Higher-protein eating
What it is
Less a diet than a dial. "Higher-protein" means holding protein at roughly 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight a day during weight loss — about a third to a half above the maintenance reference intake of 0.83 — and letting the rest of the energy come from wherever the person's pattern puts it. It can sit inside a Mediterranean pattern, a lower-carbohydrate one, a vegetarian one. The upper bound of the acceptable range for protein as a share of energy is 35 percent in the reference intakes; ordinary higher-protein eating sits well below that.
How it works in practice
Protein at every meal — something like thirty grams, the amount the satiety evidence points to — rather than one large serving at dinner. Eggs, dairy, fish, poultry, meat, legumes, tofu; in a deficit, the leaner versions, since the energy budget is finite. The protein calculator gives the grams for your basis weight and splits them across meals.
What the evidence shows
This is the macronutrient lever with the most consistent evidence. A systematic review and meta-analysis of trials in adults with overweight or obesity found that higher protein intake during weight loss preserved lean mass and shifted the loss toward fat, with the effect strengthening above roughly 1.3 grams per kilogram; the differences in total weight lost were small. Clinical guidance for active weight loss puts the working range at 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram with attention to protein per meal. The small athlete trial that compared two rates of loss found the group losing more slowly, with adequate protein and strength training, gaining a little lean mass while the faster group held it unchanged — a signal about composition, not a rule. The consistent finding is what the loss is made of, not how much of it there is.
Who it tends to suit
Almost everyone in a deficit, which is why the app applies it to everyone. Especially people who train, people over fifty (whose lean mass is harder to keep), and people who find hunger the main obstacle.
How it most often fails
By protein arriving in one meal and not the others; by "high protein" becoming a shake habit rather than a food habit; and by cost, when meat is the only protein a household knows. Legumes, eggs and dairy are the answer to the last.
What to watch
Kidney function is the one caution, and only where kidney disease already exists; healthy kidneys handle this range without difficulty. Fibre, because a protein-heavy plate can crowd out vegetables.
In the app
There is no "higher-protein" switch, because there does not need to be: every plan the app generates is checked against a protein range of 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram of the macro basis (goal weight, or an adjusted weight above BMI 30), and a menu below the minimum is corrected before it is shown.