If you went from 350g to 180g a day that's 680 calories in protein alone. That could explain your looking leaner.

I cannot find the study currently, but I believe the Mayo Clinic took 3 groups and put them on different levels of protein while monitoring muscle synthesis. The groups were on 0.7g per lean mass, 1.0g per lean mass, and 1.4g per lean mass. There was no notable difference between the groups in muscle synthesis. I think a non-athlete is recommended to get roughly 0.3g per lean mass to maintain mass.

That being said, there is a lot of misinformation on this subject. I strength train and shoot for 1.0g per lean mass pound and do not worry if I fall a bit under at times. I'm a small guy at 5'8" and 165 and shoot for a lean mass of 155. I noticed a positive difference in recovery when I started taking whey protein/creatine before a work out, BCAA's during a workout, and a mix of whey/casein/carbs after a work out.

I decreased from 180 to 165 pounds over the span of 2 months by creating a calorie deficit. I kept my macronutrients balanced (40% protein, 35% carbs, 25% fat). I have been able to maintain my lifts. I have kind of stalled out for a couple of weeks but had a vacation and an out town trip that interfered with my nutrition. :)

Hey Bristlebeard, I had competed in strongman for almost a decade, my last competition was in 2009 - NAS Nationals in Salt Lake City. During that decade I experimented from the extreme to very moderate in my protein intake.

I can tell you that increased protein all the time marginally improved my recovery... as in, it could have helped, or it may have just been the additional calories.

At one point as a self-experiment I cut all supplemental protein out of my diet, and continued to maintain/gain strength.

Eventually, I got to the strongman "clean" diet, lots of "loin" cuts of beef, turkey, sweet potatoes, grits, and quinoa... oats and eggs (2 yolks and 10 whites) for breakfast, stuff like that - I avoided gluten because I simply believed that most gluten foods (with the exception of the barilla plus pasta) was really really bad for you (and I was right!).

My total protein intake was between 180gm and 220gm and I competed as a SHW. Supplements were heavy on the fish oil, psyllium husks, and ZMA. I didn't start taking supplements again until I briefly landed a supplement sponsor that provided me with 8lbs of protein powder a month as well as other supplements. I decided to use their supplements and hawk them on their site and forums, but honestly besides a few of their other, non-protein supplements, the additional protein didn't help me that much. After my endorsement dried up, so did my protein powder.

By the end of it, I didn't see the benefit of sinking so much money into supplemental protein - to the extent that most strength athletes do... it's just a money sink.

I personally have a small amount of supplemental protein the day after a particularly strenuous workout, and that's all I do now. I buy unflavored CFM whey and have about 3 scoops (about 75gm protein) twice a week.

OF course, my training is much less severe these days (two weight training days / week with swimming, biking, and walking taking the bulk of my activities).