 Our next caller is Lindsay from New Jersey. Hey Lindsay, how can we help you? Hey guys, thanks for taking my call. My question is, is it possible to gain muscle when you're on a diet with restricted protein intake? So to give you a little bit of a background, I wanna gain 10 pounds of muscle. I'm pretty lean, I have a difficult time gaining weight and maintaining it and I also have one kidney. So I had a kidney removed when I was younger because it wasn't functioning properly. Since then I'm healthy, I don't have any health issues. I do see a nephrologist every about six months and I've lab work done just to make sure my one kidney is functioning and my lab or my levels are normal. But I did ask my nephrologist about gaining muscle and I told him I was eating one gram of protein per pound of body weight. And he said, absolutely not. That's way too much protein for you. You should be eating one gram of protein per kilogram of body weight, which would be like 52, 52 grams, which is like nothing. I didn't really like that answer. So I decided to ask another nephrologist and get a second opinion. That nephrologist basically said the same thing because I have one kidney compensating for two. It's working harder and the kidneys do work harder to process protein. He did say that I eat 70 grams of protein a day, which gives me a little bit more wiggle room, but it just still doesn't seem like a lot of protein. So I don't really know what I should be eating. Yeah, no, that's a really, really good question. Kind of tough situation. So it's also the right advice. Yeah, number one, I mean, okay, these are experts in kidney health. So I would definitely take their advice, but here's some good news for you, okay? Although high protein diets have been shown in studies to be more effective at building muscle, you can build plenty of muscle on a lower protein diet. There are plenty of vegan and vegetarian bodybuilders that eat far less protein than other bodybuilders and do totally fine. What's the difference in muscle between the two groups? Probably not as much as you think. I don't think you're missing out too much. I think the key is to be as healthy as possible. Here's what I would do if I was in your situation. I would listen to the doctor, but then I would say this, I'd say, look, would you mind if I experimented with eating more protein and then could I get my labs done every few months just to see how things change if anything changes? Because I- So I'm sorry, I did say that to him. And he said, yeah, your levels are gonna look fine now, but it might affect you when you're older. Oh, okay. Well, in that case, I would listen to what he says, but here's the deal, carbohydrates are protein sparing. So you're gonna eat carbohydrates. I'm sure that's totally fine. Calorie surplus is more important to build muscle, especially if you're eating your essential amounts of protein, I would make sure that the protein that you are consuming is of the highest quality. This is when the type of protein matters. When you're eating a high protein diet, you always hear people say, egg protein is superior, whey protein is superior, animal protein versus vegan protein. Doesn't matter if you eat a high protein diet, but when the protein is lower, that's when you see a difference. So what you could do is you could eat the most high quality, highest in branch chain amino acid type proteins, which would be whey, animal protein, egg. That's where you're gonna get the best bang for your buck. And the grass-fed beef. Yeah, other than that, I would definitely listen to the doctor because a few pounds of muscle, obviously I don't have to tell you this, wouldn't be worth, if your kidneys started to reduce its function as you got older, then they really have to restrict and then it gets really hard. Are you falling into the amass programs? Yeah, so right now I'm on MAPS Anabolic. This is my second time doing that program. And before that I did MAPS Split and MAPS Aesthetic. Have you done anabolic on a calorie surplus or have you been dieting or on maintenance? How are you eating on those? Yeah, I mean, I'm always hungry when I'm on the programs. That's a good song. When I was tracking my food, it was to make sure I was eating enough protein. So now I'm not really tracking, I'm just kind of eating when I'm hungry because again, I didn't know what I should be eating. Yeah, now you're able to go to 70 grams according to the doctor. Yeah, and is that easy for you to do through food? Oh yeah. Okay, I'd stick to animal sources, high quality. And I'm telling, okay, this is the truth now. Yes, a high protein diet has been shown in studies to be better than a lower protein diet for building muscle. But it's actually overstated, it really is. It's not as big of a deal as people think. I've worked with plenty of clients who could not eat a gram of protein per pound of body weight because it made them constipated or bloated or they had negative digestive issues. We brought the protein down and they built more muscle because it made them healthier. So this is, you gotta look at the individual. I mean, I know studies show generally what happens with people, but on an individual basis, I've worked with vegans who just felt so much better eating plant-based. I could put them on an animal-based diet and studies say that that's better for building, for them it would've been worse. So worry about you as an individual and I know those studies show certain things, but those are general and you're an individual and you have individual needs. Focus on that, that'll be your best guide. Lindsay, are you in our forum? No. I would, we'll send that over to you. I'd love you to get in the forum and then actually just stay in contact with us and start tracking your food. Get yourself in a calorie surplus. I mean, the goal here is to gain 10 pounds of lean mass. I think you can do that on that protein intake, just being consistent with being in a caloric surplus and run some good programs. So I think those two things, I think you're gonna be surprised, you're gonna be okay. Now, are you limited also? Like you can't, I'm assuming they told you can't supplement creatine, have you asked? I did. I even asked if I could do like small doses. They said absolutely not, no protein supplements. That's what I figured. Okay, no problem, not a big deal. If you're eating red meat, you're gonna get adequate amounts of creatine in your diet from that as well. But yeah, don't worry about what you can't do, focus on what you can and optimizing your individual body is always gonna be best, always. And again, I've worked, like I said, I've worked with many, many clients who had negative results or negative symptoms for meeting a high protein diet. It just didn't work for them. And so we brought it down and they did much better. That's great. All right. Thank you. Thanks for calling in. And I just wanted to say real quick, my boyfriend and I are huge fans. He introduced me to your podcast and I've been listening to you guys ever since we started dating. We really appreciate everything you do for the fitness community. Oh, thank you, Lindsay. I appreciate that. Mary, that guy. Thank you. He's the one. He needs to get me a ring. Okay, all right. Uh-oh. Send him our way. We'll talk to him. Send him this podcast. Thank you so much. Yeah, you know, it's tough. This is the bane of studies. Yes. Is that studies will show a general result. That's true, right? There's a true general result. But sometimes we get so stuck on that that we forget that we are individuals. And if it doesn't work for us, well, then it just doesn't work for us. And this has happened to me before where I've read studies on a supplement and this supplement's supposed to work and oh my God, it's supposed to be great. And then I take it and it just affects me negatively and I stubbornly stick to it because the study says so. It's like, it doesn't work that way. We think you're missing out, but really like the point is to get as healthy as possible and then your body will respond appropriately. And yeah, so it's, the thing is you want a different answer, right? Because you see that study and you're like, well, I could still kind of pull this off, but you know, that's really not your path. You have a different path. Especially if you're reading stuff in the fitness community because everything around, you know, building muscle in our community is protein, protein, protein, one and a half grams is, yeah, and we're always talking about eating more of it. So, and actually 70 something grams is not bad for a female at all. And I think she's, I couldn't see her from here really well, but she didn't look like she was that, I mean, from this angle, she didn't look like she was a big girl. She's like a smaller girl. So 70 something grams is not, yeah, that's not bad at all. I had many clients that when I started tracking their protein, they were like 20, 30 grams a day. And we doubled it to 67. And they did great. They did great, built all kinds of muscles. So I think she'll be just fine. Yeah, I'm with you on that.