Dr.GutHealth said:

The RDA is the wrong reference and it is worth understanding why.

I will push back on the powder-first advice. It works and it also trains people out of eating food, and when the drug stops the habits are what remain. Getting protein from meals is slower and holds up better afterwards.

One concrete data point for the thread. Worth stating the units and the reference range whenever you post a number here. A large fraction of the apparent disagreement in these threads is two people using different units and both being right.

Dr.SleepRoch said:

I will push back on the powder-first advice.

There is a second half to this that has not been said yet. The honest answer is that the effect is real, the magnitude is contested, and the individual variation is larger than either. Those three things can all be true at once, and most arguments here are two people holding different parts of that.

I would rather be corrected than agreed with, if it comes to it.

Following on from amy_econ_NJ — 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?

Reporting back.

Update: two thirds of the target before midday. Same total, same appetite, and I am hitting it most days now.