Protein: What’s the Deal?

 

Believe it or not, protein can be your ticket to weight loss, muscle gain, and overall health.
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Did you know that protein is an essential nutrient? Meaning, we can’t live without it and HAVE to have it in our diets.
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The other two macronutrients, carbohydrate and fat, are non-essential. We can continue living without them, although not recommended for optimal health.
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Protein, however, we gotta have it!
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⭐ Helps rebuild tissues and keeps systems running. We’re talking muscular, skeletal, nervous and immune systems!
⭐ Aids skin and hair growth
⭐ Helps with many hormones in our bodies like METABOLISM.
⭐ Has a high TEF, or Thermic Effect of Food, meaning it takes more energy to digest it. Yep, you burn calories while digesting it!
⭐A very satiating nutrient, meaning you stay fuller longer. If you’re on a diet or cutting phase, you know this can be super helpful.
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Because of these things, if you’re trying to change your body composition, we need to prioritize protein. Whether we’re looking for fat loss or muscle gain, we need to make this happen.
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But how much protein?
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❗Shoot for 1g of protein per pound of your bodyweight daily.
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In this scenario a 140lb. female would look to consume 140g of protein each day.
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In some cases we go higher or lower depending on the person, goals, time of year and current body weight, but generally we are staying 0.8-1.2g per lb. daily.
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Now, we can get protein from a lot of different sources, from animal-based to plant-based. We’ll save that for another time. The point is, let’s optimize your protein intake!
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Dial in your protein first and build your other macros around it. Protein has 4 calories per gram, so in the example above, the female is eating 560 calories (140×4) daily from protein. She’ll need to fill her remaining calories with carbs and fats based on her goals, training modality, etc…
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Things can get complicated, especially if you’re just starting out. Hire a nutrition coach, educate yourself, experiment with different things. Let’s dial in an approach that works for YOU, the person.

 

 

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