When women reach the age of 50, weight loss can become increasingly difficult for various reasons.
As a rule of thumb, the more lean muscle you have, the faster your metabolism is, and protein is the key to enhancing lean muscle.
When weight loss is the goal, however, many face a new challenge as upping protein intake can often result in eating more calories.
But Amanda Nighbert, a registered dietitian, claims a simple hack will help you circumvent this issue.
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“At the end of the day it is not a protein issue, it is a fat issue,” the dietitian explained. “You have three categories of proteins.”
Amanda shared the following breakdown to illustrate what different proteins look like:
- Protein with low fat and low calories: this includes lean chicken breasts or low-fat cottage cheese
- High protein with high fat and high calories: This includes sausage, bacon, beef and peanuts
- Moderate protein with high carbohydrates and moderate calories: These include vegan proteins like legumes, beans and chickpeas
“The biggest reason why you find yourself going over your calories when you’re trying to hit your protein goal is because you’re choosing proteins with a lot of fat,” noted Amanda.
“I’m going to teach you a little technique to help you identify which foods are going to be good to help you optimise your protein goal while staying in a calorie deficit.
“I have a very simple trick you can use when you’re reading a food label,” she added.
Amanda advises adding a zero to the grams of protein shown on the label and comparing this to the number of calories in the product. So, a food with 10 grams of protein should be 100 calories or less for a good ratio.
Amanda explained: “You want that new number, with an added zero, to be close to or over your calorie goal.
“When you look at the protein-to-calorie ratio, you have to be careful.”
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Viewers were grateful for the tip, with many thanking the dietician in the comment section. One person quipped: “Wow this trick is so incredibly useful!”
Another person added: “This is the best video I have come across to explain how to pick the best protein for my caloric deficit.”
“So that was amazing,” a third person wrote. “Thank you for explaining it so clearly.”