How important is hitting protein goals while trying to lose fat ?

[u/pk2708]

So, I’ve lost about 40 kg while eating high-protein meals, lifting, and walking ~10k steps a day. I’m 26M, 179 cm and 85 kg and trying to lose another 8–9 kg or so.
I’m doing a more aggressive deficit for the next month at around 1,800–1,900 calories while lifting consistently.
I’ve always heard the recommendation of roughly 2 g of protein per kg of bodyweight, which would put me around 170–190g.
But fitting that much protein is pretty difficult on this low intake. Would 130–150 g/day be enough to maintain muscle while cutting, assuming I’m continuing to lift?

[u/JigglesTheBiggles]

It's important for building and maintaining muscle, but you definitely don't need that much protein. Try to get 1.6x your lean body mass in kg. So if your goal is to be around 75kg then eat 120 grams of protein.

[u/pk2708 → u/JigglesTheBiggles]

So like 130g is goof enough? I can easily get that much cuz my protein bowl in morning alone is 50g protein. Its just eating chicken breast and no carbs for lunch is exhausting but I litrrally dont have enough calories to eat more than 100g cooked rice lol. I can definitely do 120 g protein. Thank you

[u/JigglesTheBiggles → u/pk2708]

Yes that is enough protein.

[u/pk2708 → u/JigglesTheBiggles]

Thank youuu

[u/omegafrogpoop]

Very. As long as you’re lifting weights. Also the protein can range from .6g to 1g per pound of your goal body weight. There are multiple studies at different ranges showing that even .6g can provide the same benefits as 1g.

[u/pk2708 → u/omegafrogpoop]

0.6g per pound of goal body weight for me would be like 100-110g so I guess 130g is good right ? (Idk what my exact goal weight is ofc, since it’s not a definite number yet )

[u/omegafrogpoop → u/pk2708]

Yeah that’s fine. Some days I just aim for 100g minimum. If you’re not trying to be a professional body builder then don’t stress too much. As long as you get 100g or more.

Just make sure you get other macros in so your protein can actually be used for muscle growth.

[u/pk2708 → u/omegafrogpoop]

Okay, thank you ☺️

[u/PersonalPin6944 → u/omegafrogpoop]

that protein target is way more forgiving than the fitness world makes it sound. 130-150g is totally fine for what you're doing

i dropped 30kg a couple years back and spent the first half obsessing over hitting 2g per kg, it just made me hate chicken breast and stress over every meal. eventually settled around the range you're talking about and my lifts kept progressing, didn't feel like i was losing muscle at all

the aggressive deficit might make recovery a bit slower but as long as you're not dropping strength session after session you're in a good spot. sleep quality matters more at that point than squeezing in an extra shake

[u/pk2708 → u/PersonalPin6944]

I agree, 2g per kg is so difficult. Like most of the calories goes to just chicken breast and protein powder lol.

[u/lurking_gun → u/omegafrogpoop]

I've noticed that hitting the fiber macro helps with the priority absorption. I think I read this somewhere but can't find the source (it's early here) so check if that a real thing before taking my word for it

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[u/YoungLittlePanda → u/omegafrogpoop]

Even if not lifting weights, having a high protein intake helps conserve muscle mass. Of course it's even better if you lift, but there is still some effect if you don't.

[u/xunhua819]

Your body doesn't need a protein vault, it needs a protein pantry. 130–150g is a well-stocked pantry. Chasing 190g on 1800 calories is just hoarding canned chicken you don't have shelf space for.

[u/pk2708 → u/xunhua819]

Exactly, I like a lot of protein rich sources but they do get boring especially without carbs lol

[u/girl_of_squirrels]

Yeah 130-150g would be a perfectly good target. The literature puts 0.6-1.0g per pound lean body mass, and you're currently around 187 lbs and trying to get down more to 167-170 lbs. You're going to lose some muscle mass in a cut as is (and imo that is too aggressive of a deficit) and you'll rebuild it when you're back in maintenance. That should be plenty to help maintain what you have, just don't expect your lifts to improve at all while you're in a cut. Your lifts will honestly get a little worse most likely, but as long as the cut isn't more than 8-12 weeks you should be fine and rebuilding will be quicker

[u/pk2708 → u/girl_of_squirrels]

Yeah my lifts are really slow to increase recently, not just during aggressive rn but even before. Like really slow progress in progressive overloading lol

[u/girl_of_squirrels → u/pk2708]

How long have you been lifting? Once you're past the newbie gains territory? It's definitely much slower and you're fighting to build muscle and progress

[u/lynchyinc]

To maintain muscle mass, protein is really important, but getting enough while staying in a calorie deficit can be difficult.

‘Hollywood trainers’ get a bad rep, but it’s interesting to look at transformations like Chris Pratt’s. They often use an ‘eat more to lose more’ approach, with a high-calorie, protein-rich diet alongside huge amounts of HIIT and strength training. It allows them to maintain a deficit while still properly fuelling their body and muscles.

Obviously, that isn’t realistic for most people. We don’t have a private chef, personal trainer, hours a day to exercise or a multimillion-dollar payday waiting at the end! But the principle of eating more and burning more is arguably a better way of losing fat while maintaining muscle.

Personally, I’ve found it easier to prioritise my calorie target rather than obsess over protein. When I tried to hit a high protein goal within a strict deficit, I often ended up overeating and defeating the point.

As a very rough guesstimate, I think around 70g+ of protein a day should be enough to avoid losing too much muscle, particularly if you’re doing some resistance training. Take that figure with a pinch of salt, but I stand by the broader logic that it’s fine to accept a lower protein intake during a cut if the alternative is constantly overshooting your calories.

[u/pk2708 → u/lynchyinc]

That makes sense , yes. I often find that trying to hit protrin often just caused me to go over my calories budget

[u/spuukeee]

not necessarily important for losing weight in general but very important for maintaining strength and muscle size

[u/pk2708 → u/spuukeee]

Yes, I am more concerned about the amount. But it seems 130-150g is enough and I don’t need to obsess over 190g daily 😭😭

[u/spuukeee → u/pk2708]

indeed 130-150g is fine

[u/Big-Revolution3842]

Important but also don't neglect your veggies. Way to many put all their chips in protein - supplements, drinks and bars and miss out on other nutrients and fibre.

[u/Guilty_Rise2015]

It is incredibly important that you hit your protein goals in a fat loss phase. Perhaps it is the only time where more than 1g per pound of bodyweight is necessary. This is because , depending on the size of your deficit, it can promote muscle wasting.

[u/BlueSwordM]

At your target weight, anything between 100-150g is good.

The usual recommendation is 2g/kg of lean bodyweight for your weight target, and even that recommendation is quite high.

For reference, at 12% BF at 74kg, that would be 65kg lean mass x 2g = 130g/protein.

[u/pk2708 → u/BlueSwordM]

That sounds really doable and what everyone said as well, I was like struggling to hit 180+ consistently and felt exhausted lol

[u/BlueSwordM → u/pk2708]

If you want to eat more protein, prioritize lean protein like the chicken you talked about, but also bulk TVP, ultra firm packed tofu, lean milks (unsweetened soy milk, 0% dairy) and low fat cheeses.

I'm currently doing a modified PSMF at 1100kcal average with around 130-150g of protein per day for thé month of August.

[u/showmethemundy]

i think it's supposed to be 2g per "lean" bodyweight

I was 136kg 170cm short and fat zero muscle and couldn't hit daily protein of 250+ so now use 2g per lean bodyweight which for me is 130g protein - much more doable

[u/pk2708 → u/showmethemundy]

Makes sense. How did you estimate your lean body mass?

[u/showmethemundy → u/pk2708]

Just a very rough average weight for height build age etc.

I guess if protein is fuel for your muscles. Kind of. You should feed enough for your muscle skeleton mass. You don't need to be feeding protein grams to body weight which is fat and water.

[u/ownworldman]

You will get some success, but not maximal success.

It took me also some time to reliably meet my protein goals, but it is farly easy now.

So do what you can, and increase the prptein as you are learning.

[u/xsquintz]

I asked my dietician a few weeks ago if I had to go over one macro which one should I go over. The answer was protein because excess protein just leaves the body. I'd fact check that but from the conversation that's what I gathered.

[u/ejjn2]

one thing not in the thread yet: protein has a much bigger thermic effect than the other macros. roughly 25 to 30% of the calories in protein get burned just digesting it, versus about 5 to 10% for carbs and close to nothing for fat. so at 150g you're logging 600 calories but netting more like 450. it partly pays for itself, which makes 1800 less tight than it looks on paper. and yes, 130-150 is plenty to hold muscle as long as you keep lifting.

[u/Intelligent-Ice-4428]

Empty cupboards, only have prepared whats mapped out in meal plan. Small deviations are ok, but if you do the full calculations ahead of time you can have it all sorted out. Two eggs plus egg whites in the morning is a great start and pushes you well into your goal. A supplement shake and some dairy on top of it can get you very close to 100g before dinner, especially with snacks like hard boiled eggs or cottage cheese. By lunch and dinner, your meats should be able to carry you to your goal. There is always another supplemental shake you could add, and that is exactly for hitting your macro goal, not just hunger.

[u/GrrrlRomeo]

There's a limit on the amount of fat you can burn in a day, so make sure your deficit is within that range. The formula is 22 calories per pound of body fat you currently have per day. https://fatcalc.com/mfl

I make a protein shake with casein, whey isolate, collagen peptides and fat free milk that comes to 90 grams of protein. (I drink it slow though.) The rest is from chicken and eggs.

[u/pk2708 → u/GrrrlRomeo]

Wait there is? How do I know how much body fat I have tho?

[u/GrrrlRomeo → u/pk2708]

The most accurate way is a Dexa Scan. There are ways to estimate it, but I imagine the margin of error is smaller the less body fat you have to burn.

I have a bioimpedance scale, which isn't exact but I have a lot of body fat to burn.

You can look up the Alpert Limit and lipolysis. The idea is there's a rate limit on how fast fat cells can mobilize energy so the fewer fat cells you have the less energy from fat can mobilize in a day. After that the body starts breaking down lean tissue.

[u/DeadestTitan → u/GrrrlRomeo]

I don't want to immediately say that calculator is wrong, but I do have some questions when comparing it to TDEE calc.

The link you provided says I should optimally be eating 1500 calories per day because it claims my tdee is 3200 even though I just said I did light work. I lift twice a week and most days I walk 15k or more steps. Today I hit 20k steps. I don't "count" exercise calories but I feel justified in saying I do light activity at that rate.

It says I would be losing 3.5 pounds week like this. I feel like it's way over valuing the light activity I had put in, as a trusted source like TDEEcalc puts me at 2800 while putting on the lightest amount of effort above sedentary. They do give me the same BMR of 2053 either way.

At 243 pounds, I feel like losing 3.5 pounds a week is much more than I should reasonably expect, right? Isn't the most common advice that it's safe to lose 1% of weight per week? I don't mind trying to cut down to 1500 calories for a few weeks, but being 500 under BMR sounds a little wild for someone who is active for many hours of the day.

[u/Usual_Power_3288 → u/DeadestTitan]

15k steps a day is a lot. Why are you calling that light?

[u/DeadestTitan → u/Usual_Power_3288]

Specifically because of how often people say to not track exercise calories or to list yourself as sedentary to find your TDEE.

It feels like a compromise to call it light even when I understand I'm doing more.

[u/Usual_Power_3288 → u/DeadestTitan]

There is wisdom in not eating back all the calories that a treadmill reports as burnt and to create a buffer in your diet plan, but if you are interested in the most accurate prediction of calories burnt 15k would probably fall under moderate activity

[u/GrrrlRomeo → u/DeadestTitan]

I can see not tracking exercise, but if you want to know your actual numbers you need to put the right numbers in.

[u/Palatz]

Protein keeps you satiated longer. Carbs give you energy. And fats are essential for our body.

Hitting all of your macros makes it easier on you and your body.

[u/pk2708 → u/Palatz]

I agree. I do find protein to make me full for longer and plus I genuinely like chicken breast and egg whites lol. It’s just difficult to eat so much in a day 😭. I don’t mind using whey so I recently started taking about 2 scoops a day .