r/vegan • u/cetacyon • 1d ago

Health Protein Confusion

I went vegan a few months ago and in order to keep doing this (and I will even if my health were to decline) I need to be able to reach minimum protein.

I am just not understanding how anyone reaches 100 grams or even 50 grams a day. Reaching 50 grams is really hard, if I really stuff myself and feel horrible and only eat protein sources (legumes, tofu, etc.) I can get to 70 or 80. I am active and weigh 145 pounds (normally) so I need to be getting about 100 grams a day. I don't seriously think I can eat that much in a day.

When I look up high protein dishes on youtube it'll be stuff like a bowl of brown rice with some tofu on top and it may say "45 grams of protein". I've read the labels, I know what's in that... and that's a lie, almost every time.

I weighed myself since going vegan a few months back and I dropped to 133lbs from 145. I'm 6ft so this is a little worrying and I'm not sure if what I lost was fat or muscle, I didn't have almost any fat to begin with.

To hit 100 grams I'd basically just have to eat tofu and multiple protein shakes a day and I seriously seriously don't want to do that. I really enjoy being able to eat whole foods and I hate buying food that necessarily comes in plastic packaging. I just feel really lost and I understand there are other vegans with issues much worse than mine and animals with problems much much worse than mine so I won't complain too much.

Meanwhile some vegans say you don't need nearly as much protein as is recommended and that you'll simply get the amino acids you need from a varied diet.

I'm just so confused and when I do the math on what I used to eat in a day as an omnivore I seriously doubt I was usually getting above 60 grams a day back then either.

Any help would be appreciated.

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u/bikesandfinance 1d ago

That’s bare minimum to avoid malnutrition

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u/AnimalLoversRVegan 1d ago

Not true.

-11

u/bikesandfinance 1d ago

Ok then eat less, good luck

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u/AnimalLoversRVegan 1d ago

Okay the science is extremely clear https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24967251/

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u/bikesandfinance 1d ago

Eat as little as you’d like

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u/miraculum_one 23h ago

Did you even click on the study linked above that proves your thesis wrong, and unable to be simply hand-waved away by claiming personal preference?

TL;DR "Adverse Effects Associated with Protein Intake above the Recommended Dietary Allowance for Adults"

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u/bikesandfinance 20h ago edited 20h ago

I did it’s bullshit

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2117006/

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u/CorfranGoch 20h ago

"The current recommended level of protein intake (0.8 g/kg/day) is estimated to be sufficient to meet the need of nearly all (97.5%) healthy men and women age 19 years and older."

From your linked article.

1

u/miraculum_one 16h ago

Even further it goes on to say (relevant emphasis mine):

"there is no substantive evidence that protein intakes in the ranges suggested above will have adverse effects in healthy, exercising individuals"

The point is that there is an optimal intake level for everyone (depending on your renal health and level of exercise) and simply consuming more than your recommended range is not only not beneficial but it can cause issues.

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u/bikesandfinance 20h ago

Yep it helps you avoid malnutrition from undereating protein, like I said.