5 Ways Increasing Protein Helps You Lose Weight / Tone Up
Many people are often nervous at the idea of increasing their protein intake.
They worry that eating more protein will cause them to “look Bulky”
They’re usually surprised to find out that the exact opposite is often true.
Protein is an essential ingredient for anybody looking to:
lose body fat
tone up
And feel at their best both inside and outside of the gym.
Let’s look at 5 reasons why.
1. Keeps you fuller for longer
One study found that overweight women who ate 30% of their daily calories from protein lost 11 pounds (5 kg) in 12 weeks — though they didn’t intentionally restrict their diet.
That’s the interesting part.
They didn’t even try to intentionally restrict their diets…
All they did was focus on increasing their protein intake.
(Note: Although this study was conducted for females, similar results would apply to men as well)
There are a few reasons why the women would lose weight as a result of eating more protein.
But being more full is a big factor.
If a person is more full.
They will naturally reduce their calorie consumption, without even thinking about it.
This creates a calorie deficit… which results in weight loss.
I’ve seen it often with Fitness Studio clients that when they initially increase their protein, at first, they’re stuffed!!
It’s a little bit like increasing your water intake, and constantly running to the toilet for the first few days.
But, Once you’re over the initial shock of being full…
A high protein diet really helps to control hunger signalling and therefore makes it easier for us to make sensible food choices… Even unintentionally.
2. Prioritises Fat Loss
Another impressive study…
Was a 12-month study of 130 overweight people on a calorie-restricted diet, the high-protein group lost 53% more body fat than the normal-protein group, eating the same number of calories
This should be mind blowing for anyone who’s goal is to tone up.
And it may explain why previous dieting attempts didn’t result in the toned look that you wanted.
Allow me to explain how this works.
When you create a deficit of calories.
Your Body has to find a way to balance out the energy deficit you’ve created.
It does that, by quite literally, for use of a better term, ‘cannabalising’ itself.
It begins to break down some of your mass, for energy.
This could be both fat and muscle mass.
Remember…
Our muscles are made from protein.
By eating a high protein diet, your body has adequate levels of protein coming from food sources.
This mean that it more readily prioritises burning body fat for fuel.
Now…
The study doesn’t clarify what the training / exercise habits were of the participants.
But combining a high protein diet, with resistance / strength training is definitely the best way to signal to the body that it needs to maintain muscle mass.
This further increases the likelihood ‘fat mass' will be targeted for energy.
Remember that our goal is to increase / maintain our lean muscle mass whilst simultaneously dropping body fat.
This will create the toned look that most of us want as well as improve many markers of health.
Having more lean body mass / muscle will also lead to another great weight loss benefit!
3. Increases Metabolism
I covered this idea in more detail in a previous article here so I’m not going to overly explain this one.
But metabolism is influenced by quite a few factors.
Some we have no control over, like our genetics.
But others we do!
One of the big influences on a persons metabolism is how much lean muscle they have.
It takes a lot of calories just for our body to maintain muscle mass.
So the more muscle we have… the more calories we burn … even at rest.
In practical terms,
This means that it is considerably easier to MAINTAIN your weight loss efforts long term!
It also means you can afford to eat a little bit more on a daily basis without piling on a few unwanted lbs.
Speaking of eating more…
4. Protein burns the most calories to digest
When we eat food… although it contains calories.
The body also has to burn calories in order to digest the food.
Protein takes the most calories to digest.
Although this will only make a small increase to you calorie burn each day.
Every Little Helps.
This will again make creating a deficit, that little bit easier… and help to promote weight loss as well as fat loss.
5. Recovery
A final point brings us all the way back to main the function of protein.
Protein helps our cells to Grow & Repair.
Which means, it’s amazing for improving our recovery from workouts.
When we train, we break down muscle tissue and create muscle damage.
But… Protein builds us back up!
This allows to recover faster and train again.
As we know, training is 1 of the key pillars in the life of healthy people.
Not only will training more frequently and with more intensity help us to lose weight and drop body fat.
It also opens us up to all of the other benefits training has on our physical health, mental health, strength, performance and confidence.
Summary…
I’ve covered 5 ways that protein helps us to lose weight and drop body fat.
This is going to have a positive effect on not only how we look, but our health as well.
Increasing your protein intake will:
Keep you fuller for longer
Help your body to prioritise burning body fat … not muscle
Increase metabolism
Increase calorie burn from digestion
Improve our recovery and training
It doesn’t only help our ability to lose weight / body fat.
It helps us to keep it off more easily and lead an improved quality of life.
So…
Go and eat some protein!
Yours in coaching,
Harry