4 Ways Increasing Protein Helps You Lose Weight

From above, a woman sits cross legged holding a protein smoothie with an apple watch on her wrist. She sits on an exercise mat with two sets of blue and pink dumbbells in front of her.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I think it’s important to reiterate why protein is so important when it comes to weight loss.

Protein is one of three main macronutrients including fat and carbohydrates that make up the majority of what we eat each day. Each of the three macronutrients are important in a well-balanced diet, but protein has a little something extra when it comes to fitness and especially weight loss.

What is protein?

Protein is a broad term that is made up of twenty different amino acids, which are the basic building blocks that are used by the body to create everything from skin, hair, bone, and muscle tissue.

Additionally, proteins make up the enzymes that power chemical reactions responsible for basic bodily functions and they even make up the hemoglobin in your blood that carries oxygen from your heart to every area of your body.

Finally, your liver and kidney cells use proteins to regenerate, meaning not getting enough protein can actually impact your body’s ability to process and remove waste.

How protein unlocks weight loss

We have looked to protein to unlock weight loss at least since the 1960s, but the idea notably rose in popularity with the invention of the high protein, low carb, low fat Atkins Diet in the early 2000s.

Like most fad diets, the Atkins diet encouraged an unsustainable and unbalanced diet that faded from popularity, but high protein diets have come back into popular culture time and again, because they actually work. Here’s how:

Protein increases satiety from your meals

Eating a high protein actually affects your hunger causing hormones with several studies that support the idea that eating protein actually helps your body to increase hunger reducing leptin and hunger causing ghrelin.

Especially when eating in a calorie deficit, which is essential to weight loss, increasing your protein intake can actually help you to feel fuller on fewer calories.

One study found that participants reduced their calorie intake by over 400 calories just by increasing their dietary protein from 15% to 30%. without calorie counting. They did so without consciously reducing or counting calories.

It burns more calories to digest protein

All food has a thermic effect, which refers to the amount of energy it takes to break down a nutrient. Compared to carbs and fat, protein has a higher thermic effect.

The result of this thermic effect is that it actually takes more energy for your body to break down protein. This means that while you are digesting a high protein meal, your body will break down more calories overall.

Increasing protein is a good way to burn more calories, but it’s important to remember that carbs and fat take longer to burn, and it is important to eat balanced meals containing all three to have balanced digestion and regularity.

Protein builds muscles

Like we talked about earlier, protein is the building block of all tissues in your body, but notably muscle tissue. When you lose weight, you lose fat but also muscle mass, by up to 30% during a period of weight loss according to some studies.

Increasing your protein intake along with incorporating strength training will help to maintain or even increase muscle mass even as you lose weight, helping your body to prioritize burning fat over other tissues.

An added benefit is that muscle tissue is metabolically active and having a higher percentage of muscle tissue in your body actually raises your metabolism.

Protein increases your metabolism, even at rest

The combination of proteins having a higher thermic effect and an increase in muscle mass in people who consume more protein creates a higher overall metabolism. This is true even when your body is at rest, meaning your body burns more calories no matter if you are active or at rest.

It’s important to remember that to get the benefits of a high protein diet for weight loss, you must also be eating in a calorie deficit and maintaining at least a moderately active lifestyle.

A plastic jar sits on a table with a white label reading "protein" and a symbol with a flexed bicep and cross coming out of a shield. A scoop with spilled tan protein powder spread out in front of the jar in the foreground.

How to increase your protein intake

Something to consider is that individuals with liver or kidney disease or advanced type 2 diabetes should not significantly increase their protein intake as it can interfere with liver and kidney function. Consult your doctor before making any major changes to your diet.

In general, you can increase your protein by adding a protein source to each meal and snack. In the morning, add a couple of eggs or some cottage cheese to breakfast. At lunch time, lean meats or legumes can be added to a salad. High protein snacks can include nuts or hummus, and have another serving of lean meat or tofu for dinner.

Be cautious about high fat proteins

One caveat of a high protein diet is that many great sources of protein are also high in fat, including red meat and certain types of fish. Make sure you are paying attention to your protein sources and avoid eating an excess of fat which could interfere with weight loss.

Some great low fat sources of protein include:

  • Lean meats and poultry

  • Fish

  • Eggs

  • Legumes

  • Nuts and seeds

  • Soy foods (tofu, tempeh, and edamame)

  • Certain whole grains, like quinoa

How much should you be eating?

Experts suggest that a high protein diet consists of about 30% of your daily calories coming from protein. This will look different for everyone depending on the amount of calories you are consuming as well as your sex, height, weight, and activity level.

30% of a 2000 calorie diet means that at least 600 of your daily calorie intake should come from protein. It can all be confusing so I recommend that you check out my previous blog post all about how to count macros to get a better sense of exactly how much protein you should be eating per day.

Spread the love

You may have seen fitness influencers eating enormous amounts of protein at once, but actually your body can only absorb about 25-35 grams of protein at one time. While you should be focusing on high protein meals, it’s actually better to spread out your protein intake throughout the day rather than load up in one meal.

That’s why I suggest adding protein to each meal and snack you eat. It could be beneficial to focus on protein in the morning, because some research suggests that a high protein breakfast helps to regulate your blood sugar throughout the day and even results in fewer overall calories consumed.

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