Increase daily protein intake to lose weight?!

I am writing this today because there seems to be a lot of confusion about how much protein a person should consume daily. I am NOT a nutritionist or an expert in this field. This is just my unbiased opinion. I have read a lot of articles on it and have talked to a few people who found what works for them.

First off, anything to do with nutrition is very confusing. I feel like that is why dieting is so hard because you have to figure out the EXACT amount of everything your body needs. Too much of something, it's bad. Too little of something, it's bad. And it varies from person to person, which is what makes it so difficult to determine. When you want to lose weight, saying you are going to eat healthy sounds as easy as 1-2-3. Until you start getting into more of the details. This is why I enjoy working out more than I do eating healthy. haha.

There has been studies that show increasing your protein intake will actually help you lose weight! Who would have known? Protein is needed in your body for cell growth. Mainly muscle tissue. Everyone knows that muscle BURNS fat! So, when you put two and two together, it makes sense. Some people will tell you that if you increase your protein intake, it can be harmful on your kidneys. This is somewhat true. If you are NOT working out daily and are just living a normal life, yes, it could be harmful on your kidneys because your body does not need the extra protein. Also, it will just get stored away as fat. But, if you are working out everyday, trying to lose weight and build muscle, then yes, upping your protein intake is crucial!

Your body needs all the protein it can get when it is building muscle. If you do not supply it with enough, guess what it is going to start doing? Instead of burning fat, your body is going to be eating at your muscle tissue because it is built up of protein. You will actually start losing muscle mass and not fat. But, if you are supplying your body with enough protein, it will be using that to BUILD muscle, which in turn will burn fat. Don't quote me on what I am about to say, but I believe that for every 1 pound of muscle you have, you will burn an extra 35 calories a day. So if you gain 10 pounds of PURE muscle, your body will be burning 350 calories extra a day!!! That's not including the normal amount your body burns on a daily basis with just normal activity, which varies person to person. So for me, my body burns 1500 calories at a normal rate. So if I gained 10 pounds of muscle mass, my body will be burning 1850 calories daily! That is just by sitting on the couch watching tv, sleeping, talking on the phone, etc. Get it? If I was only eating my normal 1500 calories a day, I would still be LOSING weight. And that my friend, is why protein is important when it comes to weight loss. Of course, you have to continue to build muscle in order to keep it, or else it will go away. But you get the point!

So I am going to go over the protein intake for men and women, depending on your goals and level of activity. Remember, if you are trying to lose weight, it is crucial you up your protein intake or else you will NOT build muscle and burn fat. Give your body what it needs. If you are not doing any sort of exercise activity and are just sitting on the couch eating potato chips daily (which, I hope you're not!), then by all means, only consume the recommended daily allowance of protein. Which, for males is 56 Grams of protein and for women is 46 Grams of protein.

Also, if you have kidney problems or kidney disease, then it is not best to consume more than the recommended daily allowance. Otherwise, you are in the clear!

• Average healthy sedentary adult (male or female) that does NOT workout or have any related goals. This is just what I consider to be a good minimum daily protein intake for general health/function: 0.5-0.7 Gram of protein per pound of body weight

•  Average healthy adult (male or female) that IS doing some form of exercise regularly or IS trying to improve their body (lose fat, build muscle, etc.). This is the MINIMUM I'd recommend in this case: 0.8-1 Gram of protein per pound of body weight

• Average healthy adult FEMALE, whose primary goal is building muscle, getting "toned", maintaining muscle while losing fat, increasing strength while improving performance: 1-1.2 Grams of protein per pound of body weight

• Average healthy adult MALE, whose primary goal is building muscle, getting "toned", maintaining muscle while losing fat, increasing strength while improving performance: 1-1.5 Grams of protein per pound of body weight

So, for example I am a female, and I want to lose weight and build muscle. I do the Insanity workouts, as you all know. I would put myself in the range of 1 gram of protein per body weight. Right now I weigh 122 pounds. So that means I need to consume around 122 grams of protein daily. If you are extremely overweight then it is best to use your IDEAL body weight instead of your CURRENT weight. So let's say you are a 230 pound women and you want to lose 90 pounds. Then you would take...let's say...0.9 grams (because you are losing fat and building muscle) and times it by your ideal weight which would be 140. So you would have to consume 126 grams of protein daily. Simple as pie!

Below is a list of items where you can get your protein from. This is not everything you can get protein from but it will give you an idea.

• Lean meat
• Eggs
• Milk
• Yogurt
• Tofu
• Cheese
• Beans
• Lentils
• Nuts
• Nut butters
• Vegetables
• Bread 
• Pasta 

I hope this post helped you to better understand how protein can effect your weight loss. If it has, please take the time to like, comment, and subscribe. Thank-you!!!