Protein is an essential macronutrient. We can’t make it. We can pull it from our structural tissues – our muscles, our tendons, our organs – if we’re in dire need of amino acids, but that’s not a healthy long term strategy. For all intents and purposes, we need to consume protein to stay healthy, fit, happy, and long-lived. But we need to consume the right amount at the right times. And since I’ve already talked about how much protein certain populations should be eating on a general basis, shown you how to identify when you need more carbs, and explained how to tell if you need more fat, today’s post will cover 12 situations, symptoms, and signs that indicate a direct need for more dietary protein.
Let’s jump right in:
You’re older than you used to be.
For years, the elderly have been told not to expect anything from their bodies but decay and decrepitude. They can lift weights if they want, but they’re not going to get very strong and if anything they’ll just improve “tone” and “balance.” Well, that’s nonsense. The elderly absolutely can get stronger and even build muscle and improve their bone mineral density by lifting heavy things. Maybe not as easily as a 22 year old. Maybe not as much as when they were younger. But they can do it. There’s just one caveat: they need more protein than their younger counterparts.
The elderly aren’t as efficient at processing protein. To maintain nitrogen balance or tip the scales toward lean mass accrual, an older person is going to need more protein than a younger person – all else being equal. That goes for resistance training oldsters, puttering around the garden oldsters, and taking an hour to walk around the block oldsters. More protein is better than less.
You’re always hungry.
Of all the macronutrients, protein is the most satiating, and high-protein diets (which are usually also low-carb) consistently result in the greatest inadvertent reduction in calories. You don’t consciously stop eating. You’re not fighting your desire for food. You simply don’t want it. That’s the perfect antidote to insatiable hunger.
Just try it. Make a point to add an extra 20 grams of protein each meal. A few ounces of steak here, a chicken leg there, a piece of salmon, a few eggs. You’ll be fuller, faster.
So if your stomach resembles a bottomless pit, try increasing your protein intake.
You’re cutting calories.
Traditional calorie-restricted dieting certainly can help you lose body weight, but it also causes the loss of lean muscle mass. That explains why so many people who simply reduce calories to lose weight end up skinny-fat. Luckily, increasing the amount of protein you eat can offset some of the muscle loss caused by calorie restriction:
In weightlifters, a low-carb hypocaloric diet with 2x the RDA for protein resulted in greater nitrogen balance than a high-carb hypocaloric diet with RDA protein.
In women, a low-calorie, high-protein diet was better than a conventional high-carb, low-fat diet at promoting lean mass retention, even in the absence of exercise.