The Protein for Weight Loss

The Protein for Weight Loss

How Much Protein Do You Need?

If you want to lose weight, eating extra protein can make your diet easier and more effective. First of all, everyone's body needs protein to build and repair tissue. When a person is not dieting but still engaging in regular workouts, one's daily protein requirements should fall around 0.5 grams to 0.8 grams protein per pound body weight (meaning a 150lb person would want to consume 75g protein per day.) If you are dieting, it is generally recommended to increase daily protein intake to 1g protein per pound body weight.

Protein for .....

Why You Should Increase Protein While Dieting

When you go on a diet, eating additional protein can help preserve your muscle mass. Eating fewer calories can cause your body to think that a famine could be in your future. This will cause your body to hold onto your stored fat as future insurance and break down your muscles (which require too much food to support) for energy. This is one of the main reasons people find they gain weight much easier after a diet - you have less muscle to burn calories.

Eating more protein will also help you lose weight and stick to your diet because -

High protein foods tend to be low in calories, filling, and keep you from feeling hungry longer. High protein food also burn as much as 20% more calories during digestion, and help your body shed excess water weight - making you feel slimmer in a matter of days.

Proteins to Avoid

Make sure if you want to add more protein to your diet that you look for low calories sources - those that are primary lean, low in fat, and not high in calories. Avoid fatty meats, cheese, nuts (these are mostly fat), and too many beans (these have a lot of carbohydrates.)

Here is a list of the best high protein foods for weight loss:

Fish/Shellfish - including bass, cod, tuna, flounder, haddock, halibut, orange roughy, perch, tilapia, shrimp, and snapper. For example, every 4oz serving of tuna has only 120 calories and 26 grams of protein. In comparison, salmon has 206 calories in a 4oz serving and 28.8 grams protein. Salmon is higher in calories than tuna due to having more fat - 9.2 grams compared to 1 gram in tuna.

Meat/Eggs - Bison, chicken breast, egg whites, elk, extra lean ground turkey, 95% lean ground beef, ostrich, turkey breast. 4oz of extra lean ground turkey contains 120 calories and 28 grams protein. Egg whites are also an excellent low calorie protein source - you can eat 6 egg whites and consume only 102 calories and 21 gram protein compared to 75 calories and 6.3g protein in a whole egg.

Dairy - Whey protein, low fat greek yogurt, low fat cottage cheese. Look for whey protein formulas that contain 100 calories per 20 grams protein. Anything Weight Loss is higher in calories is not necessarily better for you and most likely is full of sugars, fats, and additives - diet sabotaging ingredients.

What about vegans? Before vegan protein powders became commercially available, most vegans would eat foods like beans (115 calories and 9 grams protein in a half cup of cooked lentils) and soy products. While these foods are healthy, beans/lentils, and soy products are all relatively high in calories compared to their protein content. This can make eating fewer calories difficult. Today, it is fairly easy to find low calorie, high protein vegan protein powder in most vitamin stores and high end groceries - look specifically for hemp or rice proteins.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5313306

The Protein for Weight Loss