Protein In a Nutshell & How Does It Work For You in A Balanced Diet?
A balanced diet is vital to our development as human beings, whether it’s from a young age to grow and develop or as we get to older to help us maintain healthy bodily functions and those immune system actions we don’t even think about, healthy eating is key to that.
The are 3 main macronutrients – Proteins, Carbohydrates and Fats. All 3 are vital to create that balanced diet.
Protein is made up of amino acids, which are vital for protein synthesis, tissue regeneration and nutrient absorption. Protein helps grow muscle after training. Once we create micro tears in the muscle fibres from a workout (through progressive overload), protein is the main macronutrient that helps rebuild that muscle, creating new muscle tissue and fibres, facilitating muscle growth.
Carbohydrates are the main source of energy for the body. Carbohydrates are broken down into glucose, which powers the brain and muscles. There are 2 types of carbohydrates, simple and complex. Simple carbohydrates are small in nature and whilst they provide a quick burst of energy, don’t provide much satiety (i.e. filling up). Complex carbohydrates provide more health and nutritional benefits as well as an increase satiety over their smaller brethren. Carbs also contain fibre and sugars, so whilst eating a lot of fruits and vegetables provide a lot of health benefits, moderation is needed to make sure we don’t take on too much sugar, which can’t be stored for later use.
Fats are used to help facilitate absorption of vitamins and minerals through the body as well as for insulation. However, they contain double the amount of calories (9 per gram) than carbohydrates (4 per gram) and proteins (4 per gram). As a long term energy source, fats, when broken down through LISS (long steady state cardio exercise), are energy rich and highly efficient. They do, however, take far longer to break down into ATP than carbohydrates do. During a marathon for example, later on in the race, fats can be converted and used for energy.
So what does this mean for you and your diet? Well it means that all 3 macronutrients are essential for a balanced and healthy diet. In the UK, the government advices using it’s Eatwell plate to provide advice on which macronutrients and food groups are to be consumed in which quantities (see below). However, while this is a good base line for balance, this isn’t necessarily the right approach for everyone.
The Eatwell plate provides a very carb heavy framework, however I would suggest a higher protein intake of around 1/2 of your daily calories overall (whether through meat, nuts, tofu, seitan, fish, etc), 1/3 being whole carbs (green veg, leaves, legumes) and the remainder being whole fats (healthy oils, nuts, milks, avocados, etc).
Always gain advice from a qualified dietician before changing up your diet, as everyone is different and everyone metabolises food in different ways. And I would suggest learning about food labelling and what it means for your diet. There’s a bit too much to cover here, but I’ll link to some really useful articles and resources in the article foot notes.
I would also recommend supplements as a good starting point if you’re more of a fussy eater. A good multivitamin can help with vital vitamins and minerals you may not be getting from your diet. I don’t eat fish, for example, so I take omega oils as well as multivitamins to ensure I’m getting all those little minerals that help my body to function in the best way possible.
Protein is the key macronutrient for us to gain muscle. So we need to factor that in to any decisions when it comes to building muscle through our workouts.
Weight loss and muscle growth, of course, are not the same thing. For weight loss, as an individual, you have to be in a caloric deficit. This means that you’re burning off more calories than you are taking on. This is the fundamental principal of dieting, whichever diet method you choose. However, for a balanced diet you need to make sure you’re gaining the correct amount of each macronutrient. Also once a diet phase is finished you need to be able to stay healthy and to know you’re eating healthily so you don’t have to worry about putting weight back on again, if that’s your goal. However, if you do put weight back on, that’s ok too. Life is all about balance and we can’t always be in balance all the time.
So if your goal is to lose weight and to gain (lean) muscle, taking on more protein whilst in a caloric deficit is a good way to start. That might mean upping your protein intake and lowering your carb, and/or fat intake. To build muscle, I would recommend at least 1.5 to 2g of protein per kg of bodyweight for the weight you want to reach. Upping your protein intake will also help you stay more full for longer, so you’ll be able to hold on to a calorie deficit more easily. Managing cravings and knowing your body is something you’ll learn along the way but it can be a tricky process, so make sure you listen to your body too. For losing weight, you don’t want to lose more than 0.7% of your bodyweight per week. As this will allow you to maintain muscle, otherwise you’ll be losing both muscle and fat. Dieting does take patience and self control, so these are two key things to bear in mind.
If you want to just gain muscle taking on the right amount of protein is important, excess protein is converted into fats, so we need to make sure that, calorically, we are taking on the right amount of protein. Firstly we need to find our BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). This is the caloric amount we need to function without keeling over. And we can use the formulas below as a starting point:
Metric
Women: 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (years) – 161
Men: 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (years) + 5
Imperial
Women: BMR = 65.5 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age)
Men: BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age)
Then we can add in the amount of exercise to calculate the amount of calories we require depending on exercise and/or energy expenditure. This is otherwise known as TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expendature):
Amount of Exercise Daily Calories Needed - Metric (Imperial)
BMR x 1.2 (BMR x 1.375)
BMR x 1.8 (BMR x 1.5)
BMR x 2.2 (BMR x 1.725)
BMR x 2.8 (BMR x 1.9)
Light
(1-3 days a week)
Moderate
(3-5 days a week)
Heavy
(6-7 days a week)
Very Heavy
(Intense work out twice a day)
So, from here we can calculate what amount of calories need to be protein, carbs and/or fats by dividing the total figure. If losing weight is something you want to focus on, perhaps think about subtracting 500 calories from the TDEE, to make sure you’re in a caloric defecit. I’ve also included the
I used this methodology as a starting point for the goals I wanted to achieve, just so I could quantify my macronutrient balance. I like to be able to know rough guidelines so I don’t feel like I’m stumbling through the wilderness. It also helps me with portion size too so I know what my plates of food roughly need to look like! But this approach may not be right for you, make sure you feel comfortable with what you’re taking on. I’m not one for strict calorie counting, it definitely doesn’t work for me. I think the obsessive nature of strict counting can lead to some unhealthy behaviours. And food is just too delicious!
A lot is being made of food psychology in the health and fitness industry at the moment, and it’s vitally important. Food is such a powerful thing, that brings people together, makes people happy and gives us reasons to be cheerful! In my opinion there’s no such thing as “bad foods”. “Bad foods” are a stigma that causes people to have deep psychological and personal issues with food, and that’s awful. I’ve got, and seen, close friends and family with eating disorders go through some really horrendous experiences because they started down an awful path with food. I believe that the key to managing this is for food to just be food, and for things to be taught in moderation. Anything is fine, in moderation, but food education needs to be more prevalent, promoting balance and a healthy diet, so that we can all enjoy the rich bounty the world has to offer, and most importantly for people not to feel guilty or stigmatised for their life choices. This subject is something I have always felt strongly about, and there are some fantastic voices out there on social media platforms, educating people about what food is, and it’s great to see. I’ll link them in the article footnotes.
I, for example, love chocolate and ice cream. And have definitely struggled with issues around these foods because I feel like I’m letting myself down in some way when I go overboard from time to time, especially being a personal trainer. However, what made it easier for me (and I hope this helps you too) is that the only person you’re really accountable to is yourself, and that life is so much more fun with the things you enjoy in it! Just remember to enjoy in smaller amounts and compensate with work later on. That’s how I manage it. I still struggle, as we all do, but this mantra helps make it easier for me.
So, in summary, having a healthy and balanced diet, containing all the macronutirents from whole food sources is key, helping that with a multivitamin or other supplements (if you’re iron deficient, for example, iron supplements would be very important to prevent fatigue), and you’re on the right track. I would suggest upping your protein intake to help with staying fuller for longer and building muscle. But again, always seek out advice from a qualified dietician before making any changes to your diet. If you want to lose weight, just remember you need to be in a calorie deficit and eating the caloric intake for the weight you want to get to. There are many different diet approaches out there, and you can choose any one you wish, however when you finish dieting, your balanced diet needs to be healthy and sustainable.
I’m going to be featuring more recipes on the website and social media soon, so feel free to get in touch and ask me any questions about diet and or recipes.
I hope this article will help you raise your game!
Articles and Social Media profiles for further information on diet and nutrition
https://www.instagram.com/soheefit/?hl=en - Sohee Lee
https://www.instagram.com/bdccarpenter/?hl=en - Ben Carpenter
https://www.instagram.com/syattfitness/?hl=en - Jordan Syatt
https://www.instagram.com/martinnutrition/?hl=en - Martin Macdonald
https://www.instagram.com/thefoodmedic/?utm_source=ig_embed - Hazel Wallace (thefoodmedic)