Hey welcome to Lafiyata today we're going to continue our weight loss series. In fact, we're going to be discussing whether or not protein powder can be used to help you lose weight. Is it considered a weight loss supplement? Will it actually work for that purpose? We're also going to be talking about how it works to help you with that spoiler alert. It does actually, or can actually help. We're going to be talking about which types of proteins you should use.
Should you use animal protein? Should you use plant-based protein? How much protein should you use if you want to lose weight and so on? So we'll be digging into that in a minute here. We're going to be focusing on a therapy that you can use potentially to help you lose weight, and that is protein powder. So the first thing that I want to talk about is whether or not it works.
Can We Use Protein Powder as Weight Loss Supplements?
Now I said previously, spoiler alert, it does work, but I'm going to put a little emphasis on that and say it can potentially work. It doesn't always work, but let me explain that in a little more detail.
If you are somebody who just clicked on this post and you're thinking, I just want a quick fix for weight loss, I'm not going to change anything about my diet. I'm not going to change anything about whether or not I'm exercising, how much sleep I'm getting, how stressed I am, et cetera. And you're planning on just taking a little bit of protein powder each and every day and hoping to lose weight. It is not going to work if that's the way you're using it.
But if you use it in addition to healthy eating, and here I'm talking about healthy eating in the context of a healthy whole foods, nutritious food program. We're not talking about reducing your calorie for some period of time. I'm not talking about that kind of stuff. I'm talking about healthy everyday eating, which is a lifestyle change, usually a whole food diet. So if you use protein powder in addition to your diet, in addition to exercise routine, right, you should definitely be exercising.
I'm talking about in addition to hormone balancing, you know, you may need to take some thyroid hormone, T3, T4, even potentially testosterone, whatever it is stress reduction, getting enough sleep and so on. If you use it in that way, that's really how it's going to help you with weight loss. And I've done this for a lot of patients.
So I can tell you it works if it's used in this way, but if you think you're just going to jump on it and lose weight, well, that's just not going to work. So this is probably not the information you're looking for, but again, let's talk about some of the benefits that you can expect to experience if you're using it in this way.
Benefits of Using Protein Powder
The first is that protein has a pretty profound impact on your appetite, and it does this because it is a macro molecule. There are three types of macro molecules. We have fats, we have carbohydrates, and we have proteins. Each of these macro molecules, when they're consumed by the body, have a different impact on your appetite.
They also have a different impact on insulin levels, other hormones, gut function, et cetera, they impact all these things in different ways. But protein turns out to have one of the most profound impacts on appetite reduction. So what that means in simple terms is the more protein that you eat, the more suppressed your appetite is going to be.
Now, this is a good thing. Okay. It doesn't mean that it's just going to naturally cause you to eat fewer calories throughout the entire day. But what it does mean is that if you're eating the same amount of protein versus fat versus carbohydrates, protein will have a bigger impact on your appetite. If you're eating, you know, an equivalent amount of fat or an equivalent amount of carbohydrates. So it helps you to control that appetite.
Number two is that, it can obviously increase muscle mass, right? So you probably know this, but protein is required as a building block to help your body build muscle. Now this really only works if you're actually working out and this could be anything.
You could even do this by doing light exercise and you don't necessarily have to lift weights. But as long as you have enough protein that will help your body to build muscle mass and the more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolism will be. Remember it is expensive in terms of energy for your body to maintain muscles.
Last one, another big benefit is that it helps you maintain dietary compliance. Okay what I mean by that in the very beginning, remember I mentioned that you need to be eating healthy already, in addition to whatever protein that you're actually taking now, eating protein, because it has an impact on your appetite, helps you maintain whatever healthy diet you are eating. Now, again, that should be a whole food based diet. I'm not talking about restricting your calories here.
I'm not talking about that sort of diet, although it could potentially help with it. I don't recommend that diet for various other reasons. I have posts on that, but it can help you because it's impacting your appetite, reduce your cravings for things that would otherwise prevent you from maintaining that diet.
So if you consume a protein shake first thing in the morning, that may help you from avoiding bagels and pastries and you know, sugary sweets and things like that in the morning. Right? So in that way, it's helping you maintain your diet by virtue of its impact on your appetite.
So if you can do that, you can, and then you consume a protein, you can increase your muscle mass, you can increase your metabolism. So you're sticking to your diet and so on. This is really how protein powder, if used correctly, can help you lose weight.
What Type of Protein Powder Can be Used as Weight Loss Supplements
Now, the next question is what type of protein powder should you use? And you really have a couple options here. You have animal based protein products, and you have plant based protein products.
Really which one you should use? In my opinion, it actually doesn't matter so long as the one that you're taking, you tolerate it and you are willing to take it consistently. Those two things are very important. You must tolerate it. And then therefore, if you tolerate, you'll be more likely to take it each and every day.
My personal preference is to use plant based protein powder. I think that they tend to be better tolerated, especially for the type of people that I treat, those people who have autoimmune conditions, who have gut related issues, who have leaky gut, increased intestinal permeability. I think in that case, plants are usually superior.
They're a little easier to digest, they're not quite as hard on the stomach. They tend to not cause gas and cramping and things like that. So plant based sources of protein tend to be better.
At least that's my opinion for that group of patients. But if you can use animal based protein powder, that would be things like whey. They even have some hydrolyzed beef and collagen and things like that. If you want to use those type of protein powders, you can just realize they're different. So it kind of depends on which ones you're able to tolerate and how much you want to get.
Now, I will say this animal sources of protein powder tend to have more protein per calorie. So it's a little bit easier to get more protein with fewer calories if you're consuming an animal source of protein versus that of plants. So in the case of plants, it might have to probably not 180, but let's say 120 calories to get something like 16 grams of protein.
My preference tends to be a plant, but that's not necessarily required. If you do tolerate things like whey, then go ahead and use the whey. That's fine, too.
How to Use Protein Powder for Weight Loss
The next question is how much protein powder should you be using? My recommendation, if weight loss is your goal, remember, we're talking about protein powder in the setting of weight loss. You can use it for other reasons. And I have various other protein powders that I use to help with autoimmune disease, that some of them contain nutrients to certain parts of the body, like your thyroid function and so on.
But if you're just taking it for the setting of weight loss, then somewhere around 30% of your total daily calories should be in the form of protein. So if we're doing some basic math, let's just say you're eating 2000 calories per day. This may not be you. It might be less, might be more, but this is just an easy way to think about it. So 30% of that would be about 600 calories out of the day. So each and every day, you'd want to consume about 600 calories from protein sources.
Now, that doesn't mean it all needs to be protein powder. In fact, I'm recommending here, no more than 30% of that value should be from protein powder. So that's about 200 calories.
If you're using animal-based protein powders, that might be two shakes per day. If you're using plant-based sources of protein powder, that might be three times shakes per day. But you really don't want to get too much of your protein, if you can, from powders, because it's a little bit better if you can consume it from food. It's associated with increased nutrient density.
They also have various other effects and benefits if you're consuming a healthy diet. If your diet is not healthy, then that obviously doesn't matter because consuming a protein shake is going to be better than consuming, let's say, a pizza or a pastry or something like that.
But that's my general recommendation if weight loss is your goal. Now, you do need to be sensitive if you have certain types of conditions like leptin resistance. So those who have high levels of leptin, which is a hormone, and I have posts on this, they don't really want to consume too much protein because that can exacerbate that underlying condition.
So you do have to pay attention to some of your other hormones here and determine maybe this 30% recommendation is a little too high for you. Maybe something like 15 to 20 is more suited for your situation. Also, your gender kind of impacts how much protein that you want to consume as well.
So women tend to need, in my experience, a little bit less than men do, owing to the fact that they tend to have less muscle mass just at baseline than men do. But this, again, your mileage may vary here. So you need to look at it individually and see where you fall.
So the main takeaway here is whether or not protein powder can be used for weight loss. And the answer to that is yes, potentially, if used correctly. In terms of which one you want to use, pick the one that you tolerate the best and the one that you'll use consistently.
Try to get about 30% of your total daily calories from protein if you can. But only one third of that 30% should be from protein powders. So hopefully that makes a lot of sense.
If you have any questions about using protein powders, how you tolerate it, and so on, leave them in the comments below. I'll do my best to get to those comments.
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