Everything you need to know about protein during weight loss

I once helped a CrossFit athlete who was trying to lose weight. Annie had a meal plan from a nutritionist that was full of protein, carbs, lots of vegetables – it looked pretty good!

But she was struggling.

Although she’d lost some weight initially, she found it almost impossible to stick to, always craving sweet food, and worst of all – couldn’t lift anywhere near what she had been, and could hardly even get through a WOD anymore.

At first Annie said she stuck to her plan pretty closely, but the more we talked, she eventually admitted she often didn’t eat the protein portion of her meals. She didn’t like the taste of protein powder, and because she was cooking meals for her whole family (who don’t eat chicken or beef), if her nutrition plan said chicken or steak, she would just leave it out. Since she knew being in a calorie deficit was the “most important” thing, she figured leaving out the protein would put her in an even bigger deficit.

Win-win right?

Wrong! The problem is protein is super important too – especially when you’re trying to lose weight!

What is protein?

Protein is one of the three macro-nutrients our bodies need in order to function. Protein is needed by every single cell in our bodies! It’s essential for making enzymes, hormones, and the structure of our bodies. Also for building and repairing tissue such as skin, hair, our organs, bones and muscle.

Why is protein so important for weight loss?

1. Protein causes satiety

Protein makes us feel fuller for longer.

Out of all the macros we eat – protein, carbs and fat – protein is the macro that takes the longest for our stomachs to digest. Carbs are the quickest to process, which explains why we feel hungry soon after eating a high-carb snack. The more protein you include in your meal or snack, the longer your stomach takes to process it, and the fuller you will be for longer.

In addition, when you eat a high protein meal, the protein stimulates your stomach to release a hormone that tells your brain you’re full, and in turn, helps suppress your appetite. Protein causes the release of this hormone more than any other macro.

As you can imagine, the ability of protein to make you feel full for longer, is super helpful when you’re trying to lose weight!

As Annie had been missing out on protein, she was never feeling properly full. And since she was never full, she was always craving high-calorie food like cake.

2. Protein protects against muscle loss during weight-loss

First, let’s think about your bodyweight. When you step on the scale, that number you see is made up of:

• Fat-free mass (muscle, skin, bones, organs…)
• Fat mass (fat stores)

When we lose weight, we want to lose the fat mass, not the fat-free mass! And definitely not the muscle!

Eating a high protein diet can help act as a barrier to stop our bodies breaking down muscle.

In addition to this, when you’re trying to lose weight, it’s also important to build up more muscle mass at the same time.

• Losing fat mass and building muscle mass is what gives you that “lean” look.
• Muscle is metabolically active – the more muscle you have, the more energy your body burns.
• Being stronger makes everyday life easier.
• Muscle mass is positively associated with ageing well.
• Muscle mass is correlated with a lower risk of heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes type 2, and many more.

And a high protein diet is important to help your body build muscle.

Why we need to spread protein intake over the day

Leucine Threshold

Muscle is made from proteins and protein is made from amino acids. One of these amino acids – leucine – is essential for building muscle. Your body can only start to build muscle (a process known as protein synthesis) when you consume enough leucine to pass the leucine threshold.

To hit this leucine threshold you need to consume about 25g of protein in one sitting.

If you make sure each meal (and as many snacks as possible!) contains at least 25g of protein, you’ll be making sure your body can repair and build your muscles!

Annie’s problems with strength and performance would have come from not eating enough protein, and not allowing her body to build and repair muscle tissue effectively.

After realising how important protein is for weight loss and muscle building, Annie severely upped her intake of protein and suddenly it was much much easier to stick to her nutrition plan. She also stopped craving sweet foods and found it much easier to perform during workouts.

How to increase your protein intake

Protein powder

A good quality protein powder can be a lifesaver: Hit your protein target by:

• Making a simple protein shake
• Adding to oats in the morning
• Add to yoghurt for a high-protein snack or dessert
• Add to a fruit smoothie for breakfast or a snack
• Add to coffee for pre-workout energy and to boost your protein intake

Lean meat

• Chicken, turkey, beef
• White fish, prawns and shrimps
• Canned tuna – perfect for snacks, just add crackers or raw vegetables
• Prepare 2-3 sources of lean meat and keep in the fridge to add to snacks and meals. Roasting a whole chicken is a good way to do this.

Eggs and dairy

• Hard/soft boil a batch of eggs and keep in the fridge for easy snacks or addition to meals to boost the protein.
• Omelettes, scrambled eggs, poached eggs, coddled eggs – try them every way you can!
• Low fat greek yoghurt
• Protein yoghurt
• Cottage cheese (low fat) is a great snack or salad dressing option to increase protein intake.

Vegetarian and vegan sources

• Vegetarian sources are often lower in protein and higher in calories and carbs.
• Often incomplete protein sources (do not contain all the essential amino acids our bodies need), so it’s important to include a mix of different vegetarian sources.
• Protein powders can be super helpful (rice or pea protein for vegan)