Can Protein Cause Weight Gain?

Are you confused about protein and weight loss? If you haven't heard by now, high protein is pretty popular - especially for weight loss. But, does the increase in protein make you worried about your overall calorie consumption? In this episode Baylee breaks down why protein is so important, and why increasing this macronutrient can help with your weight loss (and other) goals. 

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Transcript

0:22

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to this week's episode of mocktail minutes. This is Bailey. I am doing a solo episode at this week. Brianna is out sick. So we're making, do we always adapt? We adjust. And we're going to talk about can protein cause weight gain today. Now, I guess before we get started, my mocktail that I'm doing this week is cure electrolytes. I am doing the lemonade flavor. I really like him and Josh was not a fan. So we had tried the ultimate pink lemonade. Big fan of that one tastes like the, I think it's the country time lemonade. So we tried this one. It was like the eliminate. I think it tastes more like a sweet lemon head rather than eliminate. I really like it. So I'm a fan cure, lemonade flavor. That's a good one for me. So. Let's jump into the topic of the day. I'm trying to keep this one short, sweet to the point, but basically can protein cause weight gain. Typically answer that we'd like to give it depends. Because as you may have picked up again, nutrition, isn't black and white, there is not one specific thing that will make you gain or lose weight. It's a multiple things that can come together. To give you the results. So when working on weight loss, because I took this question directly from a client I was working with, she was very hesitant to increase their protein. She's like, well, you know, like I've been told all this time, I need a decreased. I mean decreased, decreased, decreased. Why the heck are you telling me to increase? Won't the scale. Just go up. So first, when you were working on weight loss, I do encourage you to use other data with the scale, like measurements, court, and body scan. So. Well, I guess I don't necessarily encourage you to use the scale. I personally don't even have a scale. But I know so many of you have been used to using this as a measurement. So if you were someone who you kind of, you're able to just use this as data. Okay. If you're someone who has an emotional tie to the scale where it's like, Depending on what that number says is going to. Depend on how I feel, depending on my day, depending on what I eat. The, maybe we need a break. But use other. Information to let you know, okay. Where are we at in this progress? Use those measurements because it can tell us a different story. Like maybe the scale isn't moving too much, but you've lost three inches. Great. That can mean, okay, we're losing fat or building and maintaining muscle. Or like the InBody scan will give you insight to your muscle mass. Like, are we building muscle? Are we gaining fat? Are we losing fat? Are we losing muscle? Because we also don't want you to be. Losing muscle muscle is magic, basically. And when I'm working on weight loss, especially as a low calorie diet, we can see a 20% decline in that muscle mass. So while break, the weight has gone down on the scale. So has our muscle and our muscle, like I said, it's magic. It's kind of like a golden ticket to a long, healthy life. So we want to keep it on. Now the RDA. So RDA stands for recommended dietary allowances, and this is basically the levels of intake. Essential nutrients that on a basis of a scientific knowledge. They are judged by the food and nutrition board to be able to adequately. Meet the no nutrient needs. Of practically all healthy persons. I believe it's like 97%. So this is a Mount that they're saying, Hey, if you get this. You're, you're not going to be calm, deficient. So the RDA for protein is 0.8 grams per kilogram. Now one kilogram equals 2.2 pounds. So, this is what is sufficient to meet your needs. Prevent deficiency. I however, recommend about 0.8 grams per pound, to be more optimal, to prevent age-related muscle, less muscle mass, to build that muscle, to increase your metabolism to fat burn because. You're increasing that muscle. Which is going to increase your metabolism, which increases the rate at which we burn calories or use energy in our body. And protein has a higher thermic effect of food. Then other macronutrients, like your carbs and fat. Would that being said it is estimated proteins TEF. The thermic effect of food is 20 to 30%. Carbs are like five to 10% and fat and zero to 3%. So this is what is estimated to be burned while metabolizing this foods. Or basically the amount of calories your body uses just to digest it. So what that means? Kind of to break it down a little bit further, a thermic effect of 30% of protein would mean that like, if you were to consume a hundred calories of protein, It ends up being only 70 usable calories. Every time we say calories too. I think we all kind of assume calories and just like associated with weight loss. But think of calories instead as just a measure of energy. It's. It's inner game. That's basically what it is. We're getting energy from fruit. We're also expelling this energy. So you need to be including protein in your diet to support this lean muscle mass and to take it to the next level you need to strength, train. With this, when I guess when this comes up with my clients, this is usually a later, they have not co coming in on the first or even like the four session maybe. I mean like, okay, let's start straying training. Like we're doing all these things now. But when we start string training, the question comes up about like pre post-workout nutrition because we hear all about it. If you're listening to us, the average person, general public, most of the people I work with timing of this protein is not important. I am more concerned about, are you eating enough throughout the day? And you're going to see results with that. You don't necessarily need a time it around. Your workouts. Other things for weight loss. I mean, Protein promotes satiety controls, hunger. And so it's going to prevent over 80 ans late as well. Wait is regulated by your brain and more specifically your hypothalamus. Your hypothalamus is a structure that's like deep inside your brain is like the size of an almond. I believe. And it's kind of like your control center. It likes to keep your body. Stable, which is called homeostasis. Your body doesn't like change. It likes to kind of keep, keep things going. So what's going to help me manage like your body temperature, your blood pressure, your hunger, your thirst. Your sex, drive your mood and even your sleep. It's trying to keep the body happy. And it does this by influencing your autonomic nervous system or managing your hormones. So a higher protein intake actually increases your levels of satiety hormones, like GLP one peptide YY. Connie while reducing your levels of your hunger hormone. Raelin. So it's increasing these hormones that are telling you, Hey, stop eating your full. And it's decreasing the hormone that is saying, Hey, you're hungry. Go eat more. Now, if you were to replace some carbs and fat in your diet with protein, you may experience less hunger and feel greater satiety. Because maybe you're overdoing it on these areas. We just need to adjust. What you're doing. And I work on this a lot with my clients and the metabolites make over. You kind of learn how to adjust your meals. So it's not driven. By like, cars are not driven by fat. Maybe we do just need to increase that protein. Or sometimes as he, we need to increase protein and increased fiber. Like those are the main things that I see. We often are lacking. So by modifying this, you will be regulating your hormones. Protein may reduce that hunger and help you feel fuller for longer. Meaning demand of eating fewer calories, not randomly snacking all day. And also maybe this may be more food than you are used to eating, but now you're getting nutrients or you're able to. Fuel your body with what it needs to function, but also to optimize how your body systems are performing. Really all this to say that protein can actually make you feel more satisfied. Then you would be eating the same amount of calories from carbs in that. Calories aren't equal and we have to look be honest. And I'm not saying you just go eat protein all day. We need all three of these. But. I think we need a little bit more protein than what a lot of us are consuming right now. We don't realize how much we do need or they go, yeah, we're getting that meeting two weeks. Every morning. Two weeks is only about 12 grams of protein. I'm talking, we need like at least 30 grams per meal. For me personally, I aim for like 110 grams of protein. For the day and I break that out into meals and then I do a snack. So you need more than two A's for breakfast. You need more than like three slices of Turkey. You need more than two chicken tenders? Probably. So I do sometimes have people that will kind of track protein. Just to kind of create that awareness since do you, where am I at right now? And that's, if you're like, oh crap, I am eating less than what I thought. So then we sh. Get strategic and figure out, okay, how are you going to increase this protein? Especially if we're working on weight loss, like this is going to help. Decrease that risk of weight regained because you're building the muscle and you're preventing that metabolic rate from dropping, which happens if we lose weight too quickly. Our ma our metabolism drops. And a lot of this is due to our muscle mass dropping. Because our muscle mass is really active tissue. If we're not eating enough. Our body's going to break that down because it wants to survive. It doesn't care about your nice looking bicep or building your butt. It cares about. Keeping it alive. So including this out throughout the day. And like I said, I do a hunt about 110 grams per day. I don't do like 10 grams at breakfast and like try and cram it all in at lunch and dinner type of thing. It really does help to spread protein out throughout the day. Number one, because it is super satiating. So you won't feel great trying to get like a hundred grands at a meal. Number two. You want to have those say tidy benefits all throughout the day. So spread it out kind of evenly throughout the day. It's okay. It's if it's not like, really even, but like don't knew zero and then like 50 and then like 20, like. Spread it out. And eat all kinds of protein, even red meat. Honestly out of sugars are probably more inflammatory than red meat. So eat the chicken, Turkey, lean beef cork salmon eggs. Yes. Eat the eggs. Dairy dairy is great to include, especially if you can tolerate it. So milk, cheese, yogurt. And then thinking about like whole fat versus fat bream. Honestly either works. And I get more into this with my clients, but basically like if you're doing a fat-free and eat some fat at that meal, you just add to it, like throwing some cheesy throw in some like walnuts or something. If you're going to have the whole fat dairy product, you might not need to add as much fat to that meal or snack. Other things that will have protein is going to be like your beans, chickpeas, lentils. Those I kind of classify more as a searcher card, but they're going to add to that protein. You can also use protein powder. When looking at these, I do like to use a quality protein powder, especially for, to use it quite often. I use protein powder almost every day. Cause I do smoothies. So drink wholesome is my go-to just ingredients is another great one. Designer a egg. Naked nutrition. Vital proteins. Be well by Kelly. Perfect supplements. And Shaklee. Those are all great brands to check out. Debbie for believers. Some of them are age based. Some of them are way based. I would either do like an egg or a whey based protein. Those are kind of my go-to recommendations. So really at the end of the day, there are several things with protein and simply increasing. This doesn't necessarily mean you're going to gain weight. We can overdo it on anything and see kind of like the quote unquote negative impact. We like to find everyone's sweet spot and I mean, other things that can cause weight gain. Puberty menopause, genetic factors for sleep. I mean, stress inflammation, gut imbalances, access to healthy foods. Certain medication, hormonal imbalances. So it all. Basically it could all add up. If there can be a triad of different things. And like what I would say, that's the nice and also the annoying bird of nutrition or the body in general. It's usually not just one thing. If you're bloated, it's not like I can be like, okay, if you're bloated, do this. There could be several reasons you're voting. Maybe you're just nodding enough or maybe you're skipping meals. Maybe you're gaining weight. Because you're not eating enough. Maybe you're gaining weight because your minerals. R off. So now your thyroid isn't functioning. Maybe your adrenal glands are like burnt out and you got a lot of inflammation going on. So many. Reasons can come up. For weight gain. So we have to explore all the different things. It's not going to be one thing. And you don't necessarily have to be afraid to increase protein while you were working on weight loss, protein, Suisse, jewelry. Super important. It's that golden ticket. It's going to build that muscle mass. Definitely included. Like I said about 0.8 grams. Per pound. If you are on a waitlist weight loss journey, I do address this a little bit for more of like an ideal body weight. But just going to be idea about 0.8 grams per pound. Hope this short sweet episode was helpful for you. And if you have any other topics you would like us to cover. If you have any questions that you would like us to expand on, feel free to DM either Brianna or I, and we will definitely make sure we do an episode on it. Otherwise, we will talk to you guys next week. Bye.