Eat adequate protein to build muscle. But add a little extra if you want to burn fat too. Here's how much.
Take identical twins and put them on the exact same weight-lifting program. Make sure they're getting enough protein to support muscle protein synthesis (MPS) – the process where the body uses protein to build new muscle.
At the end of a year, you could guess that they'd build about the same amount of muscle. And you'd be right. All else being equal, as long as they're getting roughly 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight daily, they'd trigger MPS equally.
But what would happen if you had one of those twins consume more protein, say 50 grams per meal instead of 30, but ate the same number of overall calories? Would that twin build more muscle?
Science says no. They're both already meeting their protein needs for muscle gain. More protein past a certain point isn't going to magically turn into more muscle.
But here's the twist. The twin with the higher protein intake would have 4-8 pounds less body fat after a year than the twin eating "enough" protein. Basically, the twin eating extra protein would look better naked.
This is called diet-induced thermogenesis.
More protein = 8 pounds leaner
In one classic study (Jassis, et al.), researchers tested the scenario above using 17 people. One group had 30 grams of protein from a whey/casein shake, the other had 50 grams.
Both groups experienced protein-induced thermogenesis, where your body burns calories digesting food. But those drinking a 50-gram shake showed increased energy expenditure – they generated more heat and spent more calories processing the extra amino acids.
If you break down the math, it doesn't seem impressive at first. The higher-protein consumers burned around 20 more calories per shake. With four feedings per day, that's 80 calories.
But what does that mean after a year of consistently higher protein intake? All else being equal, it would mean up to 8 fewer pounds of squishy body fat.
Again, you'd build the same amount of muscle as you would eating "adequate" protein, but you'd be visibly leaner with better body composition.
Take-home points
- Extra protein doesn't turn to fat. It actually decreases body fat via diet-induced thermogenesis.
- The old rules about how much protein lifters need were based on supporting MPS. Extra protein over baseline (more than ~0.7 g protein/lb body weight/day) may not increase MPS, but it does increase fat burning.
- Shooting for about 1.0 g protein/lb body weight/day is better if your goal isn't just muscle gain, but also ideal body composition – more muscle AND less fat.
Three real-world strategies
The study above used protein shakes, a simple blend of whey and casein. MD Protein ➔ Buy at Biotest amplifies this by using micellar casein, which sustains amino-acid release for continuous muscle growth, and whey protein isolate, which spikes metabolism and MPS.
Two heaping scoops of MD Protein provide about 50 grams of dual-action protein. Practically, a 200-pound lifter could adopt one of these fat-burning strategies:
- 3 solid meals daily containing 50g protein each + 1 two-scoop MD shake
- 2 solid meals daily containing 50g protein each + 2 two-scoop MD shakes
- 4 mixed meals daily containing 50g protein each: 29g protein from solid food + 1 scoop MD Protein
The math doesn't have to be that precise. Just shoot for a higher protein intake, be consistent, and rest assured you'll be noticeably leaner over time without restrictive dieting.
For more info, check out: Protein: the 3-scoop strategy.