• Celebrity
    • Of The Essence
    • Celebrity News
    • If Not For My Girls
    • The State Of R&B
    • Time Of Essence
  • Fashion
    • 2023 Best In Black Fashion Awards
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • Red Carpet
    • Fashion News
    • Accessories
  • Beauty
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
    • 2023 Best In Black Beauty
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Hair
  • Lifestyle
    • Love
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
    • Bridal Bliss
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
  • Entrepreneurship
    • Money & Career
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Shopping
  • Video
  • Events
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
  • Studios
  • Girls United

WHERE BLACK CULTURE, COMMUNITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS MEET

Sign up for ESSENCE Newsletters the keep the Black women at the forefront of conversation.

Your email is required.
Your email is in invalid format.
Confirm email is required.
Email did not match.
Select the newsletters you'd like to receive:
Please select at least one option.
By clicking Subscribe Now, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • Of The Essence
    • Celebrity News
    • If Not For My Girls
    • The State Of R&B
    • Time Of Essence
  • Fashion
    • 2023 Best In Black Fashion Awards
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • Red Carpet
    • Fashion News
    • Accessories
  • Beauty
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
    • 2023 Best In Black Beauty
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Hair
      • Hair News
      • Natural
      • Relaxed
      • Transitioning
      • Weave
      • 4C
  • Lifestyle
    • Love
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
    • Bridal Bliss
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
  • Entrepreneurship
    • Money & Career
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Shopping
  • Video
  • Events
    • 2023 Fashion House
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Home · Health & Wellness

READ MORE LESS
By Kristin Canning · Updated December 6, 2020

Maybe your goal pace feels just out of reach. Or you’re frustrated by a lack of progress at the gym. The answer may not involve exercising more, but rather rethinking how much protein you eat—and when.

Consider the PRISE method: Recent research from Skidmore College suggests the protocol is an effective way for fit people to get even fitter. The RISE in PRISE stands for the familiar elements of a good fitness routine—resistance exercise, interval sprints, stretching, and endurance exercise. But the P may be what your current regimen is missing: It’s short for protein-pacing, which essentially means consuming protein regularly over the course of a day.

And those servings add up to a lot of daily protein. The Recommended Dietary Allowance for the average woman is 46 grams. But protein-pacing involves consuming as much as 120 grams(!) in a day.

In two studies published in the last year, exercise scientist Paul Arciero and his colleagues followed a total of 50 physically fit men and women (between the ages of 30 and 65) for 12 weeks. All of the participants performed the same RISE exercise routine, and consumed the same number of calories per day. But half the participants practiced protein-pacing and the other half did not.

At the end of the trial period, the researchers found that all the participants showed improvement in measures of fitness—but the protein pacers had greater gains than the control group.

Subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest in hair, beauty, style and celebrity news.

These findings support prior research by Arciero and his team on overweight people. That study, published in Obesity in 2013, found that eating more protein, more frequently throughout the day led to an increase in lean body mass and a decrease in body fat (including belly fat, the most dangerous kind).

So how does protein-pacing work, exactly? To find out more, we spoke with Arciero.

The overall goal, he says, is to eat at least 20 grams of high-quality protein (from animal sources or plants) four to six times per day.

“Consuming protein this way stimulates protein synthesis in the cells, which is just a fancy way of saying the production of healthy, lean muscle mass,” says Arciero. And the more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns.

“It also stimulates your metabolism to operate at a higher burning rate, and signals the brain that you’re satiated.” That means you’ll naturally eat fewer calories overall, because the protein fills you up.

Here, he shares a few tips to help you get started:

1. Have your first serving within 30 minutes of waking up. And your last serving right before bedtime. The key is that you space out your servings evenly over the course of the day.

2. Learn to eyeball 20 grams of protein. If you’re having animal protein—such as chicken, fish, or beef—you should eat a serving the size of your flat palm (about 3 to 4.5 ounces), says Arciero. For plant protein (like lentils, quinoa or beans), help yourself to a serving the size of your fist.

What’s unique about this diet is that you’re eating protein in quantities the body can absorb more efficiently, Arciero explains.

3. If you’re trying to lose weight, eat even more protein. Aim for somewhere between 25 and 40 grams per serving. The same goes for people who are super active (say, training for a big race).

4. If you’re going to exercise, eat a protein serving right before or after your sweat session. Especially if you’re doing resistance or interval training. The protein will help fuel and repair your muscles, so you’ll get better results from your workout.

5. Keep high-protein snacks on hand. Think hard-boiled eggs, whey or pea protein bars or powder, almonds, and Greek yogurt. It’s also helpful to stock up on canned fish, and keep cooked lentils, quinoa, black beans or chickpeas in the fridge, he says, so you can add a quick protein boost to any meal.

6. As you build snacks, start with the protein. If you think you’ll still be hungry, add healthy fats; then carbs.

You can track your diet on Arciero’s free iOS app GenioFit, which also makes recommendations based on his research. “It comes down to the quality of what you’re eating,” says Arciero. “We need to step away from thinking a calorie is a calorie, and more importantly de-emphasize the amount of food you should be eating, and focus on the kind of food.”

COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2023 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now