
Ya’ll hear me talk all the time about tracking my macros; specifically focusing on the protein I eat during the day.
I used to not eat protein. Like legit, thought it would make me look like those girls people mistook for men because of how bulky they were. Well plot twist, I’ve been eating about 3 times the amount of protein I ate in high school and college and look the most toned I’ve ever been.
In college, I bought those big 5lb jugs of protein at any superstore and would legit choke down the taste. I had been diving into more research and hearing everyone talk about protein so much and I wanted to look like those girls…I ate what they ate, I bought the big protein jug, I worked out like they did and followed to a T their videos they would post. If I knew back then what I do now, I would have saved myself 3-5 years of showing no progress which resulted in me falling off the plan time and time again.
Every time I fell off, the harder it was to start again.
For the last year and a half or so I have been fueling my body with what it needs consistently and working out with intensity. Both of these are going to be the driving factors into getting results. And I get it. You’re telling yourself “yeah I understand I need to be consistent but I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to start. It’s so overwhelming and I just don’t know how you do it.”
I’ve been there girl. But I’m here to bring you one piece of advice to start today.
Eat. More. Protein.
This is the problem I see in most peoples’ diets 99% of the time. Yes, in order to lose weight you must be eating less calories than you’re burning in a day. However, there is an overwhelming amount of research on the effects of eating a high protein diet and how it correlates to losing FAT.
Because weight loss doesn’t always equal fat loss.
Getting in a sufficient amount of protein during the day helps aid in fat loss because protein feeds our muscle and muscles are the most metabolic tissue in our body. To turn our body from a fat storing to fat burning machine, we must intake 15-25g of protein (depending on your body). Think of your muscle like a growing child. The more your muscle grows, the more it needs to it. Well, this muscle grows through the calories, most specifically the protein that you’re eating. When the muscle is fed, it grows. The more muscle tissue you have, the more calories need to go there each day, which means you have less calories to store as fat.
Energy expenditure and metabolism
Our bodies use carbohydrates and fats as our primary fuel sources. It takes our bodies a lot longer to burn through protein, which is why it is only used for fuel when we are in starvation mode!. Which means to burn through the calories we are consuming from protein, we are burning more calories. Hence, our metabolism will naturally increase by decreasing calories and increasing your caloric burn during the day.
Other benefits of eating protein
High protein diets are also shown to curb cravings, decrease your hunger hormones, build and maintain lean muscle tissue, and again increasing your caloric burn.
I never knew where to start for my diet and getting in the right macronutrients. That’s why I created a beginner’s macro guide which will help you to calculate the right amount of nutrients your body needs to start with, how to structure your meals, input your food to an app, and even example days of eating and foods to eat to hit these numbers!
If you want more accountability and want me to help coach you through it all, don’t hesitate to reach out about 1:1 or group coaching, or any questions you have to lauren.jette@gmail.com
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