How Much Protein Do You Need When Losing Weight?
Does more protein help you spare muscle and lose fat?
The holy grail of weight loss is shedding fat without losing any muscle. You may have heard that the solution to this delicate dance lies in downing tons of protein. Is this true?
It turns out that our bodies generally do a good job of tapping into our fat stores when we are in a calorie deficit. After all, that’s their raison d’être! On average, 70–90% of weight loss comes from body fat (a mix of visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissues). The rest comes from things we’d rather hang onto, known as “lean mass”, “fat-free mass” or “FFM” (water, muscle, organs).
Can eating more protein help us tip the balance towards more fat and less lean?
Intuitively, this makes sense. After all, our muscles are largely made of protein, and bodybuilders build more muscle when they pound protein shakes. If we’re hanging onto muscle, then we should be losing fat, right?
When you dig into the data, it quickly becomes apparent that things are not as simple as “the more protein the better”. This article shares some of the science on how your weight loss quality — fat vs lean tissue — is affected by dietary protein, to help you set your optimal protein target.
