Protein Intake
In yesterdays post we identified the five keys to fat loss and covered the importance of creating a calorie deficit, today we’re going to look at protein and I'm going to show you how to set your protein intake when the goal is fat loss.
Why is protein intake so important when it comes to fat loss?
There are a few reasons that it’s of vital importance that you’re consuming adequate protein:
- Muscle Retention
As we now know, when the goal is fat loss, it is essential that we are in a caloric deficit. When in a caloric deficit your body starts to use its own energy as fuel, which is great, the problem is that your body can break down muscle to use as fuel (via a complex process that we don’t need to go into).
When the body uses muscle as fuel it makes the dieting process tougher and also results in a physique that not only looks worse, but also performs worse. This is why it is so important to prioritise muscle retention, we can do this by stimulating the muscle (proper strength training) and providing them with nutrients to support repair in the form of protein.
- Satiety
Protein is the most satiating macronutrient, so when calories are low and hunger is inevitably higher, protein will help keep you feeling fuller for longer than any of the other macronutrients.
- The Thermic Effect of Food
The thermic effect of food refers to the energy required for digestion, absorption and disposal of a given nutrient following ingestion. In short, we need calories to break down the energy in food and protein has the highest thermic effect of all the macronutrients.
Percentage of calories used to digest, absorb and dispose of each macronutrient:
- Carbs: 5 to 15%
- Protein: 20 to 35%
- Fats: 5 to 15%
As you can see the thermic effect of protein is far higher than that of carbs or fat, meaning that your body will use far more calories to digest, absorb and dispose of protein. If you’re consuming 100 calories worth of protein (25g) your body would use 20-35 calories digesting, absorbing and disposing of it.
So that’s the ‘why’ out of the way, now onto how much you need?
If you thought the calorie calculation yesterday was simple, then you're in for a treat today again:
Protein Requirements*
1g x body weight (in lbs) = Protein intake
So, if you’re a male who weighs 170lbs, you’ll need to set your protein intake at 170g per day.
Or
If you’re a female who weighs 140lbs, you’ll need to set your protein intake at 140g per day.
For those of you with a lot of fat to lose this figure may not need to be as high. For example, if someone is 250lbs, using per pound of body weight would mean 250g of protein. This amount is unnecessary. I’ve found using 0.6g/lb to work well for this population: 250 lb x 0.6g/lb = 150 gram of protein.
Once you have calculated your calories (see previous post) and protein (4 calories per gram) you can fill the remaining calories with carbs (4 calories per gram) and fat (9 calories per gram) to fit with your personal preferences within your calorie goal.
For example:
If you have a calorie goal of 1,800 calories a day and must consume 150g protein (600 calories) that will leave you with 1,200 calories remaining to fill with carbs/fat to suit you, your lifestyle and your preferences. Don’t make this fat loss thing harder or more complicated than it needs to be.
*You need zero grams of protein to lose weight, just create a caloric deficit, then you will lose a combination of fat, muscle and water. When fat loss is the goal you will need to prioritise protein consumption.
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