Women's Protein Needs REVEALED - How Much for Fat Loss & Muscle?

Protein. Are you eating enough?

How much do you REALLY need if your goal is fat loss and muscle growth as a female?

Will too much "kick you out of ketosis" or harm your kidneys?

And why does every website, YouTuber, and health expert have a different answer?

In this video, I'm going to cut through the noise and give you my simple system to calculate the protein needs that have worked for hundreds of my female clients and will work for you as well.

Hi! My name is Lesya and I'm a Nutritionist for Professional Women. If that sounds like you, consider subscribing to the channel.

Today, we're talking about a topic that's been a source of confusion for many women.

That's right, I'm talking about women's protein needs. How much protein do we need to build muscle, maintain muscle, and achieve fat loss?

First, it's important to know why protein is such a big deal.

I call protein the QUEEN of fat loss and if you're my client, you know how much I harp about hitting your daily protein goal.

It's that crucial.

Protein is an essential nutrient for women and is important for a number of reasons, including fat loss, metabolism, and aging.

Fat Loss: Protein can help with fat loss because it helps keep us feeling full and satisfied.

This can prevent overeating and making unhealthy food choices, which are key factors in weight gain.

When combined with a healthy diet and exercise routine, a high-protein diet can also boost metabolism, which can promote fat loss.

Protein has a high thermal effect, meaning that your body burns more calories digesting protein compared to other macronutrients, like carbohydrates and fat.

This can help increase metabolism and aid in fat loss.

Additionally, consuming enough protein can also help maintain muscle mass, which is important for maintaining a healthy metabolism.

Aging: As women age, they naturally start to lose muscle mass, which can lead to a decrease in metabolism and an increased risk of injury.

Consuming enough protein in your diet can help slow down the muscle loss process and maintain healthy muscle mass.

This can help women stay strong, active, and healthy as they age.

Now that you know the importance of protein, how much do YOU really need?

I'm going to give you different calculations based on your goals and lifestyle.

Are you ready for some math? I'm doing math on camera, wish me luck!

If you're a pretty sedentary woman who wants to shed fat, I recommend starting with your ideal body weight in grams.

Your ideal body weight is based on your height.

The first 5 feet is equal to 100 grams and for every inch after that, you multiply by 5.

So if you're 5'4- your ideal body weight would be 120: 100+4x5

so at a minimum, you would aim for 120g of protein per day.

Now, if you're active and want to build muscle, we need to bump that up.

For active females, I recommend For women who are looking to build muscle, it is recommended to consume at least 1 gram per body weight and go from there based on how active they are.

So if you weigh 150lbs you would eat 150g of protein per day.

This higher protein intake will help support muscle growth and repair.

It's important to remember that building muscle also requires resistance training exercises and adequate caloric intake, not just high protein consumption.

Most of the women I work with only need to choose one of those two equations.

Let me know in the comments if you're protein goal is fat loss or muscle growth.

Do not overcomplicate protein. If you're not active, go with your ideal body weight, if you are, eat 1 gram per lb of what you currently weigh.

Simple right?

However, simple isn't always easy because the next question I always get is how the heck am I supposed to get all that protein in?

Now, if you're one of my clients, you're in luck because I provide you with the ultimate protein cheat sheet inside my program but if you aren't, here are general guidelines I recommend:

1. Animal Protein is King. When in doubt, always choose animal-based protein sources.

Animal-based proteins, such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and high-quality dairy, are considered complete proteins because they contain all the essential amino acids that our bodies cannot produce on their own.

This makes them an excellent source of high-quality protein for building and repairing muscle tissue.

Animal-based proteins are also generally more easily digestible and absorbable than plant-based proteins.

#2. Spread out your protein throughout the day so you aren't scramming at the end of the day and trying to chug a carton of egg whites while eating tuna straight from the can. Gross.

I tell my clients to take their protein goals and split them by the number of meals they eat in a day. Then, make sure every meal hits that goal.

Example: If your goal is 120g of protein and you eat 3 times a day, that is 40 grams of protein in each meal.

One can of tuna has around 42 grams of protein so your lunch protein goal is met.

#3. Don't look for additional sources of protein, consume more of the protein you're already eating.

For example, If you're eating 5 oz of ground beef for dinner that's about 35g of protein, if you double that, that's 76 grams!

Of course, you don't have to always double what you're eating but you get the point. It's not rocket science, just some basic math.

So you now know how much protein to eat and how to hit your protein goal, but what about TOO much protein?

Will eating too much protein kick you out of ketosis?

It's a common belief that consuming too much protein will kick you out of ketosis because protein can be converted into glucose, which would raise blood sugar levels and prevent the body from entering a state of ketosis.

However, the amount of protein needed to kick you out of ketosis is highly individual and depends on a number of factors, such as your activity level, body composition, and overall carbohydrate intake.

Some people can consume higher levels of protein without disrupting ketosis, while others may need to limit their protein intake to maintain a state of ketosis.

If your body has no reason to turn protein into glucose, it won't.

I wouldn't worry about this so much because my guess is, you're most likely undereating protein, to begin with so why think about what "could" happen if you eat "too much?"

I've yet to meet a client who said she overeats protein. It's physically impossible if you're eating whole, real foods. The satiety factor in protein is so high, you would feel too stuffed to eat anymore.

How about your kidneys? Can too much protein harm them?

The idea that consuming too much protein can cause kidney damage is a common myth that has been largely discredited by scientific research.

In fact, many studies have found that high-protein diets are safe and well-tolerated, even in the long term.

The kidneys are designed to handle the metabolic waste produced from protein metabolism, and they are able to adjust to changes in protein intake by increasing or decreasing the rate of waste production.

In healthy individuals, high-protein diets do not appear to have any adverse effects on kidney function or overall health.

I hope this video cleared up your confusion about how much protein you should be eating when it comes to fat loss and muscle growth and the common myths about "too much protein."

If you want to get your hands on that Protein Cheat Sheet I talked about, let's hop on a call and see if my program is a good fit for you! I will leave my calendar link in the description.