How Protein Helps You Lose Weight
Protein plays an important in helping you lose weight. Protein intake helps suppress appetite, boost metabolism, and regulates hormones that manage weight gain. The truth is that protein is quite effective in burning belly fat.
Regulates Hormones
You should note that your body weight is regulated by the brain. The part of the brain responsible for this is known as the hypothalamus. Thus, the brain controls you on how much you should eat and what to eat. The signals to the brain are sent by hormonal changes as a result of your eating habits. You should note that high protein intake can increase your level of satiety. That means it helps suppress your appetite and reduces hunger levels. If you want to lose weight, you should consider replacing fat and carbs with protein. In this way, you suppress your appetite and reduce hunger. You will start eating fewer calories without feeling hungry.
Burns Calories
Whenever you eat, calories are used to digest and metabolize your food. Thus, foods have a thermic effect. Recent studies have shown that protein has a higher thermic effect when compared to carbs. With a thermic effect of about 30%, when you take 100 calories, only 70 become usable.
The thermic effect helps boost your metabolism. It allows you to burn extra calories even when you are asleep. Some studies have shown that proteins help boost metabolism. Thus, you can burn about 70 to 100 calories per day. When you overfeed with protein, you are likely to lose more calories.
Suppress Appetite
Protein plays an important role in suppressing appetite and hunger through various mechanisms. When you take more protein, you reduce your overall calorie intake. That means you will eat fewer calories without the need to control your portions.
Cuts Cravings
As you know, cravings can be a huge hindrance to achieving your weight loss goals. That explains why most people fail in diet programs. A common issue is late-night snacking. Studies show that people who gain a lot of weight tend to snack at night. Those calories add on top of the calories you have taken during the day. The good thing about protein is that it helps curb cravings. Hence, you can avoid snacking at night.
Prevents Muscle Loss
As you know, weight loss is not always equal to fat loss. In most cases, when a person loses weight, he or she loses muscle mass as well. When you take a lot of protein, you help prevent muscle loss. In this way, you can increase the metabolic rate.
