How Much Protein Should I Eat to Lose Weight?

Creating balanced plates that are centered around protein will keep you full and satisfied while setting you up for weight loss success. When it comes to weight loss, focusing on fueling your body in a way that promotes satiety and energy is incredibly important. Protein is a key component.

A high-protein diet promotes weight loss in several ways. Studies suggest protein burns more fat while preserving muscle and improves satiety after a meal. These are all important factors for weight loss. Protein can help you lose or maintain your weight, here's how.

The Significance of Protein in Weight Loss

Over the last few decades, protein has risen to the top as a solid strategy for weight loss and obesity prevention. People who follow a high-protein diet report greater feelings of satiety and appetite control. In addition, protein raises the number of calories you burn through thermogenesis.

• Increases Satiety and Reduces Appetite: Protein is one of the most satiating macronutrients. When you eat protein, it takes time for your body to digest it, leaving you feeling more full and satisfied after a meal. Protein digests and is absorbed over the course of hours (depending upon the protein type). Increasing satiety after a meal is important for appetite control. If you're not satisfied, you're more likely to continue to eat or snack shortly after the meal is over. For that reason, a high-protein diet can prevent you from eating more calories than your body needs, allowing you to maintain a calorie deficit that's required for weight loss.
• Increases Energy Expenditure: For weight loss, you need to burn more calories than you consume. You can do this by burning more calories or reducing the number of calories you eat each day. Luckily, you can increase the number of calories you burn just by adding more protein to your diet. That's because protein requires your body to work harder to digest. This is called the thermic effect of food or TEF. Another way to increase your daily calorie burn is by building muscle. Having more muscle in your body is associated with a greater resting metabolic rate, AKA the amount of calories your body burns at rest. Protein is required for building and maintaining muscle. If you don't have a lot of muscle, you can build it by lifting weights and increasing the amount of protein in your diet.

Individual Protein Needs

The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for protein is 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. If you weigh 150 pounds, you only need 55 grams of protein each day. This is only about 10-15% of your daily calorie needs.

A number somewhere in the middle will work and be more attainable for the average person. And since protein needs vary by age, gender, activity level, and weight loss goals, taking a more personalized approach is important.

Benefits of Higher Protein Intake for Weight Loss

A balanced diet rich in protein is ideal for promoting weight loss. Incorporating an abundance of lean protein sources into your diet will help you stay full for longer, reduce your appetite, boost your muscle-building efforts in the gym, prevent loss of muscle, and help you burn more calories at rest.

Many people make the mistake of stressing over what they can't eat on their weight loss journey. Instead, focus on what you can eat and ramp up the protein in your diet. Incorporating plenty of protein will help you feel more full and satisfied, even when your calorie intake is lower than normal. This is important for being able to stay the course and see it through until you reach your goals (and beyond).

Not to mention the cravings that appear when trying to lose weight. Managing those cravings has little to do with willpower and more to do with ensuring you're eating enough calories and plenty of foods that keep you full and satisfied. Making protein the star of your meals will help reduce cravings and put you back in control of how much food you eat throughout the day.

The body likes to use stored protein (aka muscle) as energy when you're in a calorie deficit. Increasing the amount of protein you eat throughout the day helps prevent your body from using your muscles as fuel and also increases fat-burning potential.

Balancing Protein with Other Macronutrients

A balanced diet is essential for weight loss. Skimping out on any one food or food group may result in a lack of satiety and lead to overeating later.

Fill your meal plan with an equal balance of nutrients by spreading them out throughout the day. Be sure to include a protein with each meal and at least one macronutrient (protein, fat, or complex carb) with each snack.

Protein Timing and Distribution

If you've already calculated your daily protein needs for weight loss, you may have come up with a number over 100 grams per day. That can be a lot of protein to consume in one sitting. For that reason, and because protein is satiating, you'll want to spread out your protein across meals and snacks.

Let's use the goal of 100 grams of protein per day as an example. If you plan to eat 3 meals and 2 snacks per day, your protein distribution may look like this:

• Breakfast: 20 grams of protein
• Snack: 10 grams of protein
• Lunch: 30 grams of protein
• Snack: 10 grams of protein
• Dinner: 30 grams of protein

There is no right or wrong. Play with the numbers until you find what works for you, your hunger and fullness, and your lifestyle.

Adjusting Protein Intake for Dietary Preferences

It is possible to meet your protein needs for weight loss while following a vegetarian or vegan-style diet. Most plant-based proteins are not complete proteins, but if you're eating a variety of protein sources throughout the day, you can make up those missing amino acids at other times to meet your goals by the end of the day.

Create your meal plan in the same manner as you would for the average person. But instead of choosing animal-based proteins, center your meals around a plant-based protein source.

Here are some examples of plant-based protein sources and meal ideas:

• Rotini noodles topped with lentil bolognese
• Scrambled tofu with toast and avocado
• Oatmeal with almond butter, blueberries, and hemp seeds
• Smoothie with plant-based protein powder, fruit of choice, and flaxseeds

A high-protein diet is ideal to support your weight loss journey. Whether you follow a liberalized diet or are more centered around plant-based, eating more protein throughout the day can help ward off cravings, satisfy hunger, increase muscle, and boost fat loss. Start by calculating your protein needs and build a balanced meal plan from there. If you're not sure how to get started, talking to a registered dietitian can help you determine what will work best for you and your lifestyle.