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In my view 40g is barely enough to maintain muscle mass, let alone increase it.
Totally agree with everything else you said but wanted to point out that I've lost ~25kg of fat and gained 10kg+ of muscle while eating 40g protein per day and without reducing fat or sugar intake. It depends on what your goals are and how you approach them.
That said, I've stalled. And too little protein is looking like the likely cause.
Stonehedge
I think it’s pretty well accepted that more protein is better up to a certain point, where your body can’t synthesise more at any given time.
Bodybuilders have spent decades eating 6-8 times a day, setting timers for 3am for a protein shake to get more protein in their systems.
Not much use if you’re sat on the couch, but if you need 3500 calories to maintain your body weight and do 1000 calories worth of training a day, then getting lots of protein in makes sense.
150g-180g of protein in a day (1g per lb of body weight) with healthy foods isn’t actually that easy, and most people wouldn’t be able to make it without protein shakes or supplementation.
As a relatable example, that’s the equivalent of the following:
5-6 chicken breasts a day.
Or
30 large eggs
Or
6 protein shakes
Or
5 litres of milk
Or
700g of cheese.
If you’re getting 40g daily, and your doing weight/strength training, I think you need to increase your protein intake massively.
In my view 40g is barely enough to maintain muscle mass, let alone increase it.