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Comment by swalsh

7 hours ago

"approximately 1gram/pound of body weight"

I believe this should be lean mass, not total mass. I think people tried to calibrate this metric since most people don't have scales that can measure composition... but if you're obese, you're going to be consuming more than you need to, which is counter productive if you're obese.

It's actually not, because nothing provides as much satiety as protein.

Every calorie you get from protein reduces your cravings for food significantly more then the equivalent carb and fats.

You still need to get over the initial insulin normalization though from reducing sugars. Nothing reduces that pain, no matter what you try.

  • I think there was a study last year or so that investigated whether protein rich meals actually made people consume less calories, and i think it didnt really, despite the fact that it feels more satiating and the TEF is also higher than for carbs.

    So i think for long term weight changes it doesnt really help, at least not via its satiety response. Probably more through displacing other stuff from the diet and improved body composition.

  • If that were true, then protein powder would be satiating (it's not) and potatoes wouldn't be the most satiating food.

    This is just more bro-science chained onto bro-science.

    • Agree 100%. But lemme tell ya, "protein fluff" make from 150g skim milk, 10g protein powder, and 3g Xanthan gum whipped into a still meringue by a stand mixer is the most satiating thing I've ever eaten and it isn't even close. It is like the meringue doesn't collapse back down right away in your stomach so it is like eating (tasty) closed cell foam. I used to make it from a full cup of milk but had trouble finishing it. It's crazy filling and a godsend when cutting.

      I found it needs to be skim milk. Otherwise the fat in regular milk seemed to prevent the meringue from setting up.

  • I truly believe that satiety is dependent entirely on 1) what you're used to eating and 2) what you expect/culture. Years ago I was watching a video that interviewed a guy who owned an international fast food franchise somewhere in Asia, a burger place, like a McDonald's. He was saying a big difference between America and wherever they were was that they absolutely, positively MUST serve rice because in their culture most people don't find that burgers produce satiety, you need the rice otherwise you're still hungry.

Practically speaking it doesn't matter. Just use your healthy (men 15-20% fat; women +8%) weight and calculate based on that.

If you are healthy fat percentage, just use your own weight. If you are a bit highter, and can financially and practically afford it, just use your weight as well. Won't hurt and might actually help a bit.

So it is only a concern for severely obese people. If you are 50+kg overweight, you can scale it down a bit.

Similarly, these obese people shouldn't use the "my current diet - 500kcal a day reduction" which is sensible for already lean bodybuilders. They should just use the "my maintenance diet if I were of healthy weight".

Yes! The "lean mass" caveat is oft ignored by bro scientists, and even LLMs have incorporated the error due to training on bro science forums.

I use this as a bit of a canary. If you see somebody making this basic mistake (like the post you're replying to did), you should be highly skeptical of their other claims too.