{"id":708619,"date":"2026-07-24T10:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T10:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/708619\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T10:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T10:05:09","slug":"doing-everything-right-but-still-gaining-weight-this-protein-blind-spot-could-be-why-says-nutritionist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/708619\/","title":{"rendered":"Doing everything right but still gaining weight? This protein blind spot could be why, says nutritionist"},"content":{"rendered":"

A great number of people over 40 who are struggling to shift weight may be making a subtle but significant error with their protein \u2013 not eating too little of it, but eating it at the wrong times, according to a leading doctor.<\/p>\n

Chief medical officer at Choose Health, Dr Alan Farrell, said the most common pattern he sees is people front-loading their day with carbohydrates and leaving the protein until dinner.<\/p>\n

\u201cA very typical pattern is a small amount of protein at breakfast and lunch with most protein consumed at dinner,\u201d he told GB News.<\/p>\n

This uneven distribution works against people\u2019s bodies more than they realise, he explained, adding: \u201cResearch indicates that muscle protein synthesis is likely more beneficial if the protein is spread throughout the day rather than consumed in one meal.<\/p>\n

\"WOMAN<\/p>\n

Maintaining muscle is as important as losing fat when it comes to changing the body\u2019s composition<\/p>\n

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\u201cAn uneven intake increases the difficulty of losing weight while retaining muscle, since muscle drives a significant portion of resting energy expenditure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maintaining muscle, he noted, is just as important as losing fat when it comes to changing the body\u2019s composition, yet is often overlooked in favour of chasing weight loss.<\/p>\n

Protein needs shift during midlife, owing largely to a phenomenon known as anabolic resistance, Dr Farrell explained – referring to the age-related decline in how responsive muscles are to dietary protein.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis requires focusing on the overall process rather than simply the total daily protein intake, whereby quality and distribution become more influential,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

Hormonal changes, coupled with reduced activity levels and gradual muscle loss, tend to work in tandem in midlife, making protein more important as it becomes easier to get wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, protein ranks a distant second or third among priorities in most diets, and the missing pieces are usually timing and consistency, rather than dramatic increases in protein intake,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

What is the blind spot stalling progress?<\/p>\n

For anyone who feels they\u2019re doing everything right on the diet and exercise front, but still gaining weight, Dr Farrell says the thing he\u2019d investigate is muscle mass.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number on the scale says nothing about fat and muscle, so slow losses in muscle mass can lead to lower daily energy expenditure even if the diet hasn\u2019t changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

A second but less obvious factor is fluctuating appetite and food intake across the day, which can quietly distort how much protein and calories someone is actually consuming.<\/p>\n

\"WAIT<\/p>\n

Uneven protein intake increases the difficulty of losing weight<\/p>\n

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\u201cAppetitie and energy intake naturally vary over the day, resulting in an underestimation of total caloric intake while leaving mammoth gaps in protein intake at critical meals.\u201d<\/p>\n

But when body composition and eating patterns are taken into account together, one gains far more insight than focusing on protein totals alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A great number of people over 40 who are struggling to shift weight may be making a subtle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[616,59,102,655,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-708619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-diet","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-lifestyle","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}