Importantly Steve has provided another perspective which has been effective for him. The take away is that the most critical element is calories in vs calories out. You will find what works for you and what you feel comfortable with; but this demonstrates the variability of approaches between individuals.
There has been research that shows protein requirements increase above 2g/kg while training in a caloric deficit (sorry about the formatting) -
Adequate protein consumption during contest
preparation is required to support maintenance of LBM.
Athletes require higher protein intakes to support increased
activity and strength athletes benefit from higher
intakes to support growth of LBM [5,22-28]. Some researchers
suggest these requirements increase further
when athletes undergo energy restriction [13,16,22,28-33].
Furthermore, there is evidence that protein requirements
are higher for leaner individuals in comparison to those
with higher body fat percentages [7,33,34].
The collective agreement among reviewers is that a protein
intake of 1.2-2.2 g/kg is sufficient to allow adaptation
to training for athletes whom are at or above their energy
needs [23-28,35-38]. However, bodybuilders during their
contest preparation period typically perform resistance and
cardiovascular training, restrict calories and achieve very
lean conditions [2-6,17-21]. Each of these factors increases
protein requirements and when compounded may further
increase protein needs [33]. Therefore, optimal protein intakes
for bodybuilders during contest preparation may be
significantly higher than existing recommendations.
In support of this notion, Butterfield et al. [22] found
that male athletes running five to 10 miles per day during
a slight caloric deficit were in a significant negative
nitrogen balance despite consuming 2 g/kg of protein
daily. Celejowa et al. [39] showed that five out of 10
competitive weight lifters achieved a negative nitrogen
balance over the course of a training camp while consuming
an average protein intake of 2 g/kg. Out of these
five, as many as three were in a caloric deficit. The authors
concluded that a protein intake of 2–2.2 g/kg
under these conditions only allows for a small margin of
error before nitrogen losses occur.
Walberg et al. [32] examined the effects of two energy
restricted isocaloric diets of differing protein intakes in
19 lean (9.1-16.7% body fat), male, non-competitive
body builders. One group consumed a protein intake of
0.8 g/kg and higher carbohydrates, while the other consumed
1.6 g/kg of protein with lower carbohydrates. The
length of the intervention was only one week, but nonetheless
nitrogen losses occurred only in the lower protein
group and LBM decreased by a mean of 2.7 kg in
the 0.8 g/kg protein group and by a mean of 1.4 kg in
the 1.6 g/kg protein group. While the high protein group
mitigated LBM losses compared to the low protein
group, they were not eliminated.
https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-11-20
Both dietary and body proteins can be used for energy in the face of this energy
shortfall. Thus, the body increases its anabolic response to protein to protect against
lean mass losses, becoming more efficient in its use of protein [5]. However, this increase
in efficiency often does not prevent losses of muscle mass, especially in lean individuals
even when weight training [6]. For this reason, it has been hypothesized that consuming
a higher intake of protein in the range of 0.8 to 1.2 g/lb (1.8-2.7 g/kg) while dieting could
offset losses of body protein to help preserve muscle mass [6-8].
At this stage, there are studies clearly showing the superiority of higher protein intakes for lean
mass preservation in non-overweight resistance-trained populations when comparing:
0.72 g/lb (1.6 g/kg) to 0.36 g/lb (0.8 g/kg) for 1 week [9]
1.05 g/lb (2.3 g/kg) to 0.45 g/lb (1 g/kg) for 2 weeks [10]
and 1.09 g/lb (2.4 g/kg) to 0.55 g/lb (1.2 g/kg) for 3 weeks [11].
Above is from a paid Eric Helms publication which I cannot find a free link to.
Be aware that 1.2g/kg is still considered 'low' and the stats above only show a positive effect of mitigating catabolism with an increasing protein intake.
Admittedly I have cherry picked a bit there and there are many studies showing no measurable difference in body composition between the upper and lower protein intakes, but there is no reason to believe that protein intake at the higher end of the range is detrimental, whereas the lower end of the range may be, not to mention other benefits of higher protein intake like satiety and the availability of a substrate for gluconeogenesis in periods of severe carbohydrate restriction.