How Important Is Protein For Weight Loss?
Quick Hit Guide:
Introduction
The Importance Of Protein For Weight Loss
Appetite and Weight Loss
Protein and Appetite Control
The Final Word
Protein is the single most important nutrient for losing weight.
It trumps fat and carbs when it comes to getting the lean, toned body you’ve been dreaming of.
But why is protein so important for losing weight?
The Importance of Protein For Weight Loss
If you’re looking to lose weight, alter your body composition, or to look good naked, protein is hands-down the most important nutrient you should be including in your diet.
Yes, carbs and fats are also important, but studies show that replacing them with protein, you may see positive changes in both appetite and weight loss.
Instead of focusing on all the ways protein could boost your weight loss, you are going to learn how protein manipulates hormones that control appetite, which could have beneficial effects on your waistline.
As you know, there are plenty of factors that control your weight loss. From hormones to your brain, there are multiple steps that have to work in conjunction to boost your weight loss experience.
It may not simply be a question of calories in versus calories out…but a delicate balancing act between important hormones that control metabolism and your appetite.
Let’s start with the basics:
Your weight loss is actually regulated by key areas in your brain. I know you may think it has to do with individual cells, cutting back on calories, or eating the right foods.
But it’s not. Your weight loss is regulated primarily by your hypothalamus.
In order for you to lose weight, your brain focuses on a multitude of information that it gets from different parts of your body.
The information comes from the hormones that interact with every cell in your body.
We will come back to this in a moment…
Appetite and Weight loss
When you’re trying to lose weight, one of the biggest setbacks most people have is hunger.
When you cut back on your calories, you get hungry. When your body perceives it’s time to eat, you get hungry.
You can even get hungry immediately after you eat. This is why controlling your appetite is extremely important for achieving your ideal weight.
Controlling your appetite is the biggest key to losing weight. Why? The hungrier you are, the more likely you will be to overeat, or eat junk food.
So how can protein help with this?
Protein and Appetite Control
Since your brain plays a very large role in your ability to lose weight, then it would make sense that your brain may play a critical role in controlling your appetite to boost your weight loss.
Some of the most important hormones for controlling your appetite may also increase or decrease while you are eating.
One of the most important hormones, and one that spikes when you’re hungry, happens to be ghrelin.
This one hormone communicates with your brain, telling you that you’re lacking nutrients and need to eat more in order to satisfy your need.
However, sometimes ghrelin levels remain high, which often lead to uncontrolled eating. And this eventually could lead to increased weight gain.
To combat this trend, there are certain hormones, notably GLP-1, peptide YY, and cholecystokinin, which all act to reduce appetite and combat the ghrelin signal.
So how does protein help with this?
Studies show that a higher protein diet, or changing your protein intake, could increase these appetite-lowering hormones in your body.
A higher protein intake could also lead to lower ghrelin levels, which could further increase the appetite-reducing effects in your body.
Although protein is lower in calories (when you replace carbs and fat, you naturally reduce your caloric intake), the main reason why protein works to boost weight loss is by controlling hunger signals and boosting satiety hormones.
The Final Word
Protein is one of the main nutrients you need in your diet if you want to lose weight, get in shape, or have a shapely and toned body.
But it has nothing to do with calories (even though protein is much lower in calories than carbs or fat). The main reason why protein works to boost your weight loss has to do with controlling the hormones in your body that control hunger and boost meal satisfaction.
A higher protein diet has been shown to lower the effects of the hormone ghrelin (appetite-stimulating) and boosting GLP-1, peptide YY, and cholecystokinin, which are all appetite-controlling hormones.
By replacing higher calorie foods (fat and carbs), you may see a reduction in hunger and better meal satisfaction, which could lead to increased weight loss.
So if you were ever wondering how important protein is for weight loss, now you know the importance of protein for reducing hunger, which is the main reason why people often struggle losing weight.
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References:
1. Lejeune MP, Westerterp KR, Adam TC, Luscombe-March ND, Westerterp-Plantenga MS. Ghrelin and glucagon-like peptide 1 concentrations, 24-h satiety, and energy and substrate metabolism during a high-protein diet and measured in a respiration chamber. Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Jan;83(1):89-94.
2. Heffron H, Kapoor SI, Chivers JE, Chandarana K, Herzog H, Le CW, Louise Thomas E, Bell JD, Withers DJ. Critical role for peptide YY in protein-mediated satiation and body weight regulation. Cell Metabolism. 2006 Sept; 4(3):223-233.
3. Guyenet SJ, Schwartz MW. Regulation of Food Intake, Energy Balance, and Body Fat Mass: Implications for the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Obesity. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2012 Mar; 97(3): 745-755.
4. Blom WA, Lluch A, Stafleu A, Vinoy S, Holst JJ, Schaafsma G, Hendriks HF. Effect of a high-protein breakfast on the postprandial ghrelin response. Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Feb;83(2):211-20.
About Jayson Hunter & Jaylab Pro
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Jaylab Pro was founded by Registered Dietitian Jayson Hunter. Jayson has been recognized as one of America's foremost weight loss experts by America's Premier Experts™. He has also been featured in USA Today for this accomplishment. Jayson is also a best-selling author having co-authored multiple books in health & fitness and business growth. Jayson and the Jaylab Pro team are proud to create content that helps improve the lives of millions of people around the world. We hope you enjoy it just as much as others have.