Episode 191: Unlocking Protein’s Power for Weight Loss and Strength

[00:00:00] Welcome back to the Back on Track Achieving Healthy Weight Loss, where I help you get on track and stay on track with your weight loss journey. I'm your host, Dr. Alicia Shelly. So let's get started.

[00:00:27] Are you trying to lose weight, but constantly feeling hungry? Are you struggling to keep the pounds off without losing muscle? Well, guess what? Protein may be what you are missing, may be the missing piece to your weight loss puzzle.

[00:00:43] Welcome back to the Back on Track Achieving Healthy Weight Loss. I am Dr. Alicia Shelly. And today we're diving into the power of protein, why it's essential, how it helps you burn fat, and while keeping your muscle and how you can burn fat while keep your muscle and how to get enough of it in your diet without overcomplicating things. If you ever wondered, do I really need to eat more protein? The answer is yes, you do.

[00:01:11] And today we're going to talk about why you need to eat more protein. So grab your favorite high protein snack and let's get into it. Over the years, I've seen patients start to lose weight and then complain that their muscles are lean, their arms feel a little flabby, and they're feeling weak. And the last thing you want to do is lose weight, look great, but then feel weak along with it. But I usually do a body composition report where we check to see how much fat they've lost.

[00:01:41] How much body water they've lost. How much body water they've gained. And what's their muscle mass. And for some people, we find that they're losing weight, but they're losing more muscle than fat. And that's not helpful, especially for those who are over the age of 65.

[00:01:56] They need as much muscle as necessary because having extra muscles, especially muscles that are lean and tighten, they help with walking, they help with balance. So they're extremely important. And if you're losing weight is great. But if you're losing muscle, now you're at risk for being weak and possibly developing a condition called sarcopenia. But before I continue, let's start with the basics. Let's start with what exactly is protein and why is it important for our bodies, especially when we're trying to lose weight.

[00:02:25] Now, protein is one of the three major macronutrients. So the three macronutrients are carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Protein is made up of amino acids, which are often called the building block of the body. These amino acids help people to build and repair muscles, support the immune system, create important hormones and enzymes. Unlike carbs and fats, your body does not store protein for later use.

[00:02:54] That means you need to consume protein consistently to maintain your muscle and keep your metabolism running efficiently and support your overall health. Now, let's talk weight loss. Protein plays a key role in weight loss by number one, boosting your metabolism. Protein has the highest thermic effect of food or TEF for short, meaning that your body burns more calories,

[00:03:20] digesting and processing protein, then it does the same thing for carbs or fat. Also, protein can preserve muscle mass. So when you lose weight, the goal is to lose fat, not muscle. Protein helps prevent muscle breakdown, keeping your metabolism strong. And then number three, protein helps with reducing hunger and cravings. When you are eating protein, protein can help regulate your hormones like ghrelin, which is also called the hunger hormone.

[00:03:49] So it makes you feel hungry. And then it can increase your satiety hormones like your GLP-1 or PYY, which makes you feel fuller for longer and are less likely to overeat. So if you've been cutting calories but not prioritizing protein, you may be losing more muscle instead of fat, which can slow your progress. Now, let's dive deeper into how protein actually helps control your appetite and prevents those midday snack attacks.

[00:04:16] Now, I don't know if you've ever eaten a high carb breakfast like a bagel or cereal or muffin, but then you start to feel hungry again like an hour later. That's because those foods tend to spike your blood sugar, which then crash quickly, leaving you craving more food. When you eat a high protein food, it works differently. It slows down digestion and stabilizes your blood sugar, keeping you full for longer.

[00:04:47] Studies show that high protein meals reduce your level of ghrelin, the hormone that tells your brain that you're hungry. This means you have fewer cravings throughout the day, less late night snacking and more control over your portion sizes. Here are some simple ways to increase protein in your meals to help curb your hunger. Number one, starting in the morning, you can add eggs, Greek yogurt instead of a sugary cereal.

[00:05:12] Or you can add chicken or beans to your lunch salads to stay satisfied longer. Also, you can snack on nuts, cottage cheese, or protein shakes between meals. By making these small swaps, you will naturally reduce your overall calorie intake without feeling deprived. Now let's talk about how protein helps preserve muscle while burning fat. One of the biggest mistakes people make when losing weight is not getting enough protein, which leads to muscle loss.

[00:05:42] And here's why this is a problem. Muscle is metabolically active, meaning it helps to burn calories even when you're at rest. First, losing muscle during weight loss slows down your metabolism, making it harder to keep the weight off in the long run. Good news, protein helps prevent this. Studies show that a higher protein intake helps preserve lean muscle mass even when you're cutting calories.

[00:06:09] So for better results, pair protein with strength training. And you can do strength training even without weights. Some examples of strength training are bodyweight exercises like squats, push-ups, which helps work the chest, the shoulders, the triceps. Lunges, which targets the legs and glutes while improving your balance. You can even do planks, which engages your core, your shoulders, and back. And then glute bridges, which strengthens your glutes and lower back.

[00:06:38] You can either try to use some small dumbbells with either, you know, it doesn't have to be a huge weight to do bicep curls, which strengthens the arms. You can do overhead shoulder press with exercise bands to help with your shoulders to target your shoulders and upper body. You can do leg deadlifts, which engages your hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. You can do rolls, which strengthens your back and arms. Or even tricep dips that works your triceps and shoulders.

[00:07:06] If you're going to the gym, you could do barbells or machine-based exercises that target certain body areas, such as squats, deadlifts, bench press, leg press, lat pulldowns, just to kind of help tone what you're doing. And then if you want more of a full body strength training, you can use something like this, your kettlebell swing that works the cores, the glutes, and the shoulders all at once. And have you seen those battle ropes where you've seen people going back and forth?

[00:07:34] You could use those too to help improve your endurance and upper body strength. Also, medicine ball slams where you pick the ball up and you throw it. That engages your core, your shoulders, and legs. And then also, you can try the farmer's carry, which improves grip strength and posture. And for best results, it's important to aim for two to three strength training sessions per week, focusing on major muscle groups, pairing strength training with adequate protein intake will help preserve muscle while losing fat.

[00:08:03] And if you're new to all of this, definitely try going onto YouTube, searching in their search bar for just exercises for beginners, for strength training. And you'll find exercises where they're doing the weights or they're doing the resistance bands. And these things you can get on Amazon for pretty inexpensive. Now, if you want to lose weight and keep it off, it's important to focus on not just your intake of protein, but also strength training for best results.

[00:08:33] Now that we know that protein is essential for weight loss and muscle preservation, let's talk about the best sources of protein. So, for lean animal proteins, you want to consider your chicken, your turkey, your fish, your eggs. Low-fat dairy products like Greek yogurt or cottage cheese can also help.

[00:08:51] For your plant-based proteins, try incorporating some lentils, chickpeas, tofu, quinoa, not seeds or edamame to kind of help increase your protein, but more plant-based style. Also, you can put protein powders in like your smoothies like whey, casein or other plant-based options for your own convenience. Now, how much protein do you need?

[00:09:14] So, for weight loss, you want to aim at 0.6 to 1 gram of protein per pound for body weight. So, for example, if you weigh 150 pounds, that's 90 to 150 grams of protein per day. And you may be thinking, that's a lot of protein. How can I get that in? Well, simple ways to add more protein to your diet is adding a protein shake for breakfast.

[00:09:38] Prioritizing lean meats in like your salads, in your dinner, or even plant proteins in your meals. Like lentils can be not only vegetables, but then also extra protein in your meals. Include high-protein snacks like a boiled egg or Greek yogurt. And most importantly, it's important to talk with your doctors on what is best for you. Because everybody has different medical conditions and there may be different advice for you depending on where you are. But I do want to bust some common myths about protein.

[00:10:08] Now, the first myth that we see is that too much protein is bad for your kidneys. But the truth is, for healthy people who do not have kidney damage, high-protein diets do not harm the kidney function. Usually for people who have kidney disease, they have protein that's leaking through the kidneys because the kidneys aren't working well. And so therefore, for them, they want to reduce the protein so they have less protein that's being filtered out.

[00:10:35] But if you don't have kidney disease, then a high-protein diet won't harm you. And your kidneys will work appropriately to make sure that the protein is not released through your kidneys. Myth number two, protein will make me bulky. I know everyone doesn't want to be Arnold Schwarzenegger or The Rock, but we definitely want to be leaned and toned. And that's exactly what protein does. It helps you maintain a toned body, but not necessarily bulk you up where you're a bodybuilder.

[00:11:04] Absolutely not. For the regular person, that strength training plus protein supports fat loss and muscle definition. And then myth number three, you don't need extra protein unless you lift weights. Well, everyone needs protein to stay full and to burn fat and preserve muscle. And you don't have to go to a gym to do that. So like I said, you can do things at home. You can go on YouTube where you go through different workouts to help you preserve your strength training and preserve your muscle.

[00:11:33] So if you're trying to lose weight, don't forget about the protein. It helps boost your metabolism, curb your cravings, and most importantly, protect your muscle. And all essential for your long-term weight loss success. So try increasing your protein this week and see how you feel. And let me know how it goes. Feel free to tag me at DrShellyMD on Instagram or drop a review. Thank you again for listening to the Back on Track Achieving Healthy Weight Loss podcast.

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