Protein is one of the three macronutrients other than carbohydrates & fats that are required by the body in sufficient quantities.
From athletes and bodybuilders to dieters and health-conscious, high protein diets and their promises of muscle gain and improved health has interested a wide number of people.
We are making personalized Diet Plan for Weight gain, Weight loss or any other fitness goal. So, If you are Finding a professional Dietition who will help you to Achieve Your Fitness Goal and gives you full guidance. Then click below and Fill the form and We will Contact You as fast as possible.
Note: We Will give you full guidance and guaranteed that you can Achieve your fitness goals Easily with Us.
Proteins are composed of long chains of amino acids that form major structural components of muscles, brain, blood, skin, hair, enzymes, antibodies, transport iron, vitamins, minerals and serve various other functions.
As it performs a variety of roles, everyone needs it in the required quantities to avoid any deficiency.
How Much Protein Do You Need?
Unlike carbohydrates and fat, the body doesn’t store excess protein, so we have to take it daily from food, whatever extra is consumed throughout the day, is used for energy or gets stored as fat.
A 2017 survey (1) shows that 73% of Indians are deficient in protein while above 90% are unaware of the daily requirement of protein.
For the general population, the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) states that you need 0.8 grams of protein for every kilogram of body weight.
So, a 70 kg person would need 70×0.8 = 56 grams of protein a day.
This is the minimum requirement to prevent deficiency and nitrogen balance as protein serves various functions to keep your immune system strong, transport and store nutrients, and can act as an energy source if needed.
Not meeting your daily protein requirements can increase the severity of infections, bone fractures, and stunted growth in children over time. This requirement increases for people engaged in any form of physical activity. They require more protein than those who live a sedentary lifestyle.
Any form of physical activity including resistance training and cardiovascular exercises induces muscular damage.
Protein is thus required to repair, preserve and rebuild those muscles.
Studies have shown that there is a higher need for athletes, regardless of their sport. The joint American College of Sports Medicine and Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics position statement calls for 1.2 to 1.7 g/kg for strength athletes and 1.2 to 1.4 g/kg for endurance athletes.
A lack of protein can make you lose muscle mass, which in turn cuts your strength, makes it harder to keep your balance, and slows your metabolism.
Check Your Protein Intake According To Your Physical Activity Level
Sr. No.
LIFESTYLE
Protein intake
1.
Sedentary (sitting job/work, almost no physical activity)
0.8g/kg of body weight
2.
Little active(most household work, walking a dog, aerobic exercises 2x a week)
1.2g/kg of body weight
3.
Moderately active(aerobic exercises 4-5x a week + anaerobic exercises 2-3x a week)
1.4g/kg of body weight
4.
Highly active(aerobic + anaerobic exercises 5-7 times a week)
1.7g/kg of bodyweight
For example – a person who weighs 60 kgs falling in the category of moderately active lifestyle would need (60 x 1.4) 84g of protein every day.
Some Best Sources Of Protein
Some easy food sources of protein to get started and meet your protein requirements –
Milk and milk products
Lentils
Soy products
Peanuts
Almonds
Quinoa
Eggs
Meat
Protein supplements, etc.
Is Consuming Extra Protein Is Good?
Research also indicates that eating more protein than needed is unlikely to show any further muscle gains because the body has little capacity to store protein.
Excess protein in diet just gets excreted or converted to glucose or Fat depending upon the body’s current needs as stated above.
Excessive protein consumption ((more than 2g/kg), whether from food sources or supplements, may cause dehydration, as well as negatively impact the kidneys and bones(2).
So, there is a high need for protein consumption to be at optimum levels.
Nowdays, Because of social media a lot of myths about nutrition is spreading. That are totally wrong. So, through this article I will tell you 5 biggest Nutrition myths.
We are making personalized Diet Plan for Weight gain, Weight loss or any other fitness goal. So, If you are Finding a professional Dietition who will help you to Achieve Your Fitness Goal and gives you full guidance. Then click below and Fill the form and We will Contact You as fast as possible.
Note: We Will give you full guidance and guaranteed that you can Achieve your fitness goals Easily with Us.
Myth 1: – Eating 6 meals a day is necessary to lose weight
This concept has been propagated a lot these days by various health professionals & the general public that eating smaller but frequent meals increase metabolic rate and will help you lose weight.
However, this is not true. To put it in simple terms, when you eat food, your body uses energy for digestion & absorption of food which is also called the thermic effect of food. And this energy raises your metabolic rate to some extent.
But it will be the same if you eat 6 meals of 300 calories each or 3 meals of 600 calories each or 2 meals of 900 calories each. The energy used or expended will be the same in all three cases.
It really doesn’t matter how many times you’re eating in a day as long as your caloric consumption is in line with your goal.
Let’s say your daily maintenance calories are 2500 kcal, if you want to lose weight, you’ll need to consume fewer calories than that (eg:- 2000 kcal).
What you have to make sure is to take 2000 kcal through your diet whether it comes from just 2 meals or 6 meals collectively. The body doesn’t care you eat 6 times a day or 2 times a day, it just needs the required calories to function.
Also, studies have shown that rather than eating multiple times, fewer meals a day contributes to great health and body functions.
So, in a nutshell, go for the number of meals you are comfortable having as per your lifestyle and consume calories according to your goals i.e., fat loss or muscle gain to get the desired results.
Click the button given below to count your daily maintenance calories
Myth 2: – You Can’t Build Muscle on A Vegetarian Diet
There is a general perception among the public that one can’t build muscle on a vegetarian diet.
Let’s understand both the aspects of this myth very clearly – building muscle & vegetarian foods.
In order to build muscle, you need to do resistance training first of all.
And in addition to resistance training, you need to consume sufficient protein because protein is the only macronutrient that performs the repair of muscles cells & stimulates muscle growth if consumed in optimal quantities.
For that reason, protein is also called the building block of muscles.
To put this in context, anything upwards of 1.2g per kilogram to 1.7g per kilogram of body weight is optimal for growth.
Now, where does this protein come from in your diet? A number of foods are rich sources of protein – both vegetarian & non-vegetarian such as chicken, fish, egg, dairy products such as milk, curd, paneer, soy products such as chunks, granules, tofu, whole grains, lentils, beans, etc.
So, you don’t need only meat to get Lean or to build muscle.
As mentioned earlier, your body doesn’t care where the calories are coming from, it considers how many calories are coming. Likewise, your body doesn’t care where the protein is coming from, it just considers the protein.
There are plenty of protein sources for vegetarians cited above.
And if one is taking enough protein to match his daily protein requirements you shouldn’t worry about anything.
The only factor you have to consider is that most vegetarian protein sources are incomplete proteins, which means they lack one amino acid or the other. Just make sure to eat a variety of protein sources throughout the day to make that a complete protein.
For example – rice is low in lysine but high in methionine, legumes are high in lysine but low in methionine, so by combining the two (like rajma & rice) it makes an excellent source of complete protein.
And particularly, for vegetarians, dairy & soy are sources of complete protein. Even, touted as the best muscle-building supplement – whey protein is made from Dairy only.
So, enjoy the muscle-building benefits by including as many of these products in your diet.
Myth 3: – Fats make You Fat
A very common misconception in the general public is that eating “Fats will make you Fat”. No, it’ll not.
Eating excess Fats will make you fat, eating excess carbs will make you fat, eating excess protein will make you fat, basically, eating anything in excess of your caloric requirement will make you fat whether it’s a chai, almonds, or roti.
Just to give you some perspective, fat has 9 calories per gram and it is the most energy-dense macronutrient in comparison to the other two macronutrients – Carbohydrates & Protein, both of which give 4 calories per gram.
So, the same amount of fat will give you more than twice the energy of protein & carbohydrates. Hence, it is always blamed for your extra kilos most of the time.
But it is not individual foods or macronutrients in isolation, that make you fat.
If you’re eating anything that contributes to being in a state of caloric surplus, meaning, eating more than your maintenance calories or what your body needs, you’re ultimately going to gain weight no matter where the calories come from.
For example – your daily maintenance calories are 2000 kcal and you are eating 2400 kcal, and the extra 400 calories are coming from carbs and protein, you will still gain weight.
But you have a choice, whether you want your body to use these extra calories as fuel to build muscle or to convert them as fat.
That’s a topic for a different discussion but for now, the bottom line is, Fats don’t make you fat, extra calories do.
A detailed read about this article can be found here.
Myth 4: – Supplements Will Get You the Results
Supplement word means “something that is added to something else” meaning it has no role to perform on its own.
So, to simplify, supplements are added to the diet if the diet lacks something, else there is no need for a supplement as long as you’re able to fulfill its requirement on its own.
So, if your diet lacks calcium, it makes sense to use a calcium supplement, likewise for other nutrients such as protein.
Purely from a fitness perspective, supplements can boost performance if you’re disciplined with your workouts and nutrition plan.
But they can do hardly anything on their own.
If you are thinking that supplements are going to get you ripped or reduce your fat percentage, let me tell you that supplements are used to supplement a good diet not to replace a diet.
Without training your body and eating good nutrition, supplements are going to take you nowhere.
If you’re just lying on your bed taking fat burners to lose fat or taking protein to gain muscle without working out, don’t do it, I repeat, don’t do it you’re just wasting your time and money.
Though most muscle building & fat loss supplements don’t work at all, but that’s a topic for a different article, but for now, please understand that supplements don’t work unless you do.
Myth 5: – Eating Carbs After 6 PM Makes You Gain Weight
This is a popular myth that if you eat rice or roti at dinner, it will make you gain weight.
Well, this isn’t true.
To put it simply, what & how much you eat is far more important for gaining weight than when you eat.
Let’s understand this from 2 perspectives – logical & caloric.
First the logical, I gram of carbohydrate is equivalent to 4 calories. Now, these calories won’t change after 6 PM, 7 PM, or 9 PM. It will remain 4 calories for 1 gram of carbohydrate whether its roti, rice, quinoa, apple, banana, or any other carb source.
More importantly, this logic may have been coming from people who usually eat more calories at night and some studies (1) show that people eating late at night tend to make poorer food choices such as chips, colas, ice cream, etc.
These are calorie-dense foods, that add significantly more calories without much nutritional value and may add to your overall calories leading to a caloric surplus.
But even then if you’re consuming below or similar to your maintenance calories, you will not gain weight, whatsoever.
Let’s say you don’t eat carbs after 6 pm and your daily maintenance calories are 3000 kcal but, you are eating 3500 kcal a day.
Aren’t you going to gain weight? Obviously, you’re.
The main factor to gain weight is the Energy balance, not carbs proteins, or fats as mentioned above.
No matter if you eat carbs after 6 pm or 9 pm, you’re not going to gain weight as long as you’re not in a caloric surplus. It’s that simple.
Conclusion
In conclusion, choosing the right type of carb (complex carbs not simple carbs) will help you stay satiated for longer and remove unnecessary cravings at night if that’s your area of concern.
And, don’t worry about eating your favorite dal roti at night. Just make sure you’re not skipping meals throughout the day, are well-hydrated, and keep a check on how much you’re eating to stay on track.
The term “Weight” consists of the total weight or mass of your body.
This includes the weight of your bones, lean muscle, fat tissues (mass), water weight, etc.
What is Weight Loss?
Now, when you’re trying to lose weight, it can either be a result of muscle loss, fat loss, water loss, or even a combination of these three.
So, don’t get so excited about just the number going down on the scale. It could just be your water weight and your muscle mass largely.
And as you lose muscle, you will begin to experience difficulties in performing day-to-day physical tasks.
A later outcome of this could be sarcopenia, a condition that is characterized by losing muscle mass & strength over a period of time with contributing factors being reduced level of physical activity, age & gender (1).
Essentially, your body composition will not improve, you will just become a smaller version of your previous self.
What Is Fat Loss?
But “Fat Loss” means the weight lost by specifically targeting your body fat or the fat tissues over your lean muscles.
So Fat Loss looks like a healthier approach to aim for, both to lose weight and to look good (read sexy 😉) by preserving as much lean muscle mass as possible and having a great body composition.
But benefits of fat loss over weight loss go much beyond than just having a great body composition.
Problem With Losing Muscle
After the age of 30, one tends to lose 3-8% muscle mass every 10 years and this rate particularly shoots up after the age of 60 resulting in involuntary loss of muscle mass & strength also known as Sarcopenia as discussed above (2).
And this is primarily responsible for disability in older people.
Right Approach to lose fat
But how do we achieve Fat Loss over Weight Loss because both look the same as both require a caloric deficit diet? Right?
The real game is the amount of deficit, protein consumption, and physical activity level.
The general problem seen with people struggling to lose Fat is their ‘unrealistic expectations of getting the desired results over a short period of time (like 7-10 kgs in a month or so).
People go for huge deficits (like 1000 calories) in order to get quick results, but guess what? This eventually slows down the metabolism as the body turns on the ‘Starvation Mode.
A better term for starvation mode would be “metabolic adaptation” (4).
Meaning, your body will require fewer calories now to survive because it is smart & it has adapted to the current nutrition pattern.
Also, a large amount of deficit can cause fatigue, Nutrient Deficiencies, loss of lean muscle, and above all you won’t be able to sustain it.
And, therefore deficits need to be small with the optimum amount of protein consumption.
Studies have shown that for most people a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day is sufficient for fat loss and unlikely to affect your hunger or energy levels with the right food choices and also minimizes muscle loss.
Secondly, Resistance Training has a vital role. It preserves the lean muscle mass, prevents metabolism to slow down, and boosts the fat-burning process (3).
The ‘American College of Sports Medicine recommends at least 0.8g of protein per kilogram of body weight for sedentary individuals and 1.2-1.7g of protein per kg of body weight for active individuals.
Conclusion
To conclude, optimal protein intake, along with some form of resistance type training, a moderate caloric deficit, and long-term lifestyle changes must be looked at for fat loss if you want to sustain it even after achieving it.
References used – Book – Sports Nutrition for Health Professionals – American Council on Exercise
Let’s understand this by splitting this into two parts –
First, the nutritional composition of a potato.
100g Potato contains 97 calories and has about 2g of protein, 2g fiber, 22g of carbs, negligible amount of fat, and 75% water. It is a good source of several micronutrients such as potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, vitamin C, B6, etc., implying they are nutrient-dense.
All those who thought potatoes are no good must consider their fantastic nutritional profile before making conclusions.
However, potatoes are high on the glycemic index (GI) scale which means that they do spike blood glucose levels and this is particularly, an area of concern for people with diabetes who should avoid high GI foods in particular.
Now let’s understand whether or not potatoes can help you with weight loss but before we come to that let’s first understand how your body actually loses weight?
The answer is simple – when you consume fewer calories than your body actually burns – resulting in what we call a ‘Caloric Deficit’ – which is the primary condition to lose weight. In a Caloric Deficit, your body uses fat as fuel or energy resulting in fat loss.
Simply put, if your maintenance calories (calories required to maintain the same weight) are 2000, and you need to lose weight, you will have to consume less than 2000 calories. And a 100g potato has almost 100 calories, just to put things into perspective. Now you can calculate how many potatoes would you like to fit into this diet.
But above all, potato is a high-satiety food. In fact, according to Healthline, a satiety survey conducted in 1995, ranked 38 foods on the basis of how filling they are after consumption, and foods that crossed a score of 100 were considered highly filling.
And it was surprising to note that boiled potato (not fried, deep-fried, sauteed in oil) scored 323 on the satiety index and was ranked as the most satiating food.
And why it’s important is because, on fat loss, you need more satiating foods so that it becomes easier for you to stay in a caloric deficit and you’re not hungry all the time.
And, optimal protein consumption is advised during fat loss, so that your body retains as much muscle as possible during that phase.
The bottom line is “will potato help you lose weight?” – No, a caloric deficit diet will whether it includes potato or not.
No seeds, fruits, salad, or any other food will help you lose weight until you are in a caloric deficit. No matter you eat Potatoes or not, as long as your body is not in a caloric deficit, you’re not going to lose weight, and also being in a caloric deficit if eating potatoes, you’re still going to lose weight.
Potatoes are highly nutritious and should be a part of your diet but in limited portion sizes.
