June 7, 2012, age 50, my weight loss journey began unintentionally after dramatically increasing my protein intake (for anxiety). My sister, who'd had the gastric sleeve, encouraged me to increase my protein to 100 grams/day, telling me that's what WLS patients are told to eat. She encouraged me that I'd probably lose weight in the process. It worked! ALLLLL I did at first was to make sure to eat 100 g protein per day, and I began to lose weight.
Six weeks in, I stumbled upon the idea of every other day eating (aka JUDDD [Dr. Johnson's "Alternate Day Diet" Alternate Day Diet]) while visiting lowcarbfriends. The protein and JUDDD together paved the way for me to go on and to eventually lose 129 lbs in total.
Since that time, I've had a greater appreciation for the advice my sister gave me, which changed my life. Russell Branjord of "Spike Diet", formerly morbidly obese, in maintenance 13 years, has this to say about protein:
"How much protein do you need? Personally, I got my best results when I ate one gram of protein multiplied by my body weight. For example, I weigh 215 lbs so I eat about 215 grams of protein a day, which I find to be sufficient for my recovery. The general rule is the more intense the weight training, the more protein you need.
"Simply multiply your weight in pounds by one of the following:
- Sedentary adult: 0.4 gram per pound
- Active adult: 0.4-0.6 gram per pound
- Athletes and building strength: 0.6-0.9 gram per pound
- Living the Spike Life: 0.6-1 gram per pound
For me, 100-150 is within reason. If my protein level goes too low, I notice that my metabolism suffers and my ability to stick with the plan becomes more difficult. I eat normal food, the Mediterranean style diet. When necessary to supplement to get my protein count up I will use whey protein powder / bars and beef gelatin, my protein staples are:
- Cottage cheese
- Fish
- Poultry
- Eggs
- Milk
- Greek yogurt
