The figures, for anyone assembling their own picture. If you are tracking this properly: same scanner, same time of day, same hydration, at least six months apart, and read grip strength or a lift number alongside it. Function is the outcome; the scan is the proxy.
Worth separating that from lean-mass preservation, which this thread keeps folding into the same question. They behave differently and the advice does not transfer.
If somebody has the primary source to hand I would rather cite it than paraphrase it.
Following on from Dr.EndoEP — and this may be the naive question:
Whether the RDA is the wrong reference entirely during rapid weight loss, and what the actual target should be?
DataDave said:If you are tracking this properly: same scanner, same time of day, same hydration, at least six months apart, and read grip strength or a lift number…
Adding the part of the answer the thread has not reached. The honest range is roughly 20 to 40% of total loss as lean mass without deliberate resistance training, and roughly 10 to 20% with it plus adequate protein. Both numbers need a caveat that matters: "lean mass" on a DEXA is not muscle. It includes water, glycogen and the lean fraction of organs, and glycogen alone carries about three grams of water per gram. A large early lean drop is mostly the glycogen and water going, which is why the first scan flatters and the second is the honest one.
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Shop Reference StandardsOP back with an update, since a thread like this is useless without one.
Reporting back — setting the target on reference weight rather than current weight turned an impossible number into a boring one.
Dr.RenalNash said:The honest range is roughly 20 to 40% of total loss as lean mass without deliberate resistance training, and roughly 10 to 20% with it plus adequate…
True, and anyone with reduced kidney function needs that target set by a clinician rather than a forum. High protein is safe in normal kidneys and is not automatically safe in impaired ones.
Ask again with the specifics and you will get a better answer than this one.