by Chris Shugart
Losing fat is easy, or at least simple. Keeping it off is the real challenge, and most people fail. Here's how to win.
I just celebrated my 34th birthday. Not my actual birthday, though. I'm a bit older than that. No, I celebrated my 34th year of not being fat anymore. See, about 34 years ago, I had my body fat tested and, according to the unnecessarily rude chart, I'd crossed into the obese category.
Over the next year, I lost the weight and, in a sense, was reborn. Then I re-discovered the passion I'd abandoned in high school: lifting weights. I didn't know it at the time, but this was incredibly lucky because all the bodybuilding magazines pushed protein. After all, you needed a lot of protein to build muscle.
What the meathead magazines didn't talk about was protein and fat loss. Back then, protein was muscle food. Fat loss? Well, that was another subject.
Today, we know that protein plays a huge role in fat loss and maintaining leanness. I've been able to keep the fat off for 34 years because I focused on protein. Initially, I did it for the muscle gains, but protein's effects on leanness are just as pronounced. Let's check out a few studies, then come up with some practical applications.
Fat Regain and the Protein Effect
A classic meta-analysis examined 29 studies on fat loss and maintenance and found that most people regain 75% of the fat they lost within 5 years. That's kind of depressing and has led many people to claim, "Diets don't work!" But let's dig deeper and focus on the "winners."
Those who managed to keep most or all the fat off had a couple of things in common:
- They exercised during and after their diets. Those who resistance-trained had the best results.
- They consumed more protein during and after their diets. Those who ate the most protein had the best results, likely due to compliance (less hunger) and muscle and metabolism preservation.
Diets do work. Or, more accurately, higher protein diets and a higher protein intake after dieting work. And it helps if you pick up some dumbbells a few times a week.
How Does Protein Do That?
- A 2015 review found that higher-protein diets (.54 to .73 g protein per pound of body weight per day, with at least 25-30 g protein/meal) during dieting led to greater weight loss, fat mass loss, and preservation of lean mass compared to lower-protein diets. These diets also improved appetite control and satiety.
- Higher protein intake boosts the thermic effect of food (TEF), increasing energy expenditure due to the higher metabolic cost of digesting protein compared to carbs or fats. A 2018 review found that higher protein intake elevates basal metabolic rate and sleeping metabolic rate.
- A 2013 study compared diets with 5%, 15%, and 30% protein content, finding that the 30% protein diet reduced energy intake by around 576 kcal/day compared to the lower protein diets. There was no calorie-counting in this study. The high-protein eaters naturally lowered their calories.
- Other studies show that a 30% protein diet outperforms low-glycemic-index diets and intermittent fasting (5:2) for reducing body fat and preserving muscle.
Now, a 30% protein diet equates to 150 grams a day on a 2,000-calorie diet. That doesn't seem like a ton to lifters, but it's more than double the protein intake of the average American.
Practical Guidelines
If we sum up hundreds of protein studies, eating a 30% protein diet – or roughly 0.73 grams of protein per pound of body weight – seems like the best plan for long-term leanness.
Lifters can just shoot for 1 gram per pound of body weight. And if a very overweight person wants to skip the math, he or she can just choose a realistic and healthy goal weight and eat that many grams of protein every day.
But surprisingly, one of the most Googled protein questions is, "How can I possibly eat 100 grams of protein every day?" Here's one way to easily reach that number and higher.
The 3-Scoop Method
- Consume three scoops of protein powder every day.
- Have a two-scoop shake for any meal you normally skip or a few hours before dinner.
- Add the other scoop to breakfast by making a smaller shake or adding it to foods like oatmeal or pancakes.
Using Metabolic Drive (Buy at Amazon), that'll provide 63 grams of satiating, metabolic-boosting protein to your daily intake. The rest is easy to get with normal foods. Metabolic Drive is specifically formulated to boost and maintain your metabolism.
Do this during a diet and keep it up after the diet. Studies back up the idea, and anecdotally, that's pretty much what I've been doing for 34 years. I think I'll stick with it.
