Protein Supplementation via BCAAs

Most things from people I trust say that BCAAs are not needed. Typical protein supplements cover the bases.

200 g of protein seems a bit high for just maintenance

IRstuff said:

Most things from people I trust say that BCAAs are not needed. Typical protein supplements cover the bases.

200 g of protein seems a bit high for just maintenance

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If I'm being completely honest, I'm trying to maintain a caloric deficit, so I'm trying to get protein in the morning via BCAA rather than a calorie dense meal. I also get some caffeine through this as well.
Many of the protein supplements are high calorie targeting weight gain.

First goal is to determine the ratios and quantities required to match protein, then determine if anything else is needed for bioavailability.

Roughly 1g/lb. This is on the high side of the recommended range, but better safe than sorry.

Honestly if you’re just trying to cover your bases in the morning without a full meal, EAAs are a better bet than just BCAAs. BCAAs alone won’t trigger full MPS (muscle protein synthesis) because they’re missing the other essential aminos. Leucine’s the main driver but without the others it kinda stalls out.
If you’re trying to avoid calories, look into some of the EAA powders that have les then 20 cals a scoop. Still not the same as a whole protein but I believe they are better than just BCAAs.

Is 200# your lean mass? Since you say you want a calorie deficit, that suggests that your lean mass is less than that, and the gm/lb ratio should be applied to the lower mass.

IRstuff said:

Is 200# your lean mass? Since you say you want a calorie deficit, that suggests that your lean mass is less than that, and the gm/lb ratio should be applied to the lower mass.

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The rule of thumb is 1 gram / lb body weight, NOT lb lean mass. And that's for a generally athletic person in maintenance, if you are trying to loose weight while maintaining muscle then you should go a little higher yet. A 200lb active guy trying to loose weight, I'd suggest 220-230g a day.

lucky-guesser said:

The rule of thumb is 1 gram / lb body weight, NOT lb lean mass.

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Most serious calculations do use lean mass; rules of thumb using net weight is simply because most people can't do the math, but this is an engineering site, so everyone ought to be able to use a calculator. Since people actually worrying about proper protein are typically relatively low in body fat, there's only about a < 25% overage in any case.

IRstuff said:

https://mennohenselmans.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-protein-intake-for-bodybuilders/

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My point was that it is based off of your body weight and not your lean mass, because you end up with a significantly lower number if you go with that. And 1 g per pound is hardly set in stone and I acknowledge that, it's just a good rule of thumb.

That said, the article doesn't exactly cite the best sources, the trial periods for a bunch of those tests were measured in days or a couple weeks, I would be far more interested and convinced by a result measured in months or years.

The most laughable one, not only did they put it in that list at the beginning but they pointed it out later again in reference to weightlifters who were cutting weight, the time for that one was seven days.

A couple years ago I was cutting weight for a strongman competition, and leading up to the event my daily calories were about 3000. 10 days ahead of the event I dropped down to 1000 cal and dropped 100 cal a day for a week while doing extra cardio every day. By competition day I had lost 15 pounds but I felt almost completely unchanged in my performance that day.

I figured what the heck, I had good luck losing some weight let's keep it going. By the 2.5 week mark my body was completely exhausted, I was having a hard time recovering and I was extremely tired 30 minutes into what was supposed to be two hour long workout sessions. Looking at the effects of reduced protein intake over the course of seven days and thinking that that is going to mean anything as far as your results in a month or two is quite laughable. Having been any fitness space for sometime, it's amazing how resilient the body can be over the course of a week or two, get back to me in six months.

Again, not trying to say that 1 g per pound is the end all be all, this just wasn't the most mentally stimulating source to counterpoint that.

OP is just some random guy on the internet, and if they were seriously doing bodybuilding, I would think they'd already know what to be doing; it's for that reason that I think 1 gm/lb is a bit excessive. Certainly, from Henselman and others, there's not any downsides physiologically, other than wasting money and calories.

Leucine’s the main driver but without the others it kinda stalls out.

Amp Dylan said:

Honestly if you’re just trying to cover your bases in the morning without a full meal, EAAs are a better bet than just BCAAs. BCAAs alone won’t trigger full MPS (muscle protein synthesis) because they’re missing the other essential aminos. Leucine’s the main driver but without the others it kinda stalls out.
If you’re trying to avoid calories, look into some of the EAA powders that have les then 20 cals a scoop. Still not the same as a whole protein but I believe they are better than just BCAAs.

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EAA are those that cannot be synthesized by the body, the remainder can be broken down and rearranged as needed. A good blend of BCAA will contain the EAAs as well as others.

@IRstuff @lucky-guesser
I'm basing protein intake on 1g/lb. lean mass. I agree that 1g/lb is a bit excessive but as noted there is not real consensus on this.
I'm not "seriously doing bodybuilding," just trying to maintain muscle mass and build a little strength.
I consider myself more knowledgeable on nutrition than the average joe, but that's always to be debated.
I've had good results with 1g/lb as a baseline in the past but I did more work back then. I don't want this to be a debate about protein intake. I'm just exploring the idea of replacing that protein with BCAAs. As @Bashir202 noted Leucine is the main driver to muscle synthesis, so whatever blend I have needs to contain that, then it would boil down to BCAA ratios within the blend (I think for the time being the linked product above is sufficient), and then the ratio of BCAA to protein. So is 0.85 g BCAA blend = 1 g Protein or is it closer to 1:1?