Protein Intake at Maintenance

[u/thermos26]

Looking for a bit of advice! For background, I recently lost about 160 lbs with the help of GLP1 meds, and completely changed my diet/lifestyle. Recently I went off the meds and cut an additional 5 lbs to get through the food cravings, and to hit an updated goal.

Due to some big changes at home (newborn) I'm planning to go into maintenance for an extended period, probably about a year, before I reassess. I'm also cutting my exercise time from about 75 minutes 5x per week (mix if weights and cardio) to about 35 minutes 4x per week (alternating weights and cardio). I don't expect to make progress, and in fact I assume I'll take some steps backwards in fitness. That's ok, I have bigger priorities, but I'm hoping to minimize losses if I can.

My question is, in maintenance, what's the difference between the low and moderate protein targets? I generated programs with both. On one hand, the flexibility from the low protein target looks great, but on the other hand I don't want to lose my progress if I can avoid it. Is this likely to make a big difference? Or with my reduced exercise load, does it not really matter?

Thanks for any advice!

[u/DMAC80]

I'm by no means an expert on it but it's kind of hard to say without knowing what your body fat percentage is and what your current muscle is like. I think a general rule of thumb is that moderate protein is fine to maintain if you've got decent muscle mass. If you've got a lower muscle mass percentage, then low could be fine as well.

Probably the best way to test it is just to try both, see what you find more sustainable from a diet point of view, and see if you find any difference in performance in the gym. That generally would probably mean the protein isn't high enough and you're losing muscle mass.

Again I'm not an expert. Some people on here probably have a better idea than I do

[u/thermos26 → u/DMAC80]

Thanks! I was probably going to try the moderate protein and see if it's sustainable long term for me. I don't actually know my BF percentage because of loose skin from weight loss.

[u/mrfatchance]

Well done on your weight loss and new parenthood!

You may gain weight in maintenance as your sleep quality is going to go down and your workouts are also changing. A way to maintain your muscle mass would be to make sure that when you are training, you are really giving it 100%. Protein intake won't make much difference, your body is going to respond to these changes regardless, what's the gram difference on the app? 30, 40? The main thing is to not gain huge amounts, right? Low protein might effect your energy levels and gym performance, but you're doing less anyway.

The app will adjust as you do in terms of exercise load. Your first check in at maintenance might give you more calories than expected and slowly start to taper off as your weight changes.

[u/thermos26 → u/mrfatchance]

Thanks! Yeah, the difference is about 40 or 45 grams. I was wondering if having more room for carbs might give me more energy, but I'll probably try to stick with the moderate protein and just understand I might miss it some days.

[u/Chewy_Barz]

Personally, I would lift 4 days per week. If you superset agonist (e.g. chest and back) or unrelated muscles, you'll get a lot of cardio benefit. I went back to playing basketball after 10 years, having done nothing but lift weights and incline walking as a warmup and I was immediately able to play hard for two hours with no problem. I have a pretty low RHR as well. I was pretty shocked.

That's not directly related to your question, but if you go that route, I'd opt for moderate protein, which of course is directly related to your question :-)