Step 2 - Protein
Over the past 20 years, higher-protein diets have been tossed around as a successful strategy to improve body weight management (weight loss).
These improvements are thought to be caused because protein helps with modulations in energy metabolism, appetite, and energy intake. Recent evidence also supports higher-protein diets for improvements in cardiometabolic risk factors. Protein is debatably the most important macronutrient there is. The reason is simple;
It is an essential nutrient, which means you literally cannot survive without consuming it
A specific study showed that acute (short term) consumption of protein and long-term high protein consumption resulted in: greater weight loss, fat mass loss, and preservation of lean mass. If you would like any of those results in your body, eat more protein! Still not convinced?
Protein also:
Helps us rebuild tissues and keep our biological systems running
muscular
skeletal system
nervous system
immune system
Protein facilitates almost every function in the body and makes up important enzymes that help our skin, hair and adrenaline, testosterone, and growth hormones.
You looking to improve your aesthetics? Protein can help with that.
Protein rebuilds muscle tissue which allows us to recover and train more regularly, hence building more muscle. The more muscle we build, the more fat our body will burn.
Sidenote: Protein does not like to be stored as fat within our body. What does that mean? Once protein is broken down into amino acids, our body is able to absorb it fairly quickly, putting it to work in muscle repair. Different from carbohydrates, which when eaten in excess, cause extra glycogen to float around which eventually gets soaked up and stored away as fat for later use. We can eat upwards of 40% of our calories from protein and it will not store as fat. But as with anything, more is not always better and there is an upper limit to what we can properly digest, store and use.
Protein has a very high TEF (Thermic Effect of Food), which means our body needs to work (burn calories) to even digest it. Protein is tough, making it harder to digest than other nutrients. With all of the above benefits, and the added caloric expenditure protein gives us, I would advise having a high percentage of your calories coming from protein.
Protein is satiating! It makes us feel full and happy. I am not saying to eat tons of protein so you eat nothing else, I am simply helping you prepare for the fact that when you start upping your protein there will be a change in how fast you become “full”. This often stops us from overeating other empty calories that take us further away from our goals.
How much protein should you eat? It depends… but a SAFE place to start is around .7g per pound of body mass. However this info below can be helpful:
Protein Requirements For Cutting/Fat Loss
50+ lb.’s or More 0.7g x BW
30-50 lb.’s 0.8g x BW
15-30lb.’s 0.9 – 1g x BW
0-10lb.’s 1 – 1.2g x BW
Looking to gain?
Protein Requirements For Gaining/Muscle Gain
Beginner Lifter 0.8g x BW
Intermediate/Advanced Lifter 1.0g x BW
SCIENCE TIME
Still not convinced? A study from the Journal of Nutrition performed a randomized 4-mo weight loss trial using a 2 × 2 block design (Diet × Exercise). The subjects? Women (n = 48) aged 40–56 y were recruited to participate. Group one the low protein group ate 15% of their body weight in Protein, while group two the high protein group ate 30% of their body weight in protein each day. They ate well (90/10 rule) and all variables such as carbohydrates, total calories, and fat were controlled for as well. For exercise, they performed various machine loaded resistance movements. They started the study weighing 90kg on average, having 40% body fat, eating approximately 1,900 calories, 260 carbs, 80g of fat, and 75g of protein.
What did they find at the end of the 4 months?
Diets with carbohydrate intake < 150 g/d and protein intake equal to 30% of their body weight result in increased weight loss increased loss of body fat, attenuated loss of fat-free mass (you keep your muscle), improved glycemic control, improved blood lipid profiles, and enhanced satiety.
Both groups lost significant weight
The high protein and exercise group produced a 21.4% decrease in absolute body fat and overall lost 11% of their entire body weight or around 20 pounds on average.
The low protein group lost 10-15 pounds on average
The high protein group lost more fat mass compared to the lower protein group
Throughout the study on average, the protein and exercise group ate 1,500 calories, 110g of protein, 140g carbohydrates and 50g of fat. The numbers are not magical what is magical is the fact that they reduced their calories, stayed consistent, upped their protein to support their workouts and dropped their carbohydrates to fit their lifestyle.
This summarizes why protein is a great choice when aiming for weight loss and weight control. I must note though that studies like this are not even looking at or considering athletes and high performers. These were middle-aged women with likely no prior background or experience to weight training, hence the results were fabulous. That is another topic altogether. I want to be clear that I am not promoting “low carb” diets, I am promoting eating enough carbohydrates to fuel your lifestyle. These women were only working out with weights 2x a week and WALKING the other days. They do not need 200+ carbohydrates, especially considering their fat mass at the onset of the study.
I hope this helps you gain some insight into why protein is so important. Start small being 1% better each day with this one. Perhaps add 5-10g to what you are already eating? If you want real help on this, you know where to find me. >> https://rxtnnutrition.wufoo.com/forms/z1nfz5sw16kxc1c/
Check out the study here.
Want to know some other cool stuff?
This study also tracked their hormones! Hormones are a regulatory substance produced in our bodies that transport in tissue fluids such as blood meant to stimulate specific cells or tissues into action. They make things happen in our bodies. They paid close attention to four hormones.
Leptin: produced by fat cells, regulates our body weight and essentially tells our brain how much fat we have stored in our cells
Adiponectin: protein-related hormone, helps regulate our glucose levels and fatty acid breakdown, it is made by our fat tissue
Ghrelin: made by the stomach and small intestine, it tells us when we are hungry
Insulin: made by the pancreas, helps our body control our sugar levels by taking the glucose we consume to the appropriate cells in our body
Leptin decreased after the trial was over. This is expected. The higher our leptin levels, the more body fat we have. When we carry more fat, leptin signals to our brain more often than we are good to go and do not need to eat more, because we have plenty of fat stored. When we lose that fat, leptin calms down some and sends fewer signals. Often when we are extremely over-weight we can create a resistance to this leptin signal and our body has so much leptin floating around our brain stops noticing it. It thinks we are skinny and starving so we are signaled to eat more. Having leptin levels drop for these women was a huge win in this trial!
Adiponectin is known to be involved in the relationship between obesity and insulin sensitivity. When we eat a lot of sugar our body stops responding to it as much, it loses the sensitivity because it sees it so much. Based on this, it kind of sits in our bloodstream, causes havoc and eventually increases our body fat. This study found that adiponectin levels within the body increased, therefore helping the women regulate their glucose levels in their blood. This equates to better blood sugar regulation and therefore less body fat accumulation from high glucose levels in the blood.
Ghrelin: Ghrelin levels also increased. This is good because it stimulates the release of growth hormone (GH). GH breaks down fat tissue and causes the build-up of muscle. So increases in ghrelin can correlate to an increase in total muscle concentration in the body. Ghrelin also makes us feel hungry, it is the signal that we want food, the leaner we are the more of it we have.
Insulin: As expected their overall levels of insulin decreased, which is good! The body was able to find a good homeostasis point for insulin. Coming into the study many of them were likely insulin resistant, pumping out insulin left and right to control for their large amount of consumed carbohydrates. Now the body has been able to regulate and only secrete as much insulin as is necessary due to a better ratio of carbohydrates.
Results go far deeper than the skin.