Is anyone still doing protein restriction?
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It was very popular during the honey/sugar diet trend, but has recently died down.
I myself notice that I never crave protein rich foods, which has made me wonder whether I should go against my intuition and still consume them.
Would be interesting to read other people's experiences, thoughts.
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@autistas123 I lost 50lbs doing a protein free diet for a few months, but ultimately I don’t like being ridiculously lean personally. I wasn’t able to find any maintenance level on the diet, (so that was one reason I stopped) and I just got tired of not eating liver, oysters, milk, and beef, (which i genuinely love).
I’d like to see a power lifter/strength training type with say 20% BF who can maintain that diet. I’m just not sure it’s possible. The only guys with size who I saw on the diet were all clearly on at least test.
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@evan.hinkle 50 pounds is
. What body fat percentage do you think you reached?When you say 0 protein, do you mean just overt protein? Fruit, rice, potatoes etc still do contain a decent amount of amino acids.
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Fruit, rice, potatoes etc still do contain a decent amount of amino acids.
I like you
someone gets it!Just to unload some thoughts on protein restriction.
It is not as pro metabolic as people make it out to be. It works via adrenaline largely... FGF 21 works in the brain first, which releases norephinepherine to stimulate metabolism.
In a fat loss context - yeah, this is good. I don't think it's a tool you should largely rely on though! Simply because other adrenergic things will do the same thing, are easier and spare muscle. Moderate protein restriction, cardio and a real metabolic stimulant (no, not b1 LMAO) probably would do the trick and be much easier than the vegan lifestyle lol.
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Though there is a reason people aren't doing the sugar diet anymore lol. Take a wild guess why.
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Oh and by moderate I suggest the 70ish range
BCAAs below 8! -
Protein restriction is also proposed to increase life span. A very interesting watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-Ur2QAILjc
I think there's something to be said about the fact that most people gravitate towards lower protein diets naturally.
Also, as a recreational lifter, the one time that I tried a low protein diet (40-60g for a few months), I didn't notice a decrease in strength or recovery, and I was still able to progressively overload.
Obviously, this is anecdotal, and there are thousands of posts claiming that increasing protein doubled their gains or whatnot. Perhaps there's an individual component on how efficient you are at using the AAs for MPS or something.
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@autistas123 I probably hit somewhere just above 10% BF, say 12ish. I could feel a vein in my lower abdomen, but it didn’t jump off my body, (if that makes sense). Usually at 12ish and below I have significant vascularity in my lower abdomen.
And yes, I restricted overt proteins. So essentially fruits and candies, juices, and then I ate a very large bowl of rice for dinner. Protein restriction, but not complete protein annihilation.
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@evan.hinkle Seems like you were probably sub ~40g of protein. From your previous comment I'm assuming you lift. If so, did you notice a detriment to your performance?
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Protein restriction is also proposed to increase life span. A very interesting watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-Ur2QAILjc
I think there's something to be said about the fact that most people gravitate towards lower protein diets naturally.
Also, as a recreational lifter, the one time that I tried a low protein diet (40-60g for a few months), I didn't notice a decrease in strength or recovery, and I was still able to progressively overload.
Obviously, this is anecdotal, and there are thousands of posts claiming that increasing protein doubled their gains or whatnot. Perhaps there's an individual component on how efficient you are at using the AAs for MPS or something.
A few years ago, I was wondering why methionine restriction (which, in animals, implies zero cysteine intake as well) improved lifespan and metabolism; restricting cysteine essentially means restricting coenzyme A (CoA), and a period of zero cysteine intake lasting just a few days was enough to negatively impact carbs utilization via OXPHOS, forcing the animal to rely heavily on fatty acids to compensate.
I believe that maintaining a steady flux of glucose and lipids ranks higher in terms of importance than efficiency; therefore, the positive impact of these approaches will be proportional to one's metabolic state. Ironically, a healthy individual utilizes protein efficiently and does not require such high amounts
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therefore, the positive impact of these approaches will be proportional to one's metabolic state. Ironically, a healthy individual utilizes protein efficiently and does not require such high amounts
To be clear, what you're saying is that PR benefits metabolically impaired people most and that healthy people don't need to do it?
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Kinda of.
Benefits in proportion to the degree of metabolic impairement, so you need "to restrict" in proportion to your unhealthiness if that's the only variable you could change.
If it were possible to have perfect health, restriction would not be necessary at any point, but this fallen world...
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If it were possible to have perfect health, restriction would not be necessary at any point, but this fallen world...
This could be said about every single intervention, no?
I skimmed trough the text you posted on the rats. My understanding is that humans don't require a no cysteine/tryptophan diet to reap the benefits of PR.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-025-01236-7 studied leanish healthy young males who still had pretty high amounts of sulfur AAs in their diets and got impressive results.
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If it were possible to have perfect health, restriction would not be necessary at any point, but this fallen world...
This could be said about every single intervention, no?
I skimmed trough the text you posted on the rats. My understanding is that humans don't require a no cysteine/tryptophan diet to reap the benefits of PR.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-025-01236-7 studied leanish healthy young males who still had pretty high amounts of sulfur AAs in their diets and got impressive results.
Yeah, could be said about every intervention for that purpose haha
That was just an example; restrictions on different amino acids converge on the FGF21 effect. That is why, for instance, you can achieve most the effects of total protein restriction simply by restricting BCAAs.
And you can achieve all the effects of protein (or BCAA) restriction just by restricting methionine and cysteine, which are the ones that have the greatest impact.
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And you can achieve all the effects of protein (or BCAA) restriction just by restricting methionine and cysteine, which are the ones that have the greatest impact.
How would one even achieve this? A legume and fruit based diet?
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@TexugoDoMel not in my experience. They alll gotta go for maximal results.
Edit: they seriously do lol. I was eating a combined 0.8g of the sulfur based amino acids a day in August. I’ve done this before! Usually it was 1.2g I believe. Not the greatest difference. I usually did 0.8g but with much higher protein. A reason I wasted away, was because this time I cut back on all other amino acids. And then the weight just fell off. In a really sick way by the way - not healthy at all - as you can see by the refeeding syndrome.
@texugodomel Do you think using mega doses of pregnenolone to steal sulfur groups, depleting these amino acids when they are already depleted, is a valid strategy.
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A vegetarian/vegan/fruitarian diet is probably the easiest to restrict chronically(can't say is the best diet in general) and still has the benefit of selenomethionine, which does not behave the same way as methionine.
But there is no need for binary thinking; you can restrict in various ways--sometimes yielding more positive effects depending on the context--without it having to be a everyday thing.
You can even restrict total protein intake and supplement with BCAAs to restore some mTOR activity.
mTOR:
What I’m trying to say is that it doesn’t have to be done the same way, nor does it have to be done every day. You have a degree of freedom to adjust these variables to suit your goals as your focus shifts along the way.
Perhaps someday we will have an even more bioenergetic casein readily available...
" And within the margin of error, the Ox Cas MR diet produced a decrease in body weight, a decrease in lean mass, a decrease in fat mass, an increase in food intake, an increase in water intake, an increase in EE, an increase in serum FGF21, a decrease in fasting insulin, an improvement in insulin-dependent glucose clearance, and a decrease in serum triglycerides relative to the Cas Con group"@TexugoDoMel not in my experience. They alll gotta go for maximal results.
Edit: they seriously do lol. I was eating a combined 0.8g of the sulfur based amino acids a day in August. I’ve done this before! Usually it was 1.2g I believe. Not the greatest difference. I usually did 0.8g but with much higher protein. A reason I wasted away, was because this time I cut back on all other amino acids. And then the weight just fell off. In a really sick way by the way - not healthy at all - as you can see by the refeeding syndrome.
@texugodomel Do you think using mega doses of pregnenolone to steal sulfur groups, depleting these amino acids when they are already depleted, is a valid strategy.
Yeah, I have no doubt that cutting out all amino acids has a much more intense effect, but like you said, it wasn't healthy at all.
One day, I still want to try a protein-restricted regimen--but supplemented with BCAAs (and tyrosine?)--as part of a training routine, to see if it's possible to maintain the positive effects on body fat alongside the muscle benefits of BCAAs(for muscle mTOR).
I don't like the idea of significantly accelerating the depletion of the sulfur groups when already depleted no.
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One day, I still want to try a protein-restricted regimen--but supplemented with BCAAs (and tyrosine?)--as part of a training routine, to see if it's possible to maintain the positive effects on body fat alongside the muscle benefits of BCAAs(for muscle mTOR).
Have you tried a PR diet? I think you'd be surprised on how little difference there is in terms of progression.
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