Protein helps sustain energy and support your immune system. It’s the glue that holds every cell in your body together, from your hair and your fingernails to your bones, your organs, and your muscles. You can think of that as it’s day job. When it comes to supporting weight loss, it works overtime.
Protein and metabolic health
For starters, protein has a stellar reputation for reducing cravings. This is in part tied to the effect it has on reducing the levels of ghrelin, a major hunger hormone. It’s also connected to protein’s ability to increase the levels of the body’s natural GLP-1 hormones.
Furthermore, protein works a lot like fiber (though they’re not interchangeable). Like fiber, protein is slower to digest and break down into glucose, so it both helps you feel fuller for longer and helps prevent blood sugar spikes. As you may remember, blood sugar spikes cause the body to store energy as fat. Protein helps you avoid that fate and burn more energy instead.
Protein and muscle mass
On top of helping with cravings and blood sugar, protein plays another fascinating role in weight loss: building and supporting muscles. Why is this important now? First, muscle is the body’s furnace. It burns a lot more energy than fat does. This might be part of the reason why protein is referred to as having a “high thermic effect”—by supporting muscles, it’s also supporting a higher rate of energy burn. But there’s a second, crucial, reason protein matters here: When you’re losing weight, your body isn’t just losing fat, it’s losing muscle, too.
Research shows that when you lose weight by eating less without making other lifestyle changes, about 20% of your weight loss comes from critical lean body mass—which includes muscle mass and bone and organ density, the stuff you actually want to keep.
Thanks to its amino acid composition, protein can work against this kind of muscle loss. It’s so effective at this, in fact, that the US RDA has different protein requirements for when you’re actively losing weight.
Getting the right amount
Across your time at Calibrate, we’re going to focus on getting sufficient protein in a delicious and satisfying way. How much protein is that though, you ask?
The US government’s Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for protein is approximately .36 g of protein per pound of body weight (you’ll often see this as .8 g/kg). But this equation isn’t one-size-fits-all, and here’s where it gets tricky: They also recommend that people who are losing weight or who are over 60 years old get even more—.55 g/lb of body weight (or 1.2 g/kg)—because this population is more prone to losing lean body mass.
The below guidelines from the RDA can serve as benchmarks for what most Americans can benefit from:
Just like the water goal, there is a maximum you shouldn’t exceed here. But unlike the water goal, the RDA doesn’t properly represent that in its calculation. For this reason, we recommend that you calculate your protein needs based on your ideal body weight, using the RDA averages we shared above as a minimum you can always feel great about.
A quick refresher from science class
It’s not just about how much protein you’re getting. Quality plays a huge role too. Protein is made up of 20 amino acids—think of them as the building blocks for your body. Only 11 are produced by your body itself, which means that the remaining nine —called the “essential amino acids”—have to come from the food you consume on a daily basis.
Complete protein sources contain all nine essential amino acids that your body needs. Think lean meats (such as chicken or turkey), fish and seafood, eggs, quinoa, soy products (like tofu, tempeh, and edamame), red meat, and dairy (such as Greek yogurt and cottage cheese).
Incomplete proteins are protein sources that include some (but not all) of the essential amino acids—so it’s important to eat a variety to ensure you’re piecing together the daily puzzle of all the essential amino acids your body needs. Think legumes (such as lentils, beans, peas, and chickpeas), nuts, seeds, vegetables (such as leafy greens and cruciferous veggies), and intact whole grains (in moderation). Certain combos of incomplete proteins (like grains, legumes, and nuts/seeds), when paired together, can actually give your body all nine essential amino acids.
For vegans and vegetarians, protein is often a big concern, but with a varied diet and regular meals, you can absolutely get enough protein to keep your body and muscles humming along just fine. The challenge is that you generally have to eat more volume, from sources with more calories and carbs, to get the same amount of protein and balance of amino acids that you’d get from animal protein. So it takes some work to get the protein you need while keeping your portions in check. For more tailored tips on vegan and vegetarian protein intake, click here.
Once you start focusing on getting the protein you need, and become more familiar with the many sources available to you, you’ll see opportunities to add it to every meal and snack.
Protein in real life
Now that you've learned just how important protein can be as a stand alone tool in the Calibrate program, let's talk about what that actually looks like in real life.
Unlike fats or carbs, protein can’t be broken down and stored for later use. Instead, clinical studies have shown that protein metabolizes every four to six hours, so it’s key to consume it regularly throughout the day to get all the benefits.
When is just as important as how much
Try dividing your daily protein goal into three to four even chunks, aiming for ideally 20-30 grams per meal. There will, of course, be times when you don’t hit the mark at every single meal, and that’s perfectly fine! There will also be times where you eat more than 30 grams of protein at a meal too. Just know that whether it’s 30 or 90 grams in one sitting, your body utilizes it in the same way.
For dinner, this might feel like a no-brainer. But breakfast might be a challenge: Americans typically skimp on protein and fiber in the morning, leaning into fast-digesting carbs and sugars instead. Working on increasing your protein intake at breakfast can be a good way to start and slowly adjust to a higher protein intake. Plus, studies show that participants with higher protein at the start of the day had lower overall energy intake. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
What 30g of protein looks like
There are, of course, other meals beyond breakfast. And other ways to consume protein than from mostly animal sources.
For starters, here’s what 30g of some common complete proteins looks like (and some of these do exceed our recommended servings, so that’s why variety is key, like pairing eggs with yogurt):
Combining incomplete proteins (such as legumes and whole grains, or legumes and nuts/seeds) gives your body the essential amino acids it needs, though it takes much bigger quantities than you’d need from complete proteins. Here’s what 30g of some complementary protein combos might look like:
Aim for variety: Getting protein from different sources can help make sure that you have the mix of amino acids that your body needs. So don’t get hung up on having to have a complete protein with every single meal. Instead, start thinking about your meals as opportunities to pack in the protein in as many different ways as you like. For more tailored tips on vegan and vegetarian protein intake, click here.
Note: If you have been diagnosed with kidney disease or underlying renal conditions, please discuss your diet with your primary care physician before altering your protein intake.