Protein intake for Big Guys

Nutrition Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi, Jordan (and whoever else responds to these). This is a question I hoped to ask at the BBM Seminar in Boston, but never really had the opportunity.

I’m a big guy at 6’5" and now sitting at around 300 lbs. I’ve dropped almost 10 lbs in the last couple of months just by logging my food and paying attention to what I eat. In the short term I’m trying to get down to around 275. This is after putting on some weight for the first few months of COVID.

I began to look closer at my protein intake and noticed it’s waaaaay underneath the 1g/lb recommendation (even when adjusted for lean body mass). I very rarely make my goal of consuming 200g of protein in a day (this is assuming a 3000 (kilo)calorie a day “diet”).

Getting my protein intake up this week seems to be helping with my weight, but it’s daunting to drink a 2-scoop whey, bannana, skim milk, and a tablespoon-of-peanut-butter shake and only be around 1/3 of the way to my protein goal. I also get a feeling that, as good as they are right now, I’m going to grow tired of drinking those. I keep wondering am I missing a concept here? How does someone my size eat that much protein without spiking their saturated fat intake? Also does 3000/calories-a-day sound reasonable for long-term success hitting my weight goals?

On a side note, when you’re in the top percentile for height it’s frustrating to make sense of health recommendations typically made for someone roughly 2/3 your size. Any resources or advice on that would be very welcome as well.

2

TBC,

Thanks for the post and hope all is well. I think if you’re getting close to the 1.6 g/kg/day recommendation, ~ 220g/day, you’re getting enough protein. In order to keep dietary saturated fat below the guideline’s recommendation, I’d opt for lean proteins such as chicken, fish, eggs and egg whites, Greek yogurt, whey protein, etc. and use red meat a few times a week.

The meal you listed here is probably ~ 60’ish grams of protein or close to 1/3 of your total protein intake in a single meal, which seems pretty good, right?

As far as the height interplay with the health recommendations, all of the ones we discussed at the seminar are height-independent. For example, the waist circumference cut off is the same for you as it is for me.

-Jordan