I concur Wrangell.
Matt, I suggest not speaking in absolutes. As if you are certain I am wasting money on "expensive urine."
Truth be told, we can start slinging research.... but quite frankly, it doesn't matter to me.
I have been doing this a long time. I have played around with my macros. High protein is where it's at for me. And I wouldn't necessarily call it "high protein." My diet is majority carbs when bulking.
You have to take things into perspective. When bulking, which I just stopped, I am taking in roughly 4k cals per day. Do the math. You will find that in ratable terms, my diet does not have a high % of protein. We only have 3 macros to choose from. When you are eating 4k cals, each macro by gram weighting is going to seem high comparatively speaking. So? Who are you comparing me to? What do you want me to do? Drop my P intake and increase my C? Do you think that will save me a lot of money? Plus, I like meat. And I have no pre-existing conditions that should alarm me in terms of this level of P intake.
Actually, I have an idea. You seem so sure of yourself with your absolutes.... are you for hire? I could REALLY use some help. I just can't seem to make any progress.
Let me guess. You are one of those guys that lives and dies by science. (insert: I would still be curious to see if you could actually give me a study that would deduct that my protein intake is too high for my stats). But you are probably one of those guys that IF you did find such a study, you would believe that I am ABSOLUTELY incorrect b/c the research says so. You would (as you already have) disregard real world results.
Here's an idea for you. When the real world doesn't match the science, you certainly DO NOT throw out the real world. You hit the drawing board again in terms of science.
I realize I am coming off as a pompous a$$. I wouldn't have, that I promise, if you didn't seem so certain of yourself. I don't know if you are a professional in the industry or not.... but there are no absolutes when it comes to this. Period. And talking as if there is, is ridiculous.
In addition for everyone else, Matt included, Lyle McDonald is coming out with a new book on Protein within the next few weeks. I highly suggest picking it up if you are interested in this topic. He is very well versed in nutrition (one of the best IMO) and does his homework with regards to the science.
He may come out with some interesting stuff in this book about how most overstate protein needs. Just a thought I had deducted from some things he has said.