Andrew Huberman· PhD
what the big takeaway is is understanding that protein had a sparing effect protein protected muscle more body fat loss at the same caloric amounts
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The evidence is convergent. Multiple independent sources reach the same conclusion, the underlying mechanism is well-characterized, and even the field's most cautious voices treat it as worth doing.
what the big takeaway is is understanding that protein had a sparing effect protein protected muscle more body fat loss at the same caloric amounts
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Do you have to be in a caloric surplus? Um the evidence doesn't appear.
if you are in a caloric deficit but you are...and we should probably talk about what the protein requirements are, but, let's say, you are getting sufficient protein intake, daily protein intake, to prevent your body from pulling protein out of your muscle, basically, can you not lose the lean mass or muscle mass?
And there's actually evidence that you need more protein than what has been shown for people at maintenance or above to maintain muscle or even to gain it, slightly, when you're in a caloric deficit.
So, the answer is it will help to preserve some lean mass but you'll still, no matter what, if you are not lifting weights, I mean, this has been shown again and over in research, you will lose...well, I want to at least...I always hate to talk in absolutes because if you're very obese where you just have, let's say, you're 100 pounds overweight, you can lose fat without losing muscle because you just have so much fat to lose that the body is going to pull from the fat storage, but I'm talking when you're starting to get down into, you know, people who're just, quote unquote, "overweight," you're going to lose muscle if you do not resistance train.
Now, I want to point out though, even if you're lifting weights, if you are getting insufficient protein, you're going to leach some muscle.
he did a systematic review and I think it was a meta regression as well showing that in a calorie deficit possibly up to three grams per kilogram of lean mass so different than body weight right but still higher than what we typically see that up to I think 3.1 gram per kilogram of lean mass had uh improvements in lean mass retention during a calorie deficit
if you don't have the training lever to preserve lean mass and get some metabolic benefits protein doesn't do it nearly as much but it does help and so you know but it's it is a small lever compared to actual resistance training