Does Protein Make You Gain or Lose Weight?

Medically reviewed by Allison Herries, RDN

Protein has garnered much attention in recent years, particularly regarding how much you need to attain certain desired body composition and health goals. Whether protein makes you gain—or lose—weight depends on how much protein you consume, your activity level, and your overall health.

This article examines how to use protein to lose or gain weight, including suggestions for incorporating protein into your diet and a word on using protein shakes.

Related: What Does Protein Do? A Guide to This Essential Nutrient

Eating Protein to Gain Weight

Proteins are one of the three essential macronutrients—along with carbohydrates (carbs) and fats—crucial in daily body functions, such as tissue growth and repair.

Eating a diet rich in protein is one way to promote weight gain, especially in the context of increasing muscle mass. Consuming enough protein as part of an overall balanced diet, plus practicing regular strength-training exercises, can help you meet your muscle and weight gain goals.

If you consume more protein but don't work out, you're still likely to gain weight due to increased calorie intake. However, the resulting weight gain is likely due to fat vs. added muscle mass.

More muscle mass adds to overall body weight, and muscle is denser than fat. It's essential to choose a variety of high-quality protein sources, such as fish, legumes (beans, peas, and lentils), nuts, and seeds, to ensure that your diet is well-rounded.

The recommended daily allowance (RDA) of protein recommendation for the average adult to meet basic needs is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight (g/kg). Some research suggests that increasing this to about 1.6 to 2.2 g/kg per day promotes weight gain.

However, individual needs vary based on age, sex, activity level, and overall health. It's also important to note that eating excessive protein can have negative consequences.

Too much protein can eventually lead to problems like nutrient imbalances, dehydration, kidney damage, and heart disease, especially if you get most of your protein from animal-derived sources versus plant-based ones.

Related: How to Gain Weight: Foods to Choose and Habits to Form

Lean Muscle

Support lean muscle mass by adding more healthy protein sources and strength-training exercises. This helps promote protein synthesis (protein-building) as your body builds new muscle fibers.

Regular protein intake in your diet helps support a positive nitrogen balance in your body, which is vital for preserving lean muscle mass. Many fitness enthusiasts will tell you that timing your protein intake around workouts is essential for lean muscle building. Still, research suggests that timing isn't as important as consuming adequate amounts of protein.

Other Causes of Weight Gain

It's normal to experience weight changes during different stages of life. Some of the most common causes of weight gain are:

• Life stages like puberty, pregnancy, and menopause

• Genetic factors

• Poor sleep

• Chronic stress

• Low access to healthy foods

• Certain medications, like antidepressants

• Hormonal imbalances

If you're concerned about unintentional weight gain, contact a healthcare provider who can help you identify underlying factors contributing to unintended weight gain.

Eating Protein to Lose Weight

You can use a protein-rich diet to support weight loss goals. In addition to supporting lean muscle mass growth, protein plays a crucial role in promoting satiety. By helping you feel fuller longer, consuming adequate protein can help control hunger, prevent overeating, and reduce overall caloric intake.

A higher protein intake can help preserve lean muscle mass, even if your goal is weight loss. Having more lean muscle mass helps prevent a decrease in metabolic rate (the rate at which you burn calories by just being alive). Your body uses more energy (calories) to digest protein than it does to digest fats and carbohydrates. Thus, eating a high-protein diet potentially increases the amount of calories your body burns.

While individual protein needs vary based on age, activity level, sex, and overall health, general guidelines suggest getting 25% to 30% of calories from protein, or 1 to 1.2 g/kg per day, for weight loss.

Combining a protein-rich, nutrient-dense diet with regular physical activity is an effective and sustainable approach to weight loss. Speak with a registered dietitian, who can help you determine your protein needs to support weight loss.

Burning Fat

Increasing protein intake can help promote fat-burning and support weight loss efforts. Proteins have a higher thermic effect than carbs and fat. This means that your body uses more energy while digesting and absorbing protein than when you eat other macronutrients. As a result, increasing the amount of protein you get may boost the overall number of calories you burn in a day.

Furthermore, as mentioned above, a protein-rich diet helps preserve lean muscle mass, which is important for maintaining a higher metabolic rate. As your body uses more energy to digest and utilize proteins, it may tap into stored fat as an extra fuel source when necessary.

Choosing Protein Sources for Your Weight Goals

Whether your goal is to gain or lose weight, it's important to choose high-quality sources of protein for your diet, like:

• Lean meats and poultry

• Fish

• Eggs

• Legumes

• Nuts and seeds

• Soy foods (tofu, tempeh, and edamame)

• Certain whole grains, like quinoa

Below are examples of how you might use protein foods depending on your goals.

To Gain Weight

If your goal is to gain weight, a basic rule of thumb is that the total calories you're consuming must be more than the number you're burning in a day. But eating a lot of high-calorie junk food is not the healthy way to go about it.

When increasing your overall calorie intake to promote healthy weight gain, eat quality, protein-rich foods. For example, start by incorporating lean meats, fish, eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, beans, nuts, tofu, seeds, and lentils into your meals and snacks more regularly.

Pair protein foods with healthy fats and complex carbohydrates to get the most nutrition. One easy way to boost protein and calories is to increase your protein food portions, keeping sources, like protein bars or hard-boiled eggs, handy.

To Lose Weight

The general guideline for weight loss is to consume fewer calories than you're burning in a day. Make protein-rich foods like lean meats, fish, eggs, legumes, tempeh, nuts, and quinoa the center of your meals and snacks. Plant-based proteins are also rich in fiber, an essential nutrient that helps promote satiety (the content feeling of being full) and can help you avoid overeating.

Consider incorporating these protein sources into smaller, frequent meals throughout the day vs. three large meals. This can be helpful to regulate hunger and reduce the likelihood of exceeding your daily calorie needs for weight loss. For the most effective weight loss strategy, prioritize whole, nutrient-dense foods and pair protein intake with regular physical activity.

Related: 25 Snacks for Weight Loss

A Word on Protein Shakes

Protein shakes can be versatile and effective when pursuing weight loss and weight gain goals. These frequently contain 20 to 30 grams of protein per serving.

If your goal is to lose weight, drinking protein shakes occasionally can contribute to a feeling of fullness, potentially reducing overall calorie intake. Opt for a low-calorie protein powder and blend it with water or nondairy milk (like naturally protein-rich soy or pea milk).

For those interested in gaining weight, protein shakes are a convenient means to increase calorie and protein intake without taking up a lot of space in your stomach. Choosing a higher-calorie protein powder and blending it with milk, fruits, pitted dates, seeds, and nut butter can create an energy-dense shake that supports muscle growth and weight gain.

Overall, used sparingly, protein shakes can be a convenient supplement for various body composition goals. Just make sure that they complement a balanced, nutrient-dense diet instead of replacing whole foods entirely.

Related: Everything to Know About Protein Shakes

Summary

Whether you're seeking to gain or lose weight, protein is an essential nutrient to support your overall health and body composition goals. Choosing high-quality protein sources and including variety in your diet is important. Protein bars or shakes are convenient ways to add extra protein to your diet, but they should not replace whole foods.

Consider meeting with a registered dietitian for personalized guidance regarding your protein goals and meal plan for weight gain or loss.

Read the original article on Verywell Health.