Protein Is the Fat Loss Drug

If a single nutrient could be branded as a fat-loss drug, it would be protein. The mechanisms are simple, and they stack. First, protein is the most satiating macronutrient, gram for gram, it suppresses hunger more than carbs or fat. Second, it has the highest thermic effect, costing your body roughly twenty to thirty percent of its calories just to digest. Third, it preserves muscle in a deficit, which is where most cuts go wrong.

The practical target during a cut is one gram per pound of bodyweight, every day, without exception. That is higher than typical maintenance recommendations because muscle protein synthesis is harder to support when calories are low.

Distribute it across three or four meals of thirty to fifty grams each. Lean meats, fish, dairy, and well-formulated whey or plant blends all qualify. The diet that hits this target almost never feels deprived, and almost never costs muscle along with the fat.