Ashie Adams (@ashieadams) is an influencer and mother who lost 50 pounds in a year. She regularly shares videos about everything from parenting to how she got into shape after having a baby. In one video she reveals that she tried “girl workouts” and “girl diets” to no avail. But once she started doing two things, her body transformed.“I will stake everything on this I’m not kidding,” she captioned a viral TikTok video, revealing her weight loss secret.
1. This Hack Was Game Changing, She Says
“I went from this to this with a very minimal effort in less than a year,” she says in the video. “I literally changed one thing. One thing that balanced my hormones, cleared my skin, was completely full after meals,” she says.
Related: 8 Simple Things That Helped Me Naturally Lose 50 Pounds in 4 Months Without Exercising
2. She Amped Up Her Protein Intake
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The answer? “I stopped snacking on crap. Do you want to know what it is? Do you want to know what it is? Protein! Getting enough protein Before you tune me out, you say like, ‘Oh, I've tried that.’ I thought I had tried it too. I sat down and did the math, found out how much protein I needed, which was well over 100 grams, and started eating that much every single day.”
3. She Used to Be “Chronically Starving”
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After this discovery, her “body and my relationship with food completely changed,” she said. “I used to be a chronically starving person. I was never full. I was so unhappy because I felt like I could never eat the foods that I wanted to eat because I would just eat all of them. I would eat a whole bag of chips, a whole bag of candy, a whole pizza. Struggled with binging, literally the whole nine yards.”
4. She Couldn’t Build Muscle
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Because she wasn’t consuming enough protein, she “couldn't build muscle,” she says. “I was just kind of soft and flabby everywhere, and no matter how much I worked out, every single one of those problems immediately went away. When I started eating high protein – and high protein is not what you think. It's a lot of protein and it's a lot of food – and you will be full. You'll be overly full. Six eggs is like 45 grams of protein. Go eat six eggs. Tell me if you're still hungry. Try doing the thing where you fill up on vegetables and whatever.”
5. Now She Is “So Satiated Constantly”
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“This works. I'm eating high protein. I am so full and so satiated constantly. Even when I feel a little craving to eat, whatever, I just do it and then I'm just done. I eat a little bit and then I'm fine because I'm literally not hungry. There's no part of my body that's desperate for something,” she adds. “Especially if you're a woman, you need to be eating more protein,” she concludes.
Related: 5 Healthy Snacks For Fat Loss, According to Dietitian
6. Studies Have Found a Connection Between Higher Protein Diets and Weight Loss
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According to clinical trials, consuming more protein than the recommended dietary allowance not only reduces body weight (BW), but also enhances body composition by decreasing fat mass while preserving fat-free mass (FFM) in both low-calorie and standard-calorie diets.
7. Experts Agree with the Hack
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“For most individuals who are trying to lean out, we want to make sure that your protein intake is high, because that will help with hunger and fullness,” Chris McMahon, a nutrition and fitness coach, tells The Body Network. “It'll also help with preserving the muscle mass you have. And if you are lifting weights and you are training, it'll help you build muscle and recover. So we want to make sure that's higher.”
Related: 5 Ways I Got My Dream Body Back After a Slump
8. Stick to Lean Proteins, Says an Expert
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However, not all protein is created equal. If your goal is to actually get leaner, you should gravitate toward leaner sources of protein, McMahon suggests. “And we want to think of sources of protein that the ratio of fat is lower. Fat just tends to be a more expensive macronutrient. In one gram of protein, there's four calories in one gram of fat, there's nine calories. So if you're someone who's used to eating fattier pieces of steak, if you're eating darker meat, then you're going to have higher fat content,” he says. “So it just comes down to if I eat a leaner source of protein, if I switch to non-fat, Greek yogurt, if I switch to 1% cottage cheese, if I'm aware of those things, you're going to be able to increase the amount of it that you're eating without driving up your calories.”
💪🔥Body Booster: Experts and studies agree that eating more protein than average will help you burn fat and build muscle. However, if you want to get leaner, you should stick to lean protein, like fish and chicken over fattier source, like beef and full-fat dairy.
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5. Greek Yogurt/Cottage CheeseShutterstock
13. Asparagus: 20 caloriesShutterstock
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Probiotic Foods: Kefir Greek YogurtShutterstock
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Prebiotic Foods: GarlicShutterstock
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Protein Brownie Batter
5. Fruit JuiceShutterstock