A gram of protein provides 4 calories, exactly the same as carbohydrates. If we take them in excess, they will be partially transformed into fat. So why do many diets bet on increasing the amount of protein to lose weight? Well, because although the calories that come from proteins and carbohydrates are the same, they do not have the same effect on the body.
We explain how a healthy protein diet has to be to lose weight. At the end of the article you will find a link to download for free a complete weekly menu for two weeks of the protein diet prepared by the nutritionist Mª Isabel Beltrán.
Why does the protein diet lose weight?
Protein helps burn more calories. Although they provide 4 kcal, like carbohydrates, in order to use them the body needs to use more energy (burn more) than it requires to metabolize any other nutrient. Additionally, overweight women have been seen in some studies to burn more fat when their breakfast and lunch were high in protein.
Protein diet: Proteins take away more hunger
Another advantage of proteins over carbohydrates is that they take longer to digest, so they help you feel full and prevent you from eating more than necessary. They also help your body synthesize the YY peptide, which reduces hunger and helps control cravings.
But don't overdo it … especially with animal proteins
- Cardiovascular problems. As we tend to take proteins of animal origin –and we do it in excess– and these are accompanied by saturated fat and cholesterol, they contribute to clogging the arteries and compromise cardiovascular health.
- Diabetes. Some studies have linked eating too much protein with an increased risk of diabetes.
- Kidney problems Eating too much protein forces the kidneys and liver to work harder to eliminate them, causing these organs to become overloaded. To counteract this, you have to drink a lot of water and, of course, take less protein.
- More fragile bones. Excess protein also puts bone health at risk, as it increases the excretion of calcium from bones.
- Plus. This type of diet can cause an accumulation of ketone bodies in the blood, which are eliminated from the body with urine, perspiration and breathing, causing an unpleasant odor when we speak or sweat.
Protein diet: how it has to be to be healthy
On a protein diet, increasing protein should be sensible. The normal thing is to go from a portion of 120 g of fish to one of 150 g, on average for example.
This increased protein ration seeks to protect muscle loss by reducing the overall calories in the diet. That is, since to lose weight we need to create a caloric deficit (take fewer calories than we burn so that the body uses our fat reserves and burns them), if we increase the amount of protein in the diet a little, it helps to ensure that the body does not consume muscle instead of fat.
In addition, the decrease in other food groups, especially carbohydrates, must also be moderate. That is to say, we cannot base the diet only on proteins and less only on proteins of animal origin such as certain phases of an extreme protein diet such as Dukan.
But, we must moderate the consumption of carbohydrates and fats and, above all, make sure that these hydrates and fats come from nutritionally interesting foods, such as whole grains or olive oil, to give two examples, and not from others such as They can be industrial bakery or other ultra-processed.
In addition, once you have reached the desired weight, you have to return to a smaller portion of protein. Remember that a balanced diet should adhere as closely as possible to the composition of the Harvard plate.
To lose weight on the protein diet, eat protein in the morning (and throughout the day)
If you eat more protein at breakfast time, you will consume fewer calories throughout the day and lose more fat. This is because taking a large part of your daily protein during breakfast or lunch makes you feel more satiated and prevents snacking in the afternoon and before dinner.
But this does not mean having eggs or cold cuts for breakfast every day.
Example of a healthy protein breakfast without animal protein
- Low-fat yogurt (5g protein)
- 40 g of rolled oats (5.5 g)
- 20 g of almonds (3.7 g)
- 2 tablespoons of chia seeds (6 g)
- Half a cup of red berries (1 g)
Healthy protein breakfast with animal protein
- 1 soft-boiled egg (6 g) or 40 g of sweet ham (9.6 g) or 40 g of natural canned tuna (9.4 g)
- 40 g of rye bread (2.5 g) or oatmeal (3.4 g)
- 1 kiwi (1.15 g)
- 1 glass of skimmed milk (7.8 g) with coffee
And, as we told you, it is recommended that all meals include some protein because it has been seen that proteins do their work better in muscles and tissue reconstruction if they are taken during meals of the day instead of taking most of it in the Dinner. And a fit muscle mass helps you burn more calories, even at rest.
The other secret of the protein diet: training
For this same reason, the protein diet should go hand in hand with exercising regularly. For example, research from the University of Guelph (Canada) supports that a high-protein hypocaloric diet was more effective for weight loss if it was accompanied by an exercise program that included cardiovascular and strength training.
How much protein should you take
According to nutrition guidelines, adults need 0.8 g for every kilo of weight. It's easy to calculate it, you just have to multiply 0.8 (g of protein) to what you weigh in kilos. For example, if you weigh about 65 kg:
- 0.8 g of protein x 65 kg (your weight) = 52 g of protein per day
But, as we have said, in a healthy protein diet to lose weight you have to increase the amount of protein you take a little. Thus, it is calculated that you have to take 1 g of protein per kilo of weight (men, under what circumstances even a little more 1.2g). That is, for 65 kg of weight, you should take 65 g of total protein per day.
And remember, it is not 65 g of food, that is, it is not 65 g of chicken, but rather the amount of protein that food contains (in this case, 125 g of chicken provide 25 g of protein).
Animal or vegetable protein?
This is another controversial point, because the best-known hyperprotein diets such as ketogenic, Keto or Dukan would answer yes to this question. But … the World Health Organization (WHO) proposes that plant proteins make up 75% of the diet, and animals, 25%.
And it is that we always associate protein with steak, but it is not like that. Consider that 100 g of cooked red meat provides 25 g of protein to the diet while a cup of cooked soybeans provides 22 g of protein. So our protein choice must include both animal and plant origins.
Tricks to take more vegetable protein
These ideas will help you enrich your diet with vegetable proteins and replace part of the animal proteins with them.
- Vegetable patés. Making an aubergine, mushroom or carrot pate with tahini (a paste made from ground sesame) is a way to add vegetable protein to your diet. One tablespoon of tahini is 2.25 g of protein.
- Legume burgers. Make a sauce of onion, garlic and pepper and add 100 g of canned chickpeas (20.8 g of protein) drained. Mix well, shape it into a hamburger and grill it.
- Includes seeds. For example, at breakfast you can include 2 tablespoons of chia seeds (6 g of protein) to toast with avocado. You can also add 2 tablespoons of pumpkin seeds (5 g of protein) to your granola breakfast.
- Sauteed. If you are stir frying vegetables, instead of meat, you can add a half cup of tofu (6 g of protein) and / or a quarter cup of cashews (5 g of protein).
- Dressing for the salad. Make it with hemp seeds –they provide 3 g of protein per spoon–, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and herbs.
CLARA's protein diet menu for healthy weight loss
To make it easy for you to apply everything we have told you, here is a downloadable weekly menu of the protein diet. It is calculated to take around 60-65g of protein daily, which would be ideal for a person weighing between 60 and 65kg. If you weigh more, increase the amount and if you weigh less, reduce it a little.
- Protein diet menu
