The Importance of Protein and How it Helps with Fat Loss
What is Protein?
The word protein is derived from the Greek word meaning “of prime importance.”
Protein is a macronutrient with the primary function of building and repairing muscle tissues and structures. It can also be used for energy if calories or carbohydrates are insufficient in your diet.
Additionally, it is involved in the synthesis of hormones, enzymes, and other regulatory peptides. On top of that, it can be a key component of weight loss.
As the Greeks knew, protein is indeed of prime importance.
In this blog, I am going to go over the structure of protein, how it’s digested, intake recommendations, and discuss why it is so helpful for weight loss and building muscle. At the very end, I am going to provide you with a list of some excellent sources of protein for you to start adding to your diet.
The Structure of Protein
Protein is the basic structural material of all tissue cells, and it makes up about 22% of skeletal muscle.
The protein content of skeletal muscle represents about 65% of the body’s total protein.
It takes over 100,000 different kinds of proteins to run our bodies. Generally, proteins are long molecules composed of amino acid units. Basically, they are made up of amino acids linked together by peptide bonds.
Think of amino acids as the biochemical building blocks of proteins. In the same way that certain letters form a specific word, arranging the amino acids in different sequences yields the body’s myriad of proteins.
The body uses 20 amino acids to build its many different proteins. 11 of those amino acids are nonessential and can be manufactured by the body. 9 of them are essential and cannot be manufactured by the body, so they must be supplied through diet.
Digestion and Utilization
It’s worth noting that the body does not use protein intact. Dietary protein is broken down into amino acids, which are then absorbed into the blood and transported to specific cells. Afterward, it is reassembled into the new proteins needed by those specific cells.
Cells will harness the energy of the protein movements to do the “jobs” that characterize a living system, such as respiration and muscle contraction.
Depending on the cell's needs, it can be used to build or repair tissue or as an energy substrate.
Remember that the first stage of digestion begins in the mouth when you are chewing. From there the next stage takes place in the stomach where it opens up protein strands and cleaves strands into peptide chains.
The small intestines then further split the peptide chains into tripeptides, dipeptides, and amino acids.
The lining of the small intestine is the final stage in this process. Think of them as the absorptive cells. They split tripeptides and dipeptides into amino acids and absorb amino acids.
You can hasten this process just a little bit by utilizing a protein powder. Protein powder is a great way to speed up the digestion process because you do not have to chew it like whole food so it breaks down quicker. It’s not a good idea to have the majority of your protein calories come from a shake but they come in handy to help get extra protein outside of our main meals.
Intake Recommendations
The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. Keep in mind that the RDA is the amount of a nutrient that you need to keep from getting sick, so it is the bare minimum.
That is not a specific amount you should eat per day for any specific goal, that is a broad number just to keep you functioning.
For someone who is regularly active or wants to lose weight, you will probably have to eat much more than that. For context, for a relatively active adult, a daily protein intake that meets the RDA would bring in as little as 10% of their daily calories. That is very low. To compare, the average American consumes around 16% of their daily calories in the form of protein. Which is still pretty low.
Everyone's needs are different, your dietary requirements can vary depending on age, activity level, hormones, and more.
The most commonly used protein recommendation in the fitness industry is that you should consume 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. That may work for some people but it’s probably not going to work for someone with a lot of weight to lose. If you are 220 lbs and your goal weight is 180 lbs, it would be extremely difficult for you to eat 220 grams of protein each day. Not to mention, if you did eat that much protein you probably wouldn’t feel great. So that’s unrealistic and it’s certainly not something that I would ask of my online coaching clients.
A better approach would be to take your goal body weight and multiply it by one. That is how many grams of protein to shoot for in a day. But even that may still be a big ask for some. That would be 180 grams of protein in a day.
If you need to start out with a lower goal that’s perfectly fine. Try shooting for .7 grams of protein per pound of goal body weight.
And if you don’t want to track your protein the least you can do is make sure to eat protein with every meal and snack. Make sure that 25% of every plate of food is protein.
Most people who eat the standard American diet and don’t pay attention to protein intake eat a lot of foods that are high in carbohydrates and fats. Making the adjustment of adding protein with every meal will increase your grams per day significantly. You’ll notice great benefits like increased energy, feeling more full, and recovering from your workouts better.
Helpful for Fat Loss
A huge advantage to eating a high-protein diet is that protein has the highest thermic effect of food. That means that it takes more energy from the body to process protein than it does to process carbohydrates and fats. In other words, your body burns more calories processing protein.
If you want to improve your metabolism, eating more protein is a great start.
Foods that are high in protein are incredibly filling despite a lot of them being fairly low in calories. Protein activates specific satiety mechanisms and is more satiating than foods high in fats and carbohydrates.
Since protein makes us feel more full, it’s very beneficial for fat loss goals. Protein and carbohydrates both have 4 calories per gram, but the calories from protein will make you feel more full.
Let’s compare a banana and 3/4 of a cup of greek yogurt. Both of them will be approximately 100 calories but the macronutrients will be different. They both have almost no fat but the banana, which is not very filling, has 23 grams of carbs and only 1 gram of protein. On the other hand, greek yogurt has 6 grams of carbs and a solid 18 grams of protein. That plain greek yogurt is going to be much more satiating than the banana.
Protein Sources
These are not all or the only sources of protein. I’m going to try and include things you wouldn’t usually think of, or items that are high in protein but low in fat.
Chicken Breast
Turkey Breast(Not deli meat)
Ground Turkey
Whole Eggs
Greek Yogurt
Whey Protein (I prefer isolate)
Cottage Cheese
Shrimp
Tuna Fish
Halibut
Tilapia
Cod
Protein Pancakes (Kodiak Cakes)
Protein Potato Chips (Quest)
Protein Bars (Get something low in sugar, Quest is good for that)
If you start to pay attention to the nutrition labels on the food you eat, you may start to notice that most things are very high in carbs and fat. Basically, the entire middle section of grocery stores is going to fall under that category. Those foods are high in calories and not filling at all, making them very easy to overeat, cue the potato chips and Oreos.
Going for the high-protein options instead is going to curb your appetite and help you lose weight.
If you take anything from this article, I hope it helps you understand the importance of protein as a whole. I hope you finished with a better understanding of how much protein you should eat and how you can go about doing that.
If you have any questions, I would love to help you out. You can email me on my personal email at any time. patrick@syracusefitnesscenter.com. I respond to emails within 24-48 hours.
If you are looking for a personalized approach to your nutrition and fitness coaching, feel free to check out my online coaching page.
Much Love,
Patrick
