Will increasing protein in my diet make me gain weight?

Question

Will increasing protein in my diet make me gain weight?

I am a vegetarian, and recently I have been working on increasing my protein intake. I have been using products like whey powder on top of eating protein rich foods. Will this change in diet cause weight gain?

Answer 1

I've seen friends, who used protein powder, while attending body building, got fat. This was a personal observation, your case might be different. Just have this in mind.

Answer 2

A couple of things to consider. Protein won't build body fat. Since you are a vegetarian, it is possible that you previously have not had enough protein in your diet. If you are skinny, and your body fat is high, then a good indication that you have been depriving your body of sufficient protein. Thus, by increasing your protein, you could be restoring lost muscle. That is a good thing. Whey protein comes in many different qualities, but if you are using it, the best is a bio-available whey protein isolate. I would recommend avoiding soybean isolate foods because your body really can't digest it very well.

Answer 3

It depends. Are you excersizing regularly while taking all of this in? How is the food you're eating being prepared?
What exactly are you looking to achieve? Body mass and being muscular? Trying to stay lean and fit?
More often than not, your body will use it's own fat stores and burn fat because the protein is harder to break down. This is why low carb/ high protein diets are so popular. You lower carbs and eat high protein and your body burns it's own excess fat and you stay fuller longer.
Carbs cause a spike in insulin which triggers hunger hormones. Eating protein helps stave this process off.
But make sure you're excersizing while eating all this yummy, healthy food or it will all be for nought!

Answer 4

not likely. it takes a lot more than additional protein intake to increase lean body mass.

many people are under the assumption that even excess calories derived from proteins can increase fat stores contributing to body fat , this is incorrect. it requires more energy to convert excess amino acids into lipids than the actually number of ATP units that would be the result. the body does not do this on a grand scale, the human body tries to preserve energy stores whenever possible.

Answer 5

Proteins are required for building muscles, so having high protein food like milk, peanut butter, protein shakes will help you in gaining weight. You can find more information at http://www.toloseweight.org/gainweight.html

Answer 6

If your caloric intake exceeds your metabolic burn rate each day yes. Increasing protein intake is a good idea if you are trying to build muscle mass and kind of goes hand in hand with weigh training programs.

Answer 7

no