Protein To Help With Your Fat-Loss Goal
We know that protein is vital for building strong bones and muscles but did you know that eating more protein is an effective fat loss strategy for many women.
I don’t believe we should cut out any foods, you can keep in those tasty carbs and nutritious veggies!
Tracking your calories, and including a healthy combination of complex carbohydrates and lean proteins will help you reach your fat-loss goal.
Burn More Calories at Rest
Combine using weights and fueling your body with protein and you’ll increase your muscle mass. Since muscles burn more calories than fat, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn even at rest.
Less Snacking
Increasing protein in your meals can leave you feeling satisfied for longer and reduce the urges to grab those snacks, this will help you stay within your calories.
Prevent Muscle Breakdown
Your body uses carbohydrates as its primary fuel (energy) source, however, if you burn all of your stored carbs your body is forced to tap into your calorie stores, fat and muscle. Having protein available in your body increases the odds that your body will burn body fat first. Additionally, eating protein and making amino acids available will prevent your body from “cannibalizing” your muscles for fuel. If your body attacks your muscles this can result in less muscle mass, which then results in a decreased metabolic rate and, over time, will also negatively impact your strength.
How much protein is right for you?
In a research study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: The role of protein in weight loss and maintenance clinicians found that high-protein diets that contain between 1.2 and 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day provided noticeable improvements in appetite control, body weight (fat loss), and cardiovascular risk factors when compared with low-protein diets. The optimal protein intake per meal was found to be 25–30 grams of protein per meal.
High Protein Foods
Examples of high protein foods that can help promote fat loss include lean cuts of beef, skinless chicken or turkey and fish, soy, quinoa, eggs, whey protein, almonds and legumes to name a few.
Click the green button below for sources of plant protein!
Increasing your daily protein intake is definitely one important change you can make to support healthy fat loss.
Increasing your activity level, aerobic exercise and resistance training along with your high protein diet will help you reach your fitness and weight loss goals!