Dr.NutriCornell said:

Distribution matters less than total but it is not nothing.

DEXA scan update relevant to protein intake:

Scanned at months 0, 6, and 12. Here are the body comp numbers:

Lean mass preserved — actually GAINED 1-2 lbs thanks to progressive overload + 1.4g/kg protein. The protein intake discussion needs to include body comp data, not just scale weight.

Following on from hyun_seoul — and this may be the naive question:

How people are hitting a protein target on a genuinely suppressed appetite, because volume is the binding constraint rather than willingness?

hank_denver said:

DEXA scan update relevant to protein intake: Scanned at months 0, 6, and 12.

Adding the part of the answer the thread has not reached. The useful move here is to separate what is established from what is widely repeated. Those two sets overlap less than the confident tone of most write-ups suggests, and the second set is where nearly all the disagreement on this board comes from.

OP 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.AddMedPHL said:

The useful move here is to separate what is established from what is widely repeated.

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.