Does Protein Burn Fat?

The nutrients offered by proteins are vital to physical existence. Along with the critical role this substance plays in sustaining physical life, a rich protein diet offers many benefits to anyone looking to regain or maintain a healthy weight.

Energy Hog

• It actually takes calories to burn calories and proteins have a higher thermic value than either fats or carbohydrates. (A food's thermic value represents the energy required to digest and absorb it.) This means that more energy is expending in the simple digesting of proteins than is expended in the digesting of the other two food types.

Calorie Neutral

• The high thermic value of proteins makes them more calorie neutral. Meaning proteins introduce less calories into your body's system than does comparable serving sizes of fat or carbohydrates.

Metabolic Booster

• The higher thermic effect of proteins also means that they are a better metabolism booster than either fats or carbohydrates.

Muscle Builder

• A diet rich in proteins, in conjunction with regular strength or resistance training, works to maintain or increase a body's lean muscle mass. Lean muscle consumes more calories than stored fat.

The Low Down

• Eating protein doesn't burn fat directly. What it does do is help create a greater energy demand so that the body is forced to burn more calories overall (not just the calories derived from fat).