (on extremely low levels of protein intake) can make gains and improve health with resistance training.

So if you’re missing your mark by 10-20g of protein, even a couple of days a week, it’s unlikely to even be detectable.

Stick to your diet (calories), and keep lifting. Those are vastly more important for your goals.

 

[anon103]

@nanathalieee Exercise has so many benefits that it's going to be "worth it" no matter the other variables.

0.8 g/lb is a number that is meant to maximize your gains. It's not a minimum threshold you have to meet for strength training to be worthwhile.

 

[godoursavior]

@nanathalieee You cause damage to your muscles when you lift weights, which requires protein to heal. If your body doesn’t get enough protein from food, it catabolism’s it from other places in your body (other muscles you aren’t working for example) to make up the deficit.

Just eat enough protein

 

[doctoroliver83]

@nanathalieee It's not ideal but your body is adaptable.

 

[carlagrimes]

@nanathalieee Yes it's worth it.

When you say "insufficient", how low are you going? 0.8g / lb isn't just sufficient, it's basically optimal (0.7 is considered the floor of the "optimal" range). You can be a bit below that and still be "sufficient" to synthesize muscle, just suboptimal.

 

[godlovesart]

@nanathalieee There is a huge gap between how much protein it takes to build muscle vs how much is required to simply maintain it. If your goal is fat loss, you're doing it right, by only eating enough protein to maintain muscle while adhering to your calorie deficit.

People who talk about protein requirements usually are repeating what they heard was optimal for muscle growth, but passing it off as a true bare minimum. I've built noticeable muscle and lost fat over the last 3 years by doing exactly what you're doing, and most days I eat less than the minimum optimal muscle gain requirements. I know most people who are consistent will accomplish the same thing.

Don't stress it, your head is in the right place.

 

[barbaraloewen]

@godlovesart The current international Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein is 0.8 g per kg of body weight (bw), regardless of age

National Institutes of Health (NIH)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5872778/

 

[guaguar]

@nanathalieee Yes.

You dont need to reach optimal levels of protein intake before you'll get gains. Just think of it like more proteins means a little more gains (to a point).

 

[mapaseka]

@nanathalieee I find protein shakes beneficial.

 

[paulotarsus]

@nanathalieee It's not a well-studied issue--the overwhelming amount of research is on higher/high vs media protein intake w/ resistance training. The only study I'm familiar with was for physique athletes: basically the low protein group gained strength, but less muscle and lost less fat.

Another consideration is that even if you don't have enough protein to adequately synthesize muscle, you are putting your bones under stress and are likely to increase bone density (assuming sufficient mineral intake) and you would be getting some level of Zone 2/3 training in for improved cardiovascular fitness.

Look, being active and training always beats the couch.

 

[predrag]

@nanathalieee Most people aren't lifting "hard enough" for fatigue to be detrimental. Just means you're minimizing the benefits.

There's a difference between the amount cited for "gain", and the amount needed to "live". Unless you're vegetarian, you're probably getting "enough".

 

[larry9madison]

@nanathalieee Yes. You will get stronger even on suboptimal protein intake

 

[heartofanevangelist]

@nanathalieee 100 percent, yes. Just because it may not be ideal (I mean, is anyone running at 100% efficiency?) doesn't mean it's not worth it by any means. The documented benefits of strength training are numerous, and that's without considering it in conjunction with ideal nutrition.

 

[lidalulu]

@nanathalieee You can gain muscle and loose weight. I did it. 3500 cal deficit on high protein diet. You need 100 grams atleast of protein.

The easy way is to seperate weight loss and muscle gain.

There you go.

 

[shiningstar89]

@nanathalieee I am around 218lb and I have an estimate of 100g of protein a day. I'm making good progress and will consistently increase the weights I'm lifting. That means I'm having around 0.45g of protein per lb of body weight and I'm doing fine.

I know everybody is different but the protein requirement that people talk about seems to be more than is required. Not to say I wouldn't be doing better with more protein of course!

 

[cshirna]

@nanathalieee I was closely watching this thread - I am 250 pounds and unless I eat turkey all day, i just couldn't hit the one pound per body weight. It is also very costly. Isopures protein powders are getting up there...it is now $3.25 per serving. used to be $1.80 a few years ago...I want to be fit but coming from a central asia and carribean background i refuse to live off ground turkey, greek yogurt and cod fillet ....