Dietary protein is one of the 3 key macronutrients that plays a particularly key role for athletes or those wanting to drop fat and add muscle.
I’ve discussed why an increased protein intake is so essential many times (i’ve even wrote a 15,000 thesis on it!) and this is just 1 of 100’s of studies proving it’s benefits.
In this study, they monitored the effect of a high protein intake at lunch on subsequent food and calorie intake. They compared this with two other meals, one of which was a typical high carbohydrate meal and the other was a more balanced protein, carb, fat meal.
Participants in the study consisted of 12 females with a BMI ranging from 19 to 29 (normal to overweight).
On three different occasions they were given a liquid based lunch containing 450kcal. As mentioned, one was high protein, one was high carb and the other was a balanced carb, protein and fat mix.
Breakfasts and morning exercises patterns remained the same during the study to remove any external variables that may alter the study outcomes (important!).
As shown above, results from this study support many other findings, showing that a high protein intake in the midday leads to grater feelings of satiety and lower calorie intakes during the evening meals.
Both the amount of food and self-reported hunger was also lower after having high protein meal compared to high carbohydrate or the balanced meals.
Increasing your daily protein intake is one of the simplest but most powerful methods to drop fat and improve your physique. For most, I recommend consuming around 1 gram or protein per 1LB bodyweight. For most, this would be 150 – 200 grams per day. Four large servings of meat or fish per day will help you meet this.
Reference:
Latner, J. D., & Schwartz, M. (1999). The effects of a high-carbohydrate, high-protein or balanced lunch upon later food intake and hunger ratings.Appetite, 33(1), 119-128.
