Article
by Tom Venuto,
NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Increase
Your
Metabolism And
Decrease Your Appetite
There have
been countless studies
performed on the role of protein in the muscle growth process to try
and
determine exactly how much protein you should consume to build muscle
mass.
Recently, several studies have looked at the role that dietary protein
plays in helping you lose fat, and more importantly, helping you keep
it
off!
One thing
scientists have
discovered is that eating lean protein foods is important for
regulating
body composition because it decreases your appetite.
In a 2003
study reported
in the journal, Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition And Metabolic
Care
(2003; 6(6): 635-638), protein was shown to be more satiating (made you
feel fuller) than both carbohydrate and fat both in the short term and
the long term.
Eating more
lean protein
foods has also been proven as an effective strategy to help you burn
fat
and keep it off because of something called, “dietary thermogenesis”
(also
known as the thermic effect of food).
In a study
published in the
British Journal of Nutrition in 2005 (93(2): 281-289), researchers
followed
a group of 113 overweight subjects after 4 weeks of a very low calorie
diet, through a 6 month period of weight maintenance. The subjects were
divided into a protein group or a control group. The protein group was
simply given an extra 30 grams of protein per day on top of their usual
diet.
The
researchers found that
during weight maintenance, the group with the higher protein intake was
less likely to regain the lost weight, and any weight gain in the
protein
group was lean tissue and not fat. The results were attributed to
higher
thermic effect and a decrease in appetite.
Although
calories will always
be the bottom line when it comes to fat loss, studies such as these are
confirming what bodybuilders have known for a long time: That calories
are not the only factor that can influence your body composition. Your
protein intake and your ratios of protein relative to carbohydrate and
fat can clearly play a key role in helping you lose fat and keep the
fat
off.
None of
this is news to bodybuilders
or to anyone who is already familiar with bodybuilding-style nutrition
programs such as Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle. But it’s interesting
that
such positive results were achieved in studies where protein was
increased
so conservatively - as little as 30 additional grams of protein per day
or a 20% increase above traditional protein recommendations.
Many
bodybuilding-style diets
(such as Burn The Fat and Body For Life) call for as much as 30%-40% of
the total daily calories from protein and some competitive bodybuilders
crank up the protein (temporarily) to as much as 50% before
competitions.
I’m curious
to see if any
research is ever conducted with these more aggressive protein intakes.
If so, my guess is that we will find once again, that the bodybuilders
are ahead of the science when it comes to the manipulation of diet for
improving body composition.
The take
home lesson is simple:
If you remove some carbs and put in some protein - nothing too radical;
even as little as trading 30 grams per day of carbs for 30 grams of
lean
protein - this small change in your diet may decrease your appetite,
decrease
your body fat and help you keep the fat off after you lose it.
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