I love this post but got to pushback on the recommended protein intake of “0.7 to 1 gram per kilogram daily.”
Double to triple that intake is ideal for gaining muscle mass. And more protein helps lose more undesirable weight since it helps people feel more full with less calories.* These are very common goals.
However I agree and/or learned a lot from the rest of this post!
Thanks David. Yeah I agree that something closer to 1.6 gram per kilogram is probably ideal for gaining muscle mass, per what your ChatGPT answers say. But my guess is that most Americans aren’t doing the required weights to actually gain muscle mass. And my guess would be that caloric restriction / GLP-1s are surer ways to loss weight. But I’m also far from an expert on any of this, so on reflection I should have just skipped weighing in on this point at all.
“But I’m also far from an expert on any of this, so on reflection I should have just skipped weighing in on this point at all.”
Lol I’m glad you didn’t skip it since your writing never fails to brighten my day. And your TED talk was great too btw! Thanks for all your hard work and reading and replying to my comment
Thanks David! That’s very kind of you :) And TBC: I wouldn’t have skipped the whole newsletter—just weighing on ideal protein consumption, which was a bit of a digression from the main point. (And I had actually considered just saying something like “I don’t know how much protein you should eat, but it doesn’t matter because we can’t influence it much.”)
I’d also guess that eating more protein improves public health in countries where high body weight causes health problems, since protein makes it easier to eat fewer calories.
But the largest increases in animal protein consumption are likely coming from countries that aren’t (yet) facing issues with obesity?
I love this post but got to pushback on the recommended protein intake of “0.7 to 1 gram per kilogram daily.”
Double to triple that intake is ideal for gaining muscle mass. And more protein helps lose more undesirable weight since it helps people feel more full with less calories.* These are very common goals.
However I agree and/or learned a lot from the rest of this post!
*I asked Chatgpt to factcheck these claims (and it basically endorsed them) and cite sources here: https://chatgpt.com/s/t_690bc48ee7fc819196ef1112f1cefa9f
Thanks David. Yeah I agree that something closer to 1.6 gram per kilogram is probably ideal for gaining muscle mass, per what your ChatGPT answers say. But my guess is that most Americans aren’t doing the required weights to actually gain muscle mass. And my guess would be that caloric restriction / GLP-1s are surer ways to loss weight. But I’m also far from an expert on any of this, so on reflection I should have just skipped weighing in on this point at all.
“But I’m also far from an expert on any of this, so on reflection I should have just skipped weighing in on this point at all.”
Lol I’m glad you didn’t skip it since your writing never fails to brighten my day. And your TED talk was great too btw! Thanks for all your hard work and reading and replying to my comment
Thanks David! That’s very kind of you :) And TBC: I wouldn’t have skipped the whole newsletter—just weighing on ideal protein consumption, which was a bit of a digression from the main point. (And I had actually considered just saying something like “I don’t know how much protein you should eat, but it doesn’t matter because we can’t influence it much.”)
I’d also guess that eating more protein improves public health in countries where high body weight causes health problems, since protein makes it easier to eat fewer calories.
But the largest increases in animal protein consumption are likely coming from countries that aren’t (yet) facing issues with obesity?