by Chris Shugart
A No-Hunger Way to Get Lean
Use this simple diet strategy to drop a few pounds without being hungry. The key? Protein. Here's exactly what to do.
Ask 100 people in the gym about their goals and 95 of them will tell you they want less body fat, more muscle, and a healthier metabolism. And the other five are lying.
Favorably shifting your body composition involves three things:
- Lifting challenging weights.
- Eating more protein.
- Eating slightly fewer daily calories (roughly 300 to 500 below maintenance) or expending more calories through training or extra daily movement.
The goal is to create a trend: signaling your body to build or preserve muscle while eliminating excess body fat. One time-tested strategy takes care of two of these things: protein preloading.
What's Protein Preloading?
It can work in two different ways:
- At a given meal, eat the protein portion first, then fat, then carbs. This is called meal sequencing. It works, but it's a weird-ass way to eat a taco.
- Eat about 20 grams of protein 20-30 minutes before solid meals.
In studies, both methods lead to fat loss, hunger control, and improved metabolic functions, like blood sugar control. Of the two, I prefer to preload by consuming a small protein shake before meals. It's easier and more practical with mixed meals, and I'd rather not deconstruct a taco before eating it.
How to Do It
It's easy. Just have one scoop of Metabolic Drive (Buy at Amazon) before every big meal of the day. If that's three meals per day, you'll reap all the benefits of a high-protein diet by adding 66 grams of daily protein, controlling caloric intake during meals, and triggering several positive metabolic functions, leading to improved body composition.
Why MD protein? Because that's what we make. (Duh.) And we only make what we want to take. But also, you want a protein powder containing a big dose of micellar casein, the most satiating form of protein. It's slow-digesting, sustains protein synthesis, builds muscle better than whey, and stimulates the metabolism.
To get an even better effect, volumize and aerate the protein by blending it with ice. This boosts the satiating effects.
Calorie Offsetting: A Practical Example
To borrow an example from Dr. Jade Teta, imagine you're invited to a party serving a lot of normie foods and tempting snacks. In one scenario, you don't consume anything beforehand and wind up eating 1200 calories because loaded nachos are delicious.
In scenario two, you consume 22 grams of protein powder (110 calories) 30 minutes before arriving. Now your appetite is tamped down and, according to the protein leverage hypothesis, you've met your protein threshold – the point at which your body turns off cravings. Now you consume 600 calories at the party: 710 counting the protein shake instead of 1200 – a 490-calorie savings.
Remember, the best diet is being *full*. Protein preloading is one way to ensure it.
Preloading and the Protein-First Strategy
If you're using the protein-first strategy, instead of having two 2-scoop shakes per day, divide those into 1-scoop shakes:
- 1 scoop of MD protein 20-30 minutes before breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
- 1 scoop as a "snack" before bed or whenever you need it.
Make it a habit. Improved metabolic function and body composition are right around the corner. Pick up some MD Protein (Buy at Amazon) and let it happen.
