this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2026
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I find a huge variation in daily recommended protein intake when I search online and it is quite frustrating. I am going to the gym regularly and trying to build muscle so this has recently become important to me as I don't want to accidentally have a protein deficiency. Currently I use a protein powder and eat a lot of beans and lentils. I usually get 60g at least and I get the full spectrum of amino acids from other parts of my diet. I just do not believe I need double this as is currently recommended by the US government.

Anyone have studies on this? Recommendations for bodybuilding while vegan?

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[–] CommunistCuddlefish@hexbear.net 12 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Have done a lot of weightlifting and honestly the high protein stats are unrealistic and unsustainable. They define PEAK PERFORMANCE as prioritizing muscle gain above all else, and that is kind of bullshit. It's also bad for your kidneys to be slamming that much protein. The best health and general fitness advice I can give is to eat what feels, to you, like a healthy amount of vegetable, protein, fiber, and carbs, in that order from most important to least important. Pay attention to how your body feels with them and settle on that. Like, if I don't get enough protein, I feel bad. If I get too much protein, I feel bad. If I get too much carbs, I feel bad. If I get too little in the way of vegetables, I feel bad. In all these cases, cravings and food aversions kick in to adjust the diet based on what I probably need, and when I tried to adjust (e.g., slam in more protein because the calculations and macro tracking said I should) I just could not force myself to for more than a week.

When I lift more, I crave protein more. When I lift less, I crave protein less. I have found this approach to fitness far more sustainable than when I was tracking macros and trying to fine-tune it all. If nothing else, macro tracking can be useful for making people aware of bad habits, but that's really the best of it. You could track your macros, your lifting, and how you feel (energetic? exhausted? hungry all the time? overfull?) to help you figure out the best dietary approach for yourself.

[–] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 6 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (2 children)

The stats I'm looking at aren't even for body builders, they are just the recommended amount for your average person daily. 120g is ridiculous for that right???

Also your method probably wouldn't work for me only because I struggle with recognizing how I am feeling most of the time and, due to medication, I struggle to crave food in general.

[–] ggtdbz@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

120g is body builder level, it’s well into the diminishing returns range and I think anything above like 90 is people trying to game the curve and find a “reasonable” level before it’s really not worth it.

If you’re not in a hurry, just eat “more protein” and don’t think too much about it. I’m not vegan so maybe my experience isn’t welcome here, but I spent a while obsessed with protein “options” when really a solid third of my intake ends up coming from ordinary staples like bread and pasta. I track what I eat and a day of regular food for me gives me 50-60 grams piecemeal on days I don’t eat meat, which is most days. I think a shake on top of that takes you to “high protein” without hitting unnecessary body builder levels. I’m not familiar with the vegan shakes at all so I don’t know. It does seem much harder for full time vegan people, I’m aware this is just pontificating.

Granted, we eat a lot of legumes and only get brown rice etc. I recommend you figure out a lentil seasoning that you can get obsessed with. I found that a chickpea pasta sauce tradition exists and it’s cheap vegan protein that doesn’t really change my day to day life. I could probably dump some TVP in there too. Legumes are your friend, just cook them long enough to make sure they don’t give you gas.

You don’t need to optimize every last thing, the internet turns up the noise all the way especially on things like nutrition. If you need more protein, just make some effort to get more in than before, you should be fine. It’s extra bad now that companies have decided that customers are obsessed with protein and the word protein is something you get slapped by in the face a dozen times every day now. If you really care about a number, there are a few different guidelines and the lowest certainly won’t be too low. I’m not a doctor but 60 as an obligatory minimum + trying to get to 90 most days should be enough if you’re taking it easy.

[–] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 2 points 6 hours ago

Already covered with the lentils. Various indian soups but especially dal palak are my favorites. I think the real issue is I just need to eat more.

[–] CommunistCuddlefish@hexbear.net 6 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Sorry then, didn't mean to give you unhelpful advice. Been there, when I was on ADHD meds I couldn't eat much throughout the day.

120g sounds really high to me. What source is telling you that? When I was tracking my macros I think I settled on a target of somewhere around 60 g / day and found it frankly impossible to hit sustainably.

To go back to your original question, IIRC the formula I thought was backed the most up by some studies (but sorry, I didn't save the source,and it was still a matter of active study and debate at the time) was about 0.75 x 0.001 x (body mass in kilograms). So, an 80Kg person would want 0.75 x 80g = 60g. This is markedly lower than the average bro science adages of 1g protein per kg of body mass.

[–] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 7 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

USDA says 1.2-1.6g/kg lol

I know its bullshit bc RFK but still. I get something like .7-.8g/kg per day as this was the old USDA standard. Glad to know I'm in the right ballpark. There is a lot of websites that use the 2025 USDA standards and it seems like that was what was confusing me.

[–] CommunistCuddlefish@hexbear.net 4 points 15 hours ago

Lol and sob no wonder you're so confused, now I'm also so confused.