By Dhriti Udeshi,
Nutrition Consultant & Fitness Trainer
Protein is the often the most underestimated and underused macronutrient especially amongst the vegetarian population.
When we talk about weight loss, as we loose weight through diet and exercise, we loose both fat and muscle. During this period it is especially important to eat adequate protein to prevent lean muscle loss. Why? Muscle tissues are metabolically active and burn calories, even at rest. Therefore, the more lean body muscle one has, higher and faster is the rate of fat loss. Protein contributes to fat loss in the following ways;
1) THERMIC EFFECT is a fancy, scientific term that sounds much cooler than it really is. All “thermic effect” stands for is how many calories your body burns digesting a given food. In other words, how many calories don’t actually “count” because your body burns them in the process of breaking them down.
What’s great about protein is it has the highest thermic effect of all the macronutrients (carbs, fats, and proteins). So even though we classify protein as having 4 calories per gram, it’s probably closer to 3.7 which gives us a slight metabolic advantage.
2) THE MOST FILLING MACRONUTRIENT While some may disagree on this one but if you dig into the research you’re going to find something called the “satiety index.” And the satiety index is a research-based guide that shows us how filling certain foods are per calorie.
And what have we found? Protein is consistently the most filling macronutrient per calorie compared to both carbs and fats. And that means eating more protein can help stave off hunger so you don’t drive yourself bonkers trying to lose fat.
3) BUILDS MUSCLE Last and certainly not least, protein is the ONLY macronutrient that can build and maintain muscle or, as gym rats call it, GAINZ.
And considering GAINZ help you burn more calories while you sleep, it makes sense to build as much as possible so you can eat more food without gaining fat.