The number quoted is the pre-processing weight. A lot of mass is lost during processing, drying, aging, in transport, to spoilage, and so on.

The real number for meat consumption at the end consumer is about half that amount.

The thing is though you’ll be eating (I presume) mostly lean meat. Chicken breast, white fish etc.

When you compare the macros of that to sausages or ribs or even steak it’s quite drastically different.

Also I’d guess you aren’t covering your meat in thick sugary sauce every time…

I am not a weightlifter, I am an amateur powerlifter, and I do pretty intense resistance training for my age (54yo) and my weight (112kg) and I eat about 800g to 1kg a day of meat - duck, pork or beef. Even if I eat 1kg Wagyu beef, it would give me about 3000 calories, slightly less than 3500 calories I need to keep my muscle mass. I would happily eat even more meat but circumstances prevents me to do so.

I used to drink protein shakes, but now I am actively against these. Artificial sweeteners provoke insulin release [1] [2] that leads to type-II diabetes.

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2887503/

[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S10568...

I guess it's a matter of perspective and what you're used to. Some indigenous North American peoples used to subsist largely on bison for at least part of the year and often consumed 5 pounds or more of meat and other animal products per day. Was that too much?

I too try for 200g of protein/day, with meat and supplements by shakes. It’s difficult to eat more meat than that, because of how it fills you up, its prep requirements and its cost.

I don’t believe that the average American eats nearly a pound of meat per day. I do believe if the average American ate meat before carbs, we could get there, and all be a lot healthier, though.

For me, processed carbs make me much hungrier, but the kale salad I’m eating right now makes me less hungry.

Depending on the type of training you're doing, you're likely eating lean meat too, like chicken breasts and fish. Most people are much less picky about the kind of meat they eat, opting for fatty cuts or meat products high in salt and saturated fats.

> And to find out that's average???

I think you’re conflating 200g of protein with 200g of meat that has protein.

David Bars, while not even close to anything resembling a whole food, have made hitting macros so much easier. End up being cheaper than chicken, per gram of protein per calorie, sometimes too!

A 16oz ribeye can easily be eaten in a single meal by most people who are large enough (90kg) to need 200g of protein per day.

Would be important to see how that number is being computed? If it is the amount of meat sold divided by number of people it may be misleading since there is a fair amount of wastage particularly in places like schools etc with kids filling plates that are never consumed.

Cheese is probably there due to lobbying. I don’t understand why it would be that high.

I'm not a weightlifter, and 1lb steak (pre-cook weight) is a normal amd very reasonable sized dinner for me. Weird to hear that called "challenging".

Bodybuilder? Powerlifter? Curious what specifically you mean that requires you to bulk vs. cut

TIL the amount of animal suffering that goes into each person trying to be swole.

I'm not a weightlifter but I'm a carpenter. Meat is like a healing potion on my body. Makes the pain go away. And without meat, it doesn't.

Eggs work too.

That's an immense amount of cholesterol. You might consider replacing some or all of it with plant-based sources. (Many protein shakes are made with whey powder, which also contains cholesterol.)

Heart disease is a real risk. Don't ignore it. It's not something that only happens to other people.