Eating Protein Aids Weight Loss

I recently read an article on Yahoo.com about the effects of eating protein when it comes to weight loss. The exact title of the article was “Eating Protein 4 times a day combined with fasting may help you burn belly fat faster than calorie cutting alone, research suggests”. There are 4 key words in this article that I want to highlight specifically. These words are, “protein”, “fasting”, “belly fat”, and “research”. I will expand why these key words/phrases are so important in this blog as it pertains to the article. First let’s talk about eating protein and how that can benefit weight loss. In our weight loss offices in Cincinnati and Florence, KY we have been using a protein focused diet to help clients lose weight for years. This does not mean that all you are eating is protein. You certainly want to get a variety of fruits and vegetables as well. Protein, however, helps to suppress hunger as soon as it is digested. This can obviously be massively beneficial to weight loss. Protein also will not raise insulin. Keeping insulin levels low helps your body access body fat to use for fuel.

Now let’s talk about the second important point of what the participants did to lose weight faster. They fasted during the process. Again, this validates one of the major principals we use in our weight loss clinics. Fasting can be extremely important when trying to lose weight. It helps control hunger and allows your body to burn fat. From everything I have read I think the sweet spot is and 18 hour daily fast for maximum fat loss. The combination between increasing protein and fasting can be very powerful for weight loss but what kind of weight will you be losing.

It really does no good for a person to lose weight and that weight to be water or even muscle mass. You want to lose body fat. The next key point in the title “belly fat” shows that the participants in this study not only lost weight but the weight that they lost came off of their midsection. This can be extremely beneficial to one’s health as excess fat around the belly can lead to multiple health conditions. In our offices we never want a client to simply manipulate the scale by dehydrating or, even worse, losing muscle. We want to assure that most of the weight they lose will be fat.

Finally, and certainly not of the least importance at all, it the fact that they based the writing of this article on research. It does absolutely no good to assume that any particular diet plan will work. This is at least one of the reasons that “diet culture” in the United States has become so toxic. People are out there trying random things they find on the internet with no rhyme or reason. Sometimes these “diets” are not only ineffective but also unhealthy. Following the science is obviously extraordinarily important. I was so happy to read another article justifying our methods. Are methods are not set in stone however. We often tweak our programs slightly when new research comes out.