If you’re obese or a bit on the fluffy side, it’s for one reason: you’ve likely developed an unhealthy relationship with food where you regularly consume more calories than your body burns. That’s it. You mindlessly eat for pleasure overeating on carbs and fats instead of eating for purpose and prioritizing protein. The problem only compounds as you become more overweight and metabolically unhealthy as the years pass. 

Let me introduce to you the most simple and effective diet hack ever: The Protein Test. Consuming protein is the best way to decipher between a food craving and actual hunger. The test is if you’re willing to eat ONLY pure protein (a piece of chicken/steak/fish/protein shake) you’re actually hungry. 

However, if a pure protein meal doesn’t sound appetizing to you, then you know you’re not truly hungry. You’re bored and just having a food craving. The Protein Test works for literally everyone and is one of the most effective ways to build a healthier relationship with food and avoid overeating.

Whether you want to get shredded or lean bulk, you must prioritize protein. 

If your primary goal is to get shredded, then adhere to a caloric deficit and eat at least 1g of protein/lb of bodyweight. If your primary goal is to gain muscle and minimize fat gain, then eat in a 5-10% caloric surplus and aim to get all the surplus calories from PROTEIN!!

It’s widely accepted that the most effective way to bulk up is to eat in a surplus while eating high carb (at least 50% of daily calories), moderate protein (0.75-1g of protein/lb of bodyweight) and low fat. While this formula certainly works well for younger lifters, this diet approach may not be ideal for everyone, especially those that want to do a true “lean bulk”. The main issue with this bulking approach, is that oftentimes a lot of your “gains” result from increased body fat and water retention, not necessarily lean muscle tissue.

So if your goal is a true “lean bulk” where you build muscle and gain minimal fat, you still must eat in a caloric surplus. However, instead of getting those excess calories from carbs & fats, get them from protein. Multiple studies have confirmed the efficacy of protein overfeeding:

PMID 29405780 took two groups of resistance-trained females where one group DECREASED their protein intake to 0.5g protein/lb of bodyweight and lowered their calories by ~300 calories/day and the other group INCREASED their protein intake to 1.25g of protein/lb of bodyweight while eating in a 250 calorie SURPLUS for 8 weeks. 

The high protein resistance trained females lost 2% body fat whereas the low protein group lost only 1% body fat. Remember the high protein group INCREASED total daily calories and lost more body fat than the low protein group who DECREASED total calories which is quite remarkable.

I always thought that if you ate in a caloric surplus you would gain fat, I still think this to be generally true. However, It’s important to note that these females were resistance training while in a caloric surplus from protein only and lost body fat. So what you can deduce from this study is that if you resistance train and increase your calories from protein sources alone, there is scientific support that you will not gain fat, but instead lose fat and build muscle.

Another study, (PMID=22215165) Researchers overfed subjects by 1000 calories/day (with LOW VS. HIGH PROTEIN intake) for 8 weeks. The subjects were NOT obese and were normal weight or overweight non-exercising subjects. The low protein group ate 47 grams of protein/day (0.7/kg) and the high protein group ate 228 grams of protein/day (3g/kg)

The results are quite surprising as the high protein group gained 2x as much weight as the low protein group (14lb vs. 7lb). But the low protein group gained ALL their weight as FAT, whereas the high protein group gained half their weight as LEAN BODY MASS and the other half as fat.

This study certainly challenges conventional wisdom as it’s widely believed you cannot gain muscle just by eating more protein (remember subjects were not resistance training). I think this study clearly demonstrates that if we are going to overeat, we should overeat on protein. 

Just to be clear, there are several other studies that have increased total calories (mostly from protein) in resistance trained males and females and in each study body fat was reduced or did not increase [ PMID=26500462; 30200582; 24834017]

While it’s great that multiple studies now support the benefits of protein overfeeding, here are some other common knowledge reasons why we should always prioritize protein:

• Maintains muscle mass 
• Increases your Resting Metabolic Rate allowing you to burn more calories at rest

• Improves metabolism as protein has the highest Thermic Effect of Food (meaning your body burns more calories and requires more energy to digest protein compared to carbs or fats)

• Protein is very satiating and keeps you feeling full for longer (especially great if your goal is weight loss)

Citations:

Campbell, Bill I et al. “Effects of High Versus Low Protein Intake on Body Composition and Maximal Strength in Aspiring Female Physique Athletes Engaging in an 8-Week Resistance Training Program.” International journal of sport nutrition and exercise metabolism vol. 28,6 (2018): 580-585. doi:10.1123/ijsnem.2017-0389

Bray, George A et al. “Effect of dietary protein content on weight gain, energy expenditure, and body composition during overeating: a randomized controlled trial.” JAMA vol. 307,1 (2012): 47-55. doi:10.1001/jama.2011.1918