Aiming for 2 g/kg body weight for protein intake provides confidence in meeting needs, even if actual intake occasionally drops to 1.6 g/kg.

“So, if I'm telling somebody to hit 1.6 and one day they're at 1.2, 2. Another day they're at 1.7. Another day they're at 1.5. Another day they're at 1.9. On average they might hit 1.6. But how many days were they below versus how many days were they above? Let's just say it's an equal split. But we've just established the shape of this curve is like this. So that means every day you're below the downside is much greater than the upside of being above. In other words, all the days you're above are not making up for all the days you're below. So, what I'd really like to do is shift the range so that your low day is 1.6 and your high day is maybe 2.2. And then guess what? You don't have days where you are ever ever amino acid restricted.”

“And so what you're talking about here is going up to two so that you can really have an average at least of 1.6, right? You're getting that average.”

“But I'm going to stand by my recommendation. 2 g per kilogram per day. And my rationale again, I explained it earlier in the podcast, but just to restate it, if you aim for two on the day you fall short, you'll still be at 1.6. If you aim for 1.6, on the day you fall short, you'll be 1.2. And that 1.2 won't be made up for on the next day because the downside is asymmetric compared to the upside.”

“I think it's far. I mean, it's it's the reason I always target two to even slightly more is that if I fall short I can beat 1.6.”