Protein And Weight Loss - 3 reasons why eating protein will help you lose weight
Protein and weight loss have a very strong relationship. By the time you read this article, you will understand why.
I'm going to outline 3 ways that protein helps you burn fat and lose weight.
1) Protein Helps Build Muscle
Muscle burns fat, and your body uses protein to build, repair and maintain muscle.
Eating protein with every meal creates an environment within your body for muscle to be maintained.
If you do any weight or resistance training, as you should, eating enough protein is important for muscle repair and growth.
2) Eating Protein Has A Thermic Effect
To put it simply, thermic means “heat generating.”
The act of digesting food creates a thermic effect within your body. This means that your body has to burn calories to digest the food that you eat.
Dietary fat has a thermic effect of up to 3%. Basically that means that for every 100 calories of fat you eat, up to 3 calories will be burned off for digestion.
Complex carbohydrates have a higher thermic effect of around 10 – 20%.
Guess what has the highest thermic effect?
Yep, you got it.
Protein comes in 1st place with a thermic effect of up to 30%. That means that for every 100 calories of protein you eat, up to 30 calories of it will be burned off just to digest it!
The main thing to take away is that you will burn more total calories by eating lean protein with every meal.
3) Protein Balances Insulin
Eating carbs by itself causes a bigger insulin release than combining protein and carbs.
Why is this important? I’m going to keep this as simple as possible…
Insulin is the hormone that drives blood sugar into your muscles and liver.
Glucagon is a hormone that opens the doors for your fat cells to release fat.
Eating carbs alone will cause a bigger insulin release than combining protein and carbs. The bigger the insulin release, the more glucagon production is slowed.
When glucagon production is diminished, so is fat burning.
Eating protein along with carbs helps you maintain a balance of insulin and glucagon production. You burn fat more consistently as a result.
Eating protein with complex carbs causes an even slower release of insulin.
Would you like to burn body fat all day long? Never eat carbs alone. Eat meals and snacks that combine lean protein with complex or natural simple carbs.
Protein is made of 20 “building blocks” called amino acids. Your body only makes 11 nonessential amino acids.
The other 9 essential amino acids have to be supplied by protein.
There are complete protein and incomplete proteins.
Complete proteins are superior for muscle building because they contain all 9 of the essential amino acids.
Some complete lean proteins include:
- eggs (eat mostly whites or beaters) - lean red meats (top round, lean sirloin, flank) - chicken breast - turkey breast - fish - shellfish - zero fat or low fat dairy products - whey, egg, or milk based protein powder
Hopefully you now have an understanding how protein and weight loss are deeply connected. Eat lean protein with every meal and you'll burn more fat.
The act of digesting food creates a thermic effect within your body. This means that your body has to burn calories to digest the food that you eat.