The Role of Protein in Weight Loss: Guidelines for Women
Photo by Ilya Mashkov on Unsplash
Do you need to eat more protein to lose weight? What’s the right amount for you to burn fat and lose weight? Let’s find out!
How much protein do you need?
The first step to weight loss is eating in a caloric deficit.
There are plenty of calculators out there that use your height, weight, age, sex, and activity level to calculate your daily calorie needs for weight loss. I have been using this one by Calorie.net for years,
Calorie Calculator by Calorie.net
From there you can divide up your calories to figure out how much protein to eat to reach your goals.
The general recommended daily allowance (RDA) for the average American adult is 0.8 grams of protein per kg or 0.4 grams of protein per pound.
This guideline is for the average American adult who is overweight and sedentary. It’s also the absolute bare minimum for all your body functions in working order. The bare minimum isn’t the optimal amount for your needs.
RDA recommendations for women.
If you’re an athlete or very active your protein requirements are different.
Anywhere from 1.3 g up to 1.6 g of protein per kg of body weight is recommended for individuals with moderate and intense physical activity. Long-term consumption of up to 3.5 g per kg bodyweight is safe for well-adapted individuals1.
For most of my weight loss clients, I usually start them at 100 grams of protein per day or allocate about 35 - 40% of their calories to protein. It’s a somewhat challenging but achievable goal that makes a huge difference in terms of managing their hunger and cravings.
For reference, 3 oz of protein is going to be about 15g – 25g of protein depending on the source which is about the size of your palm or the size of a deck of cards.
A palmful of protein.
Grams of protein per ounce for different types of protein sources.
When is the best time to eat protein?
There is no optimal time to eat protein.
But the best method to get your total daily intake of protein would be to divide your protein equally at each meal.
Most women are missing the opportunity to eat protein during breakfast and instead divide up most of their protein requirements between lunch and dinner. Waiting till the end of the day to eat all your protein makes it hard.
The best way to start is eating more protein at breakfast. Start with 20 to 30 grams of protein per meal especially at breakfast to help with satiety and hunger management.
If you’re eating 100 grams of protein as your goal, here’s how I would divide up the protein,
Protein per meal breakdown.
What happens if I eat more protein than I need?
Like with all foods excessive protein will cause you to gain weight.
If you are increasing your protein intake without reducing your fat and carb intake or you are not eating in a caloric deficit you will slowly gain weight.
It’s important to add protein to every meal and not skip meals. It’s a macronutrient that cannot be stored, unlike fat and carbs. If you overload one meal with too much protein that your body cannot digest and absorb in one sitting it’ll get broken down and stored as fat.
To avoid this, eat 20 – 30 grams of protein at every meal so your body has it available around the clock.
Plus, you won’t go looking for a snack afterward because you’re hungry.
What are the benefits of eating protein for weight loss?
Increasing protein in your diet has many benefits including helping with satiety and managing hunger and cravings.
Here are other numerous benefits,
1. Burn more calories during digestion
After we eat, our body has to use calories to digest, absorb, and discard the waste from our meals. Using calories to absorb nutrients is called the thermic effect of food or TEF.
Each macronutrient, protein, fat, and carbs, has a different TEF profile with protein being the highest at 20-30%. This means for every 100 calories of protein we eat we burn about 20 – 30 calories digesting it.
I like to call these ‘free’ calories because we eat 100 calories but only absorb 70 calories.
This is why you feel fuller longer versus eating just carbs which has a TEF of 5-10%. It takes your body much more effort to digest and break down a piece of chicken breast compared to eating pasta.
Thermic effect of different macros.
2. Feel fuller and more satiated
The high TEF of protein means you’ll feel more satisfied, feel fuller and go longer between meals eating overall fewer daily calories leading to weight loss.
For weight loss clients, feeling fuller and more satiated after a meal is the most important benefit of eating more protein. The #1 reason people fall off the wagon or quit dieting is because they’re hungry and eating enough protein in your diet helps prevent this.
For each meal add 20 - 30 grams of protein to help you feel fuller without feeling like you’re deprived of food.
3. Preserve lean body mass
Protein is the building block for your cells. You need it for your muscles, your hair, connective, tissue, the formation of blood, and so much more.
Unlike fat and carbs, protein is a macronutrient that cannot be created by your body except by breaking down its own muscle tissue to repair other more important muscle tissue.
More importantly, if you’re losing weight you want to preserve muscle mass because it helps with your metabolism. One of the reasons it gets more difficult to lose weight the next time around and you gain weight faster is because of improper dieting and lost muscle mass.
Eating enough protein helps to conserve muscle mass.
Healthy sources of protein
There is no shortage of protein and these days almost everything has protein in it including fortified cereals.
But the best sources of protein are animal-based products because they contain all the essential amino acids that our body needs and are more easily absorbed.
If you are eating plant-based sources, eat a wide variety so that you get all the essential amino acids.
Recommended protein sources include:
Lean meats, like 90% ground beef, chicken breast, ground turkey, bison
Seafood, like salmon, tuna, sardines, shrimp
Dairy, including milk, cheese, Greek yogurt
Tofu
Nuts, grains, and seeds like nut butter and quinoa
Legumes, like lentils, kidney beans, chickpeas
My favorite sources of easy protein include,
Greek yogurt. My go-to brand is the plain non-fat Icelandic Provisions Skyr yogurt. I like to add 2 tsp of honey to sweeten it up and avoid the fruit on the bottom versions.
Canned wild sardines. I love to saute onions and eat them with rice or eat them straight out of
the can. My favorite brand right now is Chicken of the Sea in extra virgin olive oil.
Eggs. For breakfast, I’ll crack 2 eggs into my oatmeal with whole milk for added protein.
Extra firm tofu. It’s so versatile that I love making stir fry with it.
Beef jerky. This rotates in and out of my diet. Right now the brand I’m eating is Pacific Gold Coast original flavor.
Ground turkey. I love mixing this up with bell peppers, zucchini, onions, and mushrooms and adding garlic, onion, and cumin seasonings.
When to use protein supplements
Protein shakes are easy and convenient.
But the health supplement market is a billion-dollar industry that is not regulated by the FDA and has a lot of shady practices to increase its profit margins. Influencers and celebrities make money off of endorsing products that may not even necessarily be used by them to get the bodies you see.
I wrote an entire post on what to look for in a protein powder so that you’re paying for what you think you’re paying for.
Drinking a protein shake won’t make you feel as full or satiated compared to eating protein because the protein is liquefied. It’s healthier to eat your protein and not drink it.
Summary
Use a calculator to figure out a caloric deficit
Allocate 30-40% of your calories to protein
Eat 20 to 30 g of protein at each meal
Protein keeps you satiated, and fuller for longer and helps with muscle retention
Protein powder won’t keep you as satiated as eating protein will
Candace is the owner of Rhodes To Strength. She provides weight loss and mindset coaching services to women around the world so that they keep the pounds off for good. She believes in working with clients to create sustainable habits that work for their lifestyle.
You can find her rollerskating, hiking, and bird watching in her spare time.