Protein Helps You Lose Fat, But You’re Doing It WRONG

You've probably heard that you need more protein for the growth and maintenance of tissue, particularly muscle, and to help manage your appetite for fat loss.

Yes!

But are you getting enough? The right kinds? At the right time?

If you've been struggling to lose fat even though you've been working on your protein intake I'm going to show you what you might be getting wrong.

How Much Protein Do You Need?

My general recommendation for healthy active weight training people is between 0.7 to 1g per pound of body weight per day.

Now there was a review study by Morton at all where they looked at 49 studies. The upper limit that they recommended for maximizing your muscle mass (beyond that it wasn't really useful) was about 1.6g per kilo per day. About 0.8g per lb of bodyweight per day.

In these studies the subjects were normally at maintenance or in a surplus.

When You Should Have More Protein

There are three circumstances when I think you should go on the higher end of that recommendation (closer to 1g/lb/day).

1) The first is if if you're very lean, because protein helps you retain your muscle. If you're already lean you want to retain as much muscle mass as you possibly can.

2) If you're in a calorie deficit or you're "dieting" then you want to make sure that you have enough protein to prevent you from losing muscle again. During this slightly stressful situation for your body. It's all about maintaining as much lean muscle mass as you possibly can. Protein will help you do that.

3) When you're about 35 or older. Our rate of muscle protein synthesis goes down as we get older. Muscle turnover slows down and we're not as efficient at utilizing the protein that we do ingest as we were in our 20s.

But as an upper intake I still recommend that 1g per pound of body weight per day, which is that standard bodybuilding recommendation. It's a nice round number.

It's approximately what I'm consuming right now because I am lean, I'm over 35, and I want to maximize my muscle mass while staying lean.

The Best Protein Sources For Fat Loss

You know how much you need and now let's make sure that you're getting the right protein sources.

Very few food sources are pure protein. Notable exceptions are egg whites, very lean chicken breast and whey protein isolate.

That's why those are the staples of most physique competitors and bodybuilders as they're dieting for a show.

Protein And Muscle Mass

Protein is what you want to maintain your muscle mass as much as possible when you're putting your body under the stress of lower calories, weight training, and cardio.

Protein Powders

Let's talk for a second about protein powders.

It's absolutely not necessary to include these as part of your nutrition, but they do provide a really easy way of just getting in some fairly palatable protein pretty fast. For those of you who are struggling to get in enough protein you can easily take in 35 to 40 g.

You always want to check the labels on the protein powder that you're using. This one I've got here for one scoop it's 27 g of protein. That's pretty much pure protein. Really easy to take in after a workout. I could double this up and have 54 g.

If it says that a serving size is two scoops and you think you're getting in 30 g of protein but you're only doing one scoop, then you could end up short on proteins.

Plant-Based Protein Sources

You want to be particularly careful with your plant-based proteins.

I've got a soy protein isolate (nothing wrong with that) that's 20 g of protein. But if you look on the label it says 1/3 of a cup, so it's not a typical protein scoop. I've actually put in the 1/3 of a cup measure in here so that's pretty big.

Quite frankly this is not the tastiest protein which is why it's been sitting here for months and nobody is using it.

Protein Serving Sizes

A lot of people make the mistake of not checking the serving sizes on either the meat or the plant-based sources of protein that they're using. Make sure that you're either weighing or measuring so that it's accurate.

Choosing The Right Protein Sources

Here's another common problem that I see.

Mike came to me as a fat loss client a few years ago. He had been struggling to lose about the last 10 lbs and he knew that protein was important. At a weight of about 190 lbs he was getting about 170 to 180 g of protein per day. So plenty! But he was still struggling to lose any body fat and he wasn't sure why.

I had a look at all the things that he was eating and he was getting his protein mostly from higher fat sources like burgers and steaks and whole eggs. He wasn't actually me managing his calorie intake. He was just making sure to get enough protein. As a result he wasn't losing any fat.

Watch Out For Fatty Protein Sources!

He wasn't hungry at all because he was always very satisfied but in order for him to finally lose weight he needed to throw in some leaner protein sources. He had egg whites occasionally or he would mix it in with his eggs. And he started picking leaner cuts of steak so that it would be easier for him to get the calories down as well.

If you're getting your protein from ribeye or T-bone steaks then it's harder to get the calories down in order to get that calorie deficit for fat loss.

Fattier meats are more calorie dense because fat is nine calories per gram. Carbs and protein are four calories per gram. So for the same given size you're getting more calories with something that has more fat in it.

Why Low Fat Protein Isn't Always The Answer

But only using lean protein sources can be an issue as well.

So you want to mix it up.

Lean protein should make up the the majority of your protein intake but that doesn't mean you should always choose cod or halibut instead of salmon.

Salmon is an excellent source of omega-3 fats which are good for your skin and hormonal health.

Fat also aids in the absorption of fat soluble vitamins like A, D, E, and K.

Plus salmon is delicious! It's definitely on my rotation.

Whole Eggs For Muscle Growth

There have been interesting studies comparing the muscle growth benefits of whole eggs compared to egg whites. Although egg whites are entirely protein they actually didn't promote muscle growth as much as whole eggs did.

This is probably because the majority of the nutrients are contained within the yolk. That's where the vitamins and minerals are. It's also where the cholesterol in the eggs is.

Now I know a lot of people think, "Oh cholesterol, that's bad!" But cholesterol has important functions within the human body. Part of that is supporting muscle growth. It helps in muscle tissue repair. That's critical for building muscle mass.

Balancing Your Protein Sources For Fat Loss

Having only only lean protein can be an issue and always having fatty protein can be an issue as well.

As with most things in nutrition it's good to have the right balance.

Fat also contributes to satiety. So you feel fuller and it helps you manage a lower calorie intake, just because of that level of satisfaction that you get from your food. Your hunger levels will be lower and that makes it easy easier to maintain a calorie deficit.

Balancing Your Nutrition To Lose Fat

If you prefer lean protein sources but you're not getting enough fat you can also add in things like avocado or olive oil to your meals to get that fat content in there in a different way.

This is actually something that I do because fattier meats don't really agree with me. So I tend to rely on chicken breast and seafood and then I add in some olive oil and avocados which I absolutely love.

That means that I have that satiety. That feeling of satisfaction with my meals. Because there is that fat in there and that keeps me fuller for longer. But I won't have a steak, even a lower fat steak, just because that doesn't agree with my digestion.

Carbs And Fat Loss

When we talk about macros many people think that in order to lose fat you have to keep your carbs really low and just focus on protein.

That's actually not true.

And since we're using protein partially to help us grow muscle, not having enough carbs can interfere with your workouts and your energy level. So you want to make sure that you have the right amount for your activity level.

Low Carb Has Its Limits For Fat Loss

When I worked with Michelle many years ago she told me that she was very good at getting in protein into her diet. She preferred lean protein sources.

She worked out at a gym that was full of bodybuilders and physique competitors so everybody was chugging their protein shakes after the workout. So she was used to all these lean protein sources.

But she found that she couldn't get any leaner (she was pretty lean but wanted to get leaner) and she wasn't really building muscle.

Plus, she was tired all the time. So it was really hard for her to work out with any energy.

When I looked at her physique: I mean she was pretty lean, but she wasn't carrying as much muscle as I would have expected given how much weight training she was doing. She was training for about an hour four times a week. So that's a reasonable amount.

The fact that she didn't have any energy kind of worried me as well.

I knew that in order for her to go from lean to leaner she needed to build more muscle mass, because then she would be slightly more metabolically active and she would be able to dig in on those fat stores particularly around the belly area. She was hanging on to a little bit around there.

When I looked at her nutrition I saw the protein was high for her body size but the carbs were very low. She was getting maybe 60 to 70 gam of carbs per day. This is a fairly good explanation for why she didn't have any energy, given how active she was.

Carbs And Performance For Fat Loss

Low carb diets often benefit people who are lower in activity levels.

There is fairly good research with athletes who have high energy demands and lower carb diets are not as effective. There are a few exceptions. People who will genetically be able to manage on lower carb levels but they are just that - exceptions.

Most athletes and highly active people in general will perform better on higher levels of carbs.

Once she started getting in the carbs and she was at about 200 gram of carbs she started to feel much more energetic even in her workouts. And that meant she could push herself a little bit harder. She realized all her weights were going up as well.

So all of a sudden her muscles were getting the right stimulation to grow. She was finally able to build a little muscle and get just that little bit leaner as well. The fat came off around the midsection where she'd struggled to get it off for such a long time.

Protein Distribution And Fat Loss

Now let's talk about when you want to have your protein.

This is both protein distribution, referring to over the course of the day, and protein timing, when you're eating in reference to your workouts.

There's a lot of disagreement about how often we need to have protein in order to maximize muscle protein synthesis. That's what we're looking for when we're trying to build muscle.

We used to say that about 20 to 25 gam per meal would maximize your muscle protein synthesis.

More recent research has shown that not only can we absorb more protein but we can also use it in much larger quantities.

A recent study showed that even over 100 grams of protein was used for protein synthesis.

How Many Times Per Day Should You Eat?

Total protein intake over the course of the day is going to matter the most.

Protein distribution, how many meals you have that in, probably doesn't matter nearly as much.

I usually just recommend doing what you prefer. The only one caveat there is that I feel like for most people three to four meals is reasonable.

Society is kind of set up for those three meals anyway. And perhaps a snack.

That's generally what I do as well, because I find it practical. Having very, very large amounts of food at one sitting is not often comfortable digestively.

What About OMAD?

I know there was a period of time when my husband tried the one meal a day diet. He was absolutely exhausted and ready to sleep at about 7:30 at night.

It was just such a large amount of food that he was eating that his body was using all that energy for digestion.

Some people do like to have fewer meals, maybe one or two meals a day. I think they're probably in the minority.

Most of us will do best on 3 to 4, but I don't think it actually matters that much as long as the total amount of protein that you're getting is high enough.

I think there can be an issue if you're a larger person say 200 lb and you're eating 160 g of protein. Trying to do that in one meal is very challenging. Even trying to split that into two meals so you have 80 g of protein per meal. Still to me a little bit challenging.

Protein Timing And Fat Loss

Another consideration is protein timing.

We used to say that you wanted to get in your protein as quickly as possible after a workout in order to benefit from the increased muscle protein synthesis that occurs immediately after you've torn down those muscles.

The Anabolic Window For Protein

The most common idea is that you needed to get in that protein within the first 30 minutes to 2 hours after a workout. That's partially responsible for why you see people chugging down protein shakes immediately after workouts. I have nothing against that practice. I do that myself. Only because it's convenient to have that immediately afterwards and it goes down really easily. It replenishes a little bit of fluids as well.

If I haven't had enough to drink during the workout.

More recent research seems to suggest that there's no huge hurry as long as you get in your protein within about four or 5 hours after the workout and it can be whole food protein.

Just a normal meal that you're having. As long as your protein intake for the day is high enough then you don't need to have any urgency with your protein consumption after a workout.

The Protein Hierarchy Of Importance To Lose Fat

When it comes to protein intake, the hierarchy of importance is:

1. Your total daily protein intake
2. Protein quality that you're taking in.
3. Protein distribution - how it's spread over the course of the day.
4. Protein timing - how close it is to your workout.

Protein Quality

Protein quality refers to digestibility and the essential amino acid content.

Those are the amino acids we have to get from our diet and we can't produce within our bodies.

Leucine is considered particularly important for its role in muscle protein synthesis and for its role in reducing muscle protein breakdown.

Animal proteins do tend to produce more of an anabolic response compared to plant proteins, gram for gram, so if you're consuming only plant-based proteins then you'll probably want to be eating on the higher end of the protein goal that I suggested.

But if if you've got a normal omnivorous diet then I don't really even think it's worth worrying about.

Plant-Based Sources Of Protein

Some of the plant-based sources of protein that I use include edamame, soybeans.

Sometimes I use black beans or lentils although I can't have large amounts of that because it upsets my digestion.

This is the whole grain bread that I tend to eat. My son likes this as well. It's about 4 g of protein per slice. So I often have two and that's 8 grams.

Of course I'm mixing that up with my other protein sources like dairy.

If you want more guidance on choosing protein sources check out this video HERE.

Ivana Chapman