Protein shakes make your body burn a little more calories at rest and after eating, but this doesn’t help you keep the weight off.

Pro

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

Community contributions welcome

Protein supplements after weight loss do not improve weight maintenance compared with recommended dietary protein intake despite beneficial effects on appetite sensation and energy expenditure: a randomized, controlled, double-blinded trial.

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2017 Aug

Contradicting (0)

Community contributions welcome

No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Protein supplements after weight loss do not improve weight maintenance compared with recommended dietary protein intake despite beneficial effects on appetite sensation and energy expenditure: a randomized, controlled, double-blinded trial.

Score: 58

DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.115.129528

Similar Assertions

Your body uses a lot more energy to digest protein than it does to digest carbs or fat — up to 30% of the calories from protein are used just for digestion, while fat barely uses any.

84%

Increased total daily energy expenditure from high-protein diets is mediated by elevated fat-free mass resulting from enhanced muscle protein synthesis, not by sustained diet-induced thermogenesis.

82%

Even though eating more protein every day makes you burn more calories at rest, it doesn’t make you burn more calories after meals over the long term—your body gets used to it.

82%

Eating more protein makes your body burn a bit more calories just to digest it, compared to eating less protein.

81%

Whether you get your protein from chicken, tofu, milk, or fish, it doesn’t make your body burn more calories — the type doesn’t matter, only the amount.

80%