How To Burn More Fat With Protein

I love cooking shows - specifically, Masterchef and Gordon Ramsay. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine, but I can’t get enough. I enjoy cooking, but I’m not nearly to that level. I just love learning more about food and, honestly, Gordon is fantastic. Why am I sharing this? It’ll become clear, just read on.

Nutrition Drives Fat Loss

You’ve heard 1,000 times that diet is the most important factor in fat loss and that’s absolutely true. Even more, every good coach on earth will tell you that you should probably be eating more protein (even most bad ones agree on that) - especially when you’re trying to lose fat. That’s step one to improving your nutrition.

But understanding why it’s important will help you stick with it when it’s hard (because it will be hard - especially if you don’t each much protein already). Because, otherwise, it’s just another thing that we blindly follow.

Here are the 4 reasons why you should eat more protein to lose fat:

1. Protein is filling

Protein is much more filling than carbs or fats, so you won’t be as hungry. This is essential if you’re starting to eat fewer calories overall because you will naturally get hungry. Staving off hunger is the key to staying consistent in your deficit.

2. Protein helps preserve muscle

If you’re eating less calories than you’re burning, you’ll lose weight. But you’ll just become a smaller version of yourself unless you eat protein. Eating protein helps preserve your muscle which means you lose fat and not just weight - this is called getting toned or lean.

3. Protein tends to be less processed

We tend to crave processed foods (it’s kinda their purpose), but those tend to be carbs and fats (think the middle aisles of the grocery store). Protein typically lives on the outskirts of the store (meat, seafood and dairy) which tend to be less processed. So, if your prioritizing protein, you’re likely eating more whole foods. You don’t often hear someone say they’re craving bologna.

4. Digesting protein burns more calories than other foods

Not to get too scientific, but there’s something called the thermal effect of food (TEF) which is literally the calories it takes to digest your food. The TEF for protein is 20-30% while carbs are 5-10% and fats are 0-3%. This means that if you eat 100 calories of protein it takes 20-30 calories just to digest it where it would take 0-10 calories for other foods. That might not sound like a huge difference, but it absolutely adds up over the course of days, weeks and months of eating more protein.

Put another way, you burn more calories eating protein than any other food - easier than running 🤷🏻‍♂️.

Eating more protein is a simple step that you can take to improve your health right now. Start with one meal and work your way up.

So what does this have to do with Gordon Ramsay? He has a phrase that he uses frequently on Masterchef: “what’s the hero?” Meaning, what’s the dish built around. Is it the lamb? Or the halibut? Or the pasta? What’s driving the dish? The dish itself needs to work together, but there’s a star and everything else is there to make the hero shine. It’s like when you go to a nice restaurant; you order based on the hero. The hero defines the dish. The simplest way to get more protein in your diet is to make protein the hero of your meals.

Build your meals around protein.

Now, if you just sat down and at a plain chicken breast by itself, people will look at you pretty weird (speaking from experience). And while you shouldn’t let the judgement of others affect what you eat, it also would be a pretty unpleasant eating experience and you won’t likely stick to it. So, everything else is there to complete the meal and make it more enjoyable, but it’s supplemental to the hero.

For instance, my wife doesn’t like plain Greek yogurt. So she adds some frozen blueberries and a few walnuts or even dark chocolate chips to make it more enjoyable. The yogurt is the hero; the blueberries and chocolate chips are there to help make eating the protein more enjoyable.

Another example: she doesn’t love plain protein shakes, but she likes protein smoothies with bananas and peanut butter along with the protein powder. Those sides are the protein vehicle. They are what helps her get her protein in. So the trick? Make protein the hero and pick some sides that allow you to enjoy eating it. And watch how much easier it is to stick with your nutrition plan.

I recorded an entire podcast episode on using protein to aid in fat loss. It’s full of tactical ways to eat more protein and dives deeper into the benefits.

I also created a free guide on protein that outlines protein sources and how to add more to each meal.