Does Collagen Make You Gain Weight
You are struggling to lose weight and you thought that taking collagen would help. But now you feel worse and wonder if it is the collagen making you gain weight. I hear you. The exact same thing happened to my wife.
There are a lot of mixed messages out there about whether or not collagen can help with weight loss. Some people say it helps, while others claim it makes you gain weight. So what’s the truth?
The truth is that collagen itself doesn’t make you gain or lose weight. However, how you use collagen can affect your weight. If you consume too much collagen, it can add extra calories to your diet and lead to weight gain.
But the odds are that something else is going on that warrants an explanation. Keep reading as I will explain everything to you.
Before we dive in, I’ll mention that many people tolerate a high quality bone broth better than collagen.
You get more health benefits and more protein without the bloat, nausea or water retention.
My favorite for this is the chicken bone broth powder from Bluebird Provisions.
Can Adding Whey Protein To Your Drinks And Shakes Help You Lose Weight
Getting adequate protein is essential when youre losing weight. It helps keep you full while also fueling muscle mass instead of fat . In one study, a group of older adults with obesity who were intentionally losing weight took whey protein, vitamin D, and leucine. Researchers found that this combination helped participants preserve muscle mass a key benefit, as many people unintentionally lose muscle while also trying to lose body fat.
The caveat is that whey protein isnt any more effective than other forms of the macronutrient when youre trying to lose weight. Its successful when used in combination with a low-calorie diet and exercise plan. In fact, supplementing with whey may contribute to weight gain for people who are trying to drop pounds, notes the Cleveland Clinic.
Can Collagen Make You Retain Water
Collagen may cause you to retain water in your skin and its cells because of its role in supporting capillary walls. It helps keep the walls strong and prevents them from leaking, which can lead to increased water retention .
You also may notice that your skin is retaining water. This is what we call a ‘feature, not a bug.’ Meaning that collagen increases your skin’s hydration, making it appear more full and vibrant .
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Foods And Beverages To Consume In Limited Quantities
The foods on this list can be included, but they shouldnt be the main focus if you want to lose weight. Although many of them are nutritious, their protein percentages arent high. Depending on what you like and the way you eat, you can enjoy them in small quantities on a frequent or even daily basis.
- Cheese: Cheese is delicious, low in carbs, and a great source of calcium. However, it doesnt provide a lot of protein per calorie. Additionally, some people find that eating cheese causes cravings for more.22If you follow a keto or low-carb diet, feel free to have a small portion daily, if you like.Protein percentage range: 39% to 20%
- Nuts: They provide crunch, flavor, and enjoyment at meals and when snacking. Unfortunately, they dont provide much nutrition per calorie.Also, once you start eating nuts, it can be difficult to stop. Eating too many nuts can increase your caloric intake, making weight loss more difficult.23Aim for no more than a small handful no matter what type of nut you choose. Also, portion them out and eat them in a small bowl rather than from the container.Protein percentage range: 18% to 4%
- Low-protein processed meats: Yes, theyre flavorful and convenient. But foods like bacon, sausage, and salami contain far less protein than other meats. Can you still lose weight if you include them in your diet? Absolutely. But try to choose the processed meats listed in the foods to eat section most of the time.Protein percentage range: 23% to 14%
Do More Than Drink Whey
While whey protein shakes can help you lose weight, it’s not a good idea to make them your sole strategy. You should still work out with weights and do aerobic activity to burn calories and encourage lean muscle mass retention. Whey protein is a complement to exercise, not a replacement for it.
Whey protein weight loss also occurs when you carefully calculate your overall food intake and remember to include the calories from your shake in your total daily caloric plan.
Although weight loss is a complicated process, eating fewer calories than you burn usually leads to a loss of pounds. Generally, cutting 500 to 1,000 calories from your overall intake results in a 1- to 2-pound-per-week loss. Standard weight-loss calorie intake is between 1,200 and 1,500 calories per day, according to Endotext in 2015.
If you have a body mass index of 35 or greater, you may benefit from medically-supervised weight loss that reduces your calorie intake even further. If you do choose such a plan, ask your physician if whey protein shakes fit into your regimen.
Optimally, create a calorie deficit by burning extra calories and eating less. For example, do a workout that burns about 250 calories per day and cut 250 calories from your diet to lose approximately 1 pound per week.
Read more: Can You Lose Weight Just By Eating Healthier?
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Reasons Why Protein Helps During Your Weight Loss Journey
1. Protein Satisfies Your Hunger
A study in the Journal of Dairy Science suggested that consuming a high-protein breakfast helps curb the appetite for the rest of the day.
According to the research, the people who participated in the study who consumed more protein for breakfast recorded lower blood sugar levels and decreased their appetite later in the day than those who consumed less protein.
Another research explains that protein lessens the level of the bodys hunger hormone called ghrelin. In addition, the nutrient helps enhance the status of your satiety hormone called peptide YY.
So if you plan to lose weight or trim your belly fat, consider incorporating tried-and-tested protein supplements like Xendurance Protein with fast-absorbing features to assist you in achieving your ideal body weight.
2. Protein Helps Curb Carbohydrates Cravings
Eating protein-rich foods or adding protein shakes to your diet helps reduce hunger pangs and cravings for carb-filled meals.
In the research published by the journal Obesity, the overweight males who joined the study and increased their daily protein intake discovered that their food cravings dropped significantly.
Another study found that those who eat more protein for breakfast had fewer cravings for sweet or savory treats than when they skipped breakfast.
3. Protein Increases Metabolism and Fat Burning
4. Protein Helps Avoid Muscle Loss and Slower Metabolism
5. Protein Helps Improve Weight Management
So Now Can Protein Shakes Help You Lose Weight
Protein shakes will not act like overnight magic and kill your kilos! Then why are protein shakes linked to weight loss? It is primarily because of 2 reasons: cutting down hunger and boosting body metabolism. Let us look at them in detail:
1. Protein Shakes Decrease Hunger And Appetite
Protein makes you feel full for longer and instantly satisfies your hunger. When you feel full and heavy with protein, you tend to eat lesser quantities of other foods and thus the calorie intake is reduced/controlled. That in turn results in controlled weight gain / keeps you in check. This is how one can use protein shakes to lose weight fast.
In one study, a high protein breakfast helped participants consume up to 135 fewer calories later in the day. Another study showed overweight men who had been on a weight loss diet increased their protein intake to 25% of total calories. This increase cut their cravings by 60% and late-night snacking by half.
Increasing the intake of protein shakes from 15% to 30% of total calories has helped participants in another study consume 441 fewer calories everyday day without actively limiting their portions. Further, by the end of the 12-week study period, they had lost almost an average of 11 lbs .
3. Side Effects And Limitations
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
3. Do protein shakes make you fat?
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Q: Is Whey Protein Safe To Use
A: Whey protein is considered safe to consume for most people. Its not safe for people with milk allergies, and its not recommended for pregnant or nursing women. Also, it may interact with some medications. Be wary of consuming large amounts of whey protein drinks and other supplements though, as this can make your protein and calorie levels too high. Most whey protein foods are used as meal replacements or post-workout recovery fuel.
Why Do We Love It
Its free of artificial ingredients! Also, we prefer that its sweetened with organic stevia rather than sugar as most of our clients are looking to lose a few pounds and keep their sugar intake low. It doesnt hurt that Orgain hosts quality educational webinars for registered dietitians and its clear that they care about the quality of their products.
*Although most of our clients love the Orgain powder and would eat it daily, we suggest that if protein powders are a part of their regular daily routine, they alternate between a few powders as research has indicated that plant protein powders are more susceptible to absorbing heavy metals like cadmium, lead, arsenic, etc. that come from the soil in which the plants are grown.
Chocolate powders may have higher levels of these metals since cocoa may also be grown in soil with these metals. Switching the powder also allows them to benefit from the positive attributes of the different proteins, while not being consistently exposed to the same possible toxins.
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The Bottom Line: Protein Supports A Healthy Weight
Protein is an essential nutrient that plays a role in weight loss, muscle growth, satiety, and more. If you’re looking to increase your protein intake, there are a few easy ways to do so. Adding protein powder to shakes and smoothies, snacking on high-protein foods, and eating more protein at breakfast are great ways to increase your daily protein intake.
Protein Reduces Cravings And The Desire To Snack At Night
Cravings are one of the main reasons why people fail on a diet.
Another big issue is nighttime snacking. A lot of people who are genetically more disposed to put on weight have cravings at night, which makes them take snacks. These are additional calories to those consumed during the day.
Fortunately, protein has a positive impact on both cravings and desire for late-night snacking. Below is a graph from a study that compared a protein-rich diet to a normal-protein diet in overweight men.
The blue bar represents the high-protein group, while the red bar stands for the normal-protein group.According to this study, protein at 25% of the total calories decreased cravings by 60% and lowered the desire to snack at night by 50%!
Breakfast might be the best meal to load up on high-quality protein. A study conducted on teenage girls found that a high-protein breakfast decreased cravings to a large extent.
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Does Protein Powder Help You To Lose Weight
Lets first consider thisresearch shows that: Protein is an important nutrient for weight loss. Heres the deal:
Protein can by reducing hunger hormones as well as by helping you to feel fuller because it takes longer to digest than carbohydrates.
So, protein is especially great if youre someone whos always hungry and youre eating extra food thats contributing to weight gain because youre trying to satisfy your hunger. In fact, we find that the clients that come to us skimping on protein, find themselves hungry. A LOT.
Whats also cool about protein is that it may help you to boost your metabolism, so that you burn more calories, particularly, if you strength train, because it helps you to repair and build the muscles you used. Muscle burns calories, so having more muscle increases your metabolismyep, that means you even burn more calories in your sleep.
In addition to that muscle-building metabolism boost, protein actually takes more calories to metabolize than fat or carbohydrate do so it gives you a slight metabolism advantage compared to other foods there.
Protein is also great for weight loss because with weight loss/ fat loss, comes muscle loss. That muscle is metabolism-boosting, fat-blasting goodness. And protein helps you to maintain muscle even while losing body fat.
How Is Protein Involved In Weight Loss
Protein is a key macronutrient that plays many important roles in the body. It helps us during muscle recovery, and contributes to the structure of our tissues and our general body’s functioning. Everyone needs some protein in their diet in order to stay healthy.
“Protein is important as a building block of the body, as it helps to maintain muscle mass,” explains Jinan Banna, nutritionist and founder of Jinan Banna . “It has many other functions in the body as well, and is important for weight loss because it helps you to feel full, therefore avoiding overeating.”
But how does protein contribute to weight loss? Well, according to a review published in Frontiers in Endocrinology , protein-heavy diets can help us to stay full for longer, use more energy, create lean muscle mass and maintain weight loss for longer periods.
In one study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , researchers found that high protein diets could lead to a higher energy expenditure and thus, more weight loss. “Our study proved that the same number of calories but from different diets can elicit different responses in energy metabolism,” the study’s co-authors, Carla Prado and Camila Pinto, said.
In other words, if you eat the same number of calories you do now but increase the amount of those calories coming from protein, you may use more energy and thus lose some weight.
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Is It Okay To Drink Protein Shakes Every Day
If you’re trying to lose weight, you might be wondering if protein shakes are a good idea. After all, they’re often marketed as being helpful for building muscle and increasing strength. And while protein is an essential nutrient that can help you reach your fitness goals, it’s important to understand how much protein you really need and whether or not protein shakes are the best way to get it.
Are Protein Powders Good For Weight Loss
Protein powders used to be just a supplement for bodybuilders and people trying to gain muscle mass. However, protein powders have become increasingly popular as a quick and easy way to get additional protein into your diet.
Whey protein is the most popular type of protein powder. It’s a complete protein which means it contains all the essential amino acids your body needs. It’s easily absorbed and has a lot of beneficial research behind its use for satiety, weight loss, and lean muscle.
One study found that daily whey intake led to weight loss without any other dietary changes. Several studies also point to whey protein and satiety, which can lower overeating or food cravings. This may be related to the positive effect on hunger hormones that help to suppress appetite.
But whey isn’t the only protein supplement option. Some people can’t tolerate dairy or prefer plant-based protein powders. Other types of plant-based protein powders include:
- Pumpkin seed protein
While soy-based foods like tofu are good protein choices, soy protein powders are heavily processed, so other options may be a better choice. Brown rice protein is another plant-based protein often recommended, but rice can contain high amounts of arsenic from the soil it is grown in, so you may want to avoid these too.
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Natural Sweeteners If You Want To Make Your Own Weight Loss Shakes
- HoneyHoney is antioxidant and antibacterial, so honey is often described as a natural remedy. However, you should be sparing in the dosage, because honey is largely pure sugar and too much sugar you want to avoid when making weight loss shakes yourself.
- Date syrupDate syrup tastes really great and really competes with conventional honey. It is considered a natural antibiotic and is even faster to show effect than the popular honey, which you can order on Amazon. But here too, its better to use less.
- FruitsFruits are great sweeteners and are usually in every smoothie anyway. Depending on your taste, the sweetness of the fruit may even be enough and no extra sweetener is needed.
Are you interested in sugar alternatives? Click here for the article: Which sugar alternatives are healthy?
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Q: Do I Need Any Special Equipment For Whey Protein Drinks
A: This all depends on the brand you buy. The good thing about most whey protein supplements is that they come in powder form, so you can add them to your drinks at home. But you may need a blender at the very least to prevent any chalky textures. Some companies also sell specialty shakers that combine the powder and beverage together. This approach also saves on the cleanup, as you can drink it right out of the shaker.
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Can Collagen Cause Weight Gain
Collagen can cause gain weight if taking it causes nudges you into consuming more calories than you are burning in a typical day or because you are increasing bone mineral density over time.
You would need to be taking a lot of it per day in addition to what you typically eat for you to truly gain weight.
I suspect that most of the supposed weight gain people report from collagen is due to bloating, water retention and feeling full.
But in some cases, if you are merely adding collagen to a typical day, without removing any other foods, you can possibly gain weight. That is how the laws of thermodynamics work.
Also, since it can help with bone mineral density and increasing joint health, in theory you could gain a bit of weight in bone mass and joint cartilage.
The important thing to note is that increasing in joint cartilage and bone mass do not contribute to fat tissue or visible signs of being obese.
So if you are concerned about your appearance, you have nothing to worry about when it comes to collagen rich foods like bone broth. But there are many other factors that make this a very small possibility. I’ll explain those below.