Protein & Weight Loss

Below is an excerpt from Part Two of

The 2004 Multi-Diet

by Anderson A. Anonymous, M.D., Ph.D.

Table 14: Your Protein Requirement

YOUR DAILY PROTEIN REQUIREMENT

To use the above table, 

write in your Ideal Body Weight (IBW) in pounds (col. 1)

divide to get kilograms (col 2&3)

multiply again to get the grams of protein you need daily (col 4&5)

If you already know your kilogram weight, enter it directly in column 3. The amount in column (5) is the number of grams of high-quality protein you need each day when you are dieting.

You have most likely noticed that in the table above I have used 1.5 grams/day as the protein Daily Value factor (the upper end of the 1.2–1.5 grams/kg/day range discussed earlier). If for some reason this amount is just unacceptable to you, you can recalculate using the lower end of the range (1.2 grams/day). However, I strongly recommend against going any lower than this, because the available evidence—much of it cited in the references—simply does not support less protein in dieting situations. (See also the section: Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Protein?.)

OK, now you know approximately how many grams of protein you need each day to keep The Beast asleep. You should remember this number. It’s uniquely “yours” and it is a critical number for keeping your Beast under control.

Our next step is to move on to giving you some idea of how much of each protein food you need to eat in order to get this daily amount of protein—without getting a ton of Calories besides. J

Protein Density:
What about Super Premium Ice Cream?J

Super premium ice cream…(yum)… Yes, it does have some protein. It also has “a few” other Calories, so if you ever eat any, the Liar’s Diet is about the only weight-loss diet you can possibly be doing at the time. (So relax and enjoy it—just don’t lie about it.) There are also “one or two” other foods in this category.J

To resume our discussion of protein foods that don’t have excess Calories, Table 15: Protein & Calories in Foods shows some commonly available low-Calorie high-protein foods. These are generally the ones you should be trying to eat while on the Multi-Diet. Use this table and the daily protein requirement calculation you just made above to determine how much of them you need daily. (To help you do this, I’ve provided a simple method in Table 16: Your Protein Food Requirement\.) You will see that, in general, seafood is lower in total Calories per gram of protein than other high-quality protein foods and is therefore more suitable for Multi-Dieters.