A nutritious and delicious protein diet for weight loss is one of the most popular ways to lose weight. It works quickly and efficiently and, in combination with regular physical activity, allows you to shed three to five kilograms of excess fat and contract your muscles in just one week.
Lose excess weight with a protein diet for weight loss
The bottom line is to drastically limit your carbohydrate intake for a while, reduce your fat intake and make protein foods the staple of your daily diet. The high protein content is the secret of the long absence of hunger in this diet.
Why does a protein diet work? The answer is simple. In the daily diet carbohydrates predominate and our body gets energy from them. When dietary carbohydrates are practically lost, it is the proteins that become the source of energy. The lack of carbohydrates forces the body to break down subcutaneous fat. Proteins actively drive water, due to which weight is also significantly reduced.
Protein foods consume much more energy than light carbohydrate foods. The increased consumption of energy for digestion is once again an advantage in the piggy bank of the effectiveness of the protein diet.
Opponents of the diet argue that high amounts of protein can be harmful to health. Fans are sure: if you follow all the rules and do not exceed the allowable period for using the protein scheme, nothing bad will happen to the body, but the weight will actually decrease.
Protein weight loss diet, the main rules
In order for weight loss with protein to be as effective as possible and not cause harm, it is necessary to strictly adhere to the basic rules:
- do not use canned food, pickles, marinades, semi-finished products;
- completely abandon all carbohydrate-based products: flour-based products, confectionery products, pasta, cereals, starchy and very sweet vegetables and fruits (potatoes, corn, bananas, grapes, figs), fatty dairy productsand sour-milk products (sour cream, cream);
- excludes alcohol and sugary carbonated drinks;
- in order to reduce the load on the kidneys, which are forced to remove from the body a large amount of decomposition products of protein food, it is necessary to strictly observe the consumption regime: drink at least one and a half liters, or preferably two litersof pure non-mineral water without gas every day;
four meals a day are much more effective for weight loss than three meals a day. Therefore, it is worth applying the principles of fractional nutrition during a diet;
The portions of - must not exceed 250-300 grams;
- At least two hours before bedtime, food intake should stop. It is best to drink the main amount of water before six in the evening;
- For weight loss, it is very important not to exceed the amount of protein in 180 grams and also adhere to an individual calorie corridor. For some it is enough to reduce the calorie content by one hundred kcal, while others are losing weight perfectly, respecting the usual energetic "weight" of daily food. In any case, the calorie content of the daily diet should not exceed 1, 5 thousand kilocalories.
You shouldn't eat more than two eggs a day, otherwise you could raise your cholesterol levels and cause serious illness. The yolk is particularly dangerous, while the amount of egg whites can be increased if desired.
Protein foods are easier to digest than green vegetables. This feature should not be overlooked: in this way you can greatly facilitate the work of the organism during the diet.
Important points
What can you eat? All foods with a predominant protein content: meat (give preference to low-fat options: beef, veal, rabbit), any fish, eggs, poultry (chicken, turkey, duck), skim milk and kefir, natural yogurt. Together with them, the body should receive fiber from raw and stewed vegetables. Lettuce, any cabbage, radish, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers are ideal for a protein diet.
To cook meat and vegetables, it is recommended to cook and cook without meat (for example, in a slow cooker or foil). Frying should be avoided: this increases the calorie content and reduces the quality of the proteins. It would be nice to limit the amount of salt (an extra load for the kidneys is useless), seasoning food with spices and lemon juice.
No matter how happy the results are (and weight loss will go very quickly), in no case should you eat like this for more than a month! You can only repeat the diet after four months so that the body can recover from a protein attack. An unbalanced diet for a long time is very dangerous, so you can not violate the permissible period.
A protein diet is ideal for healthy young adults. It is strictly forbidden to use the protein scheme for people with diseases of the kidneys, intestines, liver, blood vessels, as well as for pregnant and lactating women, adolescents and people over the age of 60.
Protein diet menus for the week
Diet to lose weight for a week. The suggested menu is approximate. You can vary the diet as you see fit, keeping track of its calorie content. Despite the four meals a day, you can enter a snack before dinner in the form of lettuce leaves, a glass of kefir, a slice of cheese or drink some kefir two hours before bed.
Monday
- Breakfast: one hundred grams of cottage cheese with a fat content of not more than 2% (do not add sugar), green tea.
- Second breakfast: 30 grams of cheese, eggs (steep or soft-boiled).
- Lunch: Two-hundred-gram slice of boiled beef (you can cook veal or other lean meat) with a light salad of finely chopped coleslaw with a tablespoon of canned peas and vegetable oil (150 grams).
- Dinner: a slice of steamed fish with tomato slices (200 grams of each product).
Tuesday
- Breakfast: boiled egg, salad of any green vegetables with a tablespoon of oil (150 grams).
- Second breakfast: a cup of low-fat cottage cheese with a spoonful of natural yogurt.
- Lunch: boiled or baked fish with broccoli (the total weight of the dish is 250 grams).
- Dinner: a two hundred gram piece of boiled chicken (preferably dietary breast), two tomatoes, a slice of cheese.
Wednesday
- Breakfast: spring salad of half a tomato and a cucumber with sour cream, a hard-boiled egg.
- Second breakfast: thirty grams of nuts with coffee.
- Lunch: two hundred grams of chicken meat, lettuce.
- Dinner: two hundred grams of beef stew with lentils (one hundred grams of cooked cereals).
Thursday
- Breakfast: an omelette of two eggs, a glass of kefir.
- Second breakfast: one hundred grams of stewed zucchini, 150 grams of stewed or boiled chicken.
- Lunch: beef (200 grams), a tomato.
- Dinner: a cup of low-fat cottage cheese.
Friday
- Breakfast: Three tablespoons of steamed oatmeal (do not add oil).
- Second breakfast: hard-boiled egg, a slice of cheese.
- Lunch: boiled chicken breast (150 grams) garnished with beans (one hundred grams).
- Dinner: a portion of lean pork (no more than 200 grams) and a side of stewed cabbage.
Saturday
- Breakfast: a portion of boiled turkey with a side of green beans (total weight not exceeding 250 grams).
- Second breakfast: a cup of low-fat cottage cheese with a spoonful of honey.
- Lunch: boiled lean meat, light vegetable salad, topped with butter or yogurt.
- Dinner: a portion of fish and a side dish of baked zucchini (total weight not exceeding 250 grams).
Sunday
- Breakfast: scrambled eggs in water from two eggs with a juicy tomato.
- Second breakfast: fifty grams of nut mixture with coffee.
- Lunch: meat or vegetable broth with minced chicken balls and chopped aromatic herbs.
- Dinner: a portion of rabbit meat cooked in a sauce of sour cream and herbs.
How to get out of the diet
If you have the desire and strength, you can continue to lose weight on a protein diet for another three weeks. In this case, once a week (Saturday or Sunday) you can pamper yourself with something forbidden: waffles, candies, cake. This will help avoid a breakdown and the "load" of carbohydrates will rock the body.
It takes the same time to quit the protein diet when the restriction lasted. In the first days it is necessary to gradually introduce "correct" carbohydrates into the diet: cereals, wholemeal bread, fruit, a small amount of dried fruit. Be sure to observe fractional meals and drink one and a half liters of water.
Advantages and disadvantages
The protein diet has its advantages and disadvantages. A decisive advantage is guaranteed weight loss, provided that all dietary rules are followed. Other advantages include:
- variety in the diet. On single diets it is more difficult to lose weight, as you quickly get tired of the same products;
- the diet helps to get rid of excess water, which means that it helps to make the skin more elastic, to get rid of cellulite (special massage is required);
- allows you to cope with high physical activity;
- can be used not only to lose weight but also to gain muscle mass.
Disadvantages of the protein slimming scheme:
- Low amounts of fiber can cause constipation.
- Protein foods are expensive.
- Sweet lovers can suffer from depression.
An unbalanced diet is not healthy. To reduce the risks, you need to take a multivitamin complex for the whole week (or month).
Protein Diet Review
The consumption of protein products was able to reduce the percentage of subcutaneous fat, without exercising and without feeling hungry. With a diet low in fat and carbohydrates, it was possible to greatly improve the appearance without going to the gym. We managed to stick to this diet for only 5 days. That is, for almost a week, exclusively proteins for breakfast, dinner and lunch, and as a result, the muscles became more expressive and toned.
It is not recommended to follow such a diet for more than a week. Even 5 days is already a long time, it is better to eat only proteins for about 3 days, then change your diet as suggested in the Ducan diet.