
Originally Posted by
Doctapeppa
You look like you had more muscle mass in the before picture! The before pic is the one with your right arm down, right? It's weird that there is a 25 lb difference between those two pics; very hard to tell.
TEF of protein might have something to do with it. Basically, it's thought that protein actually provides less than 4 calories/gram and carbs a bit more, because it's harder for your body to process protein. So potentially in the long run it could make a pretty big difference as far as the energy value of food.
There are a lot of different variables here though and analyzing this on yourself is unlikely to give you the best answer. I'm not sure from your post whether you are happy with the results you made with lower protein or if you are not but if you believe lower protein helped you out then stick with that.