Protein-Sparing Modified Fasting

For many of us with weight to lose, intermittant fasting and ketogenic diets aren’t enough to get to our goal weight. I struggled for years to lose weight, especially the last 10-20 pounds that just wouldn’t budge. Then I discovered protein-sparing modified fasting (PSMF) and the last pieces of the weight-loss puzzle fell into place.

PSMF has been around for decades, but like most nutrition science it fell to the wayside when the fat- and meat-phobia of the 80’s began. Basically, PSMF is when one fasts most fat and carbohydrates but maintains a healthy amount of protein in the diet. It had magical results in my body and in many of my clients’ bodies, helping us lose the last bit of weight and keep it off. PSMF is still considered a high-fat diet, but the body is burning it’s own fat stores, rather than burning dietary fat.

More recently, Maria Emmerich of Maria Mind Body Health has been promoting PSMF, and she has an excellent calculator on her website for determining how much protein, fat, carbs, and calories to consume on “normal days” and “PSMF days”. https://mariamindbodyhealth.com/calculator/ I found this to be helpful, but slightly complicated. Also, Maria is extreme with it and i don’t agree with her super low numbers. If the calculator doesn’t work for you or you don’t/can’t measure your body fat, a simple method is to keep carbs super low (around 50 grams/day total carbs - not net carbs), keep fat as close to 50 grams/day as possible (with an option for weekly higher calorie refeed meals), and eat as much protein as you need for satiation. I found at first that my body wanted a lot of protein, and I was still losing weight. Maria even says in the small print that consuming extra protein is fine. Some days I ate as much as 150-200 grams of protein and still lost weight. The minimum amount of protein required during PSMF is one gram per pound of lean body mass (basically your goal weight, or what your weight would likely be right now if you had the same amount of muscle but very low body fat).

Easy ways to increase protein while still fat-fasting:

-Whole eggs everyday, adding whites if you’d like. Even though the yolks have 4.5 grams of fat each, your body needs at least 50 grams/fat each day and egg yolks are an excellent source. Some days I eat 6 eggs, and my favorite is soft-boiled.

-Fat-free lunch meat. Even organic lean pork and chicken are fine, because there is no unhealthy PUFA fats when there is no fat. It’s just protein. Be sure to check the labels and find organic lunch meat that is 0-1 gram of carbs and 0 grams of fat. Pure protein. Roll it up with pickle slices and mustard for an awesome lunch.

-90/10 or 95/5 Ground beef, super lean steak without much marbling, and beef liver. You can cook it in a dry cast iron pan with lots of sea salt and it is delicious. Maybe a bit of butter or ghee but count your fat grams.

-Nonfat greek yogurt with Nunatural Liquid Vanilla Stevia. I love the thickness and creaminess of greek yogurt. Be sure to watch for any additional ingredients besides milk and probiotics, especially “nonfat milk powder” which is pure lactose/milk sugar. You can divide the carbs listed on the label in half, because they are required by law to report the carbs in the milk, but the bacteria digests at least half of it. Or make your own yogurt and let it ferment longer and it’s basically carb-free. I like to add a few raspberries or blueberries on top, and it feels like a wonderful dessert on a PSMF day.

-Lean pork loin and boneless skinless chicken breasts for dinner.

-Lean seafood like white fish, salmon without the skin, shrimp, oysters, scallops, and. mussels.

There’s nothing better than losing weight while full. Please reach out for a nutrition session with me if you have questions!