Could collagen help with weight loss?

(Bob M) #1

The study:

Two groups, one which got 2 collagen-based bars per day, and one which did not. The one with the collagen-based bars supposedly ate more calories while losing more weight. Anyway, there are some issues, including that the group with collagen didn’t try JUST collagen, but instead bars that had collagen in them.

I have been drinking a (raw) milk drink with collagen peptides in it for a while. Initially, I was adding allulose too, and I had a lack of hunger sometime (a few hours) after drinking the drink. I was thinking the allulose did the hunger trick, but I dropped that after a while, and still got a lack of hunger.

I’m wondering if the collagen peptides actually do help with hunger? A better test would be without the milk, but I like the milk.

My problem is that I take the drink at lunch, and even if I’m not hungry for dinner, I eat with the family. I start small, then hunger kicks in, then I end up eating near or a complete meal. Ugh. Eating causes hunger for me, though I have been slowly losing weight using this system.

#2

YUP!

Was most likely because that pushed up their protein. They had other protein in their diet, so the fact collagen is incomplete wouldn’t have mattered, whenever my protein goes way up and cals don’t change otherwise, assuming they’re at a level that lets me lose, I usually lose a little more. Whether that’s me being fuller and really sticking with stuff because of that, or the thermic effect, which I’d never count because it’s small, it is technically there. Either way collagen’s great and noticeable when you take it all the time if you have a skin, joint hair or something like that, especially if your protein intake isn’t optimal. Only time I pull it is when I really crank up protein since then I’m making up for it with total amino load.

(Bob M) #3

Excellent points, which I did not think of. In looking at research for protein, more protein is almost always beneficial for weight loss. I didn’t think of that, because I always think of collagen peptides as being something “special” and not protein for some reason.

#4

I don’t have much experience with collagen peptid, I am only at my second bag (early on the second and I shared my first with my SO) but as everything else, it’s not magical to me. The protein potentially helps me but if I eat a lot, of course I stay fat. Lean things may lower my energy intake, still no fat-loss but if I do it more, it will happen. Some lean red meat is WAY more effective as I can eat a lot of that (but not too much) while more than 10g peptid a day is tricky… I won’t drink it and gag, I am too much of a hedonist for it. (Okay, I don’t gag but it’s yucky. The previous kind was somewhat better, only my SO complained a lot.)

But it’s just me, it easily can have some other, more pronounced effect on some others. I like collagen peptids because it’s a cheap enough protein (well I buy a cheap one) and helps a tiny bit to keep my fat percentage low enough. And it’s one of my flours in cooking, I use it in moderation due to its bad flavor (but I don’t feel it in small amounts, similarly to gluten. gluten could help much more in my fat-loss if I was willing to eat it galore, most probably. super effective for satiation).

Usually not for me as more protein tends to bring more fat. But as I wrote, a lower fat/protein ratio is helpful. I don’t need more protein, I merely want to lower the fat by switching some fatty protein with some leaner one.

(Bob M) #5

It takes a while. I had an age spot, which was quite dark. It’s gone now. But that took a long time. It slowly decreased in darkness, and now you can’t tell it’s there.

(Ava Carter) #6

Collagen doesn’t directly cause weight loss, but it can support muscle health and make you feel fuller, which may help with your efforts. Still, real weight loss depends on diet and exercise

(Bob M) #7

That diet and exercise idea is…old? When I first stayed keto (tied keto multiple times before, but though I needed carbs for exercise), I ate as much as I wanted, dropped my exercise, and lost 30+ pounds. One theory why is that I dropped my insulin, which allowed my fat cells to start giving up fat, instead of locking fat away (caused by high insulin).

And in the book Burn, they used doubly-labeled water to gauge how many calories people were burning per day. They found that the Hazda (a hunter-gatherer group of tribes in Africa) burnt the same calories as Western people who worked in offices.

I think one benefit to exercise is that it provides a carb sink, meaning that if you exercise and eat carbs, some/all of those carbs go to your muscles, which helps limit blood sugar and insulin excursions.

But I’ve reached the conclusion that exercise is basically useless for losing weight.

(Mary Jones) #8

Thank you all for the info

(karen brewerr) #9

Interesting stuff. Collagen might help with satiety since it’s a protein, but hard to tell apart from the milk or other factors. Social eating can definitely trigger more appetite, too.

(Bob M) #10

I think appetite is so difficult to decipher. For instance, there are many times when I’m not hungry at dinner. Since the family is eating, I’ll start out with something small. Then eat more, then eat more, then… I’ll end up eat a normal meal, or even more.

Eating makes me hungry.

I’ve gone back to trying some allulose, mainly at night in yogurt. I was not hungry today until near noon, which is unusual. I’m normally looking to eat at 10am. But I also worked late and ate part of dinner after 9pm.

I’ll keep testing that too. I may go back to adding that to my collagen peptides + milk.

(KM) #11

It can be so hard. I’ve been overeating in the evening, IMO. Then not hungry AM, but wanting my caffeine and so still having my cream-with-coffee-and-mct 500 calorie “breakfast drink”. Rinse and repeat has added 4 lbs over the last 3 months. I don’t really want my breakfast indulgence but it is a demanding habit. :rage:

#12

My coffees aren’t that high-cal (not even 10 of them… I have a certain problem to stop…) but I suspect they trigger eating, right away (super rare) or just earlier than normal especially if I have some tempting leftovers that suits a creamy coffee. I don’t know why quitting coffee is so hard for me, it has zero benefits and I know it’s a bad idea to keep drinking it so often and early in the day… I keep trying.

Appetite, hunger and satiation is crazy, I know that. Especially if we actually start eating. Food makes me hungry too, I think it’s very normal (maybe not that a moderate sized meal, like 1000-1200 kcal often makes me hungry too… depends on what I eat, sure but not as much as normal). Some people just can’t eat small meals. My SO can’t even eat tiny meals. If he eats one bite, he must eat a full-blow meal or else he will be starving. I don’t have that so I can taste things outside of meals.

One eats so very little collagen that I can’t imagine it helping much with fat-loss at all if it’s me. It may if I eat a ton of it instead of some fatty protein source but it’s not realistic. Of course, I still would need an impossible amount of self-control (nope) and focus and whatnot, to avoid overeating. Just because I eat a bunch of protein, I easily overeat. 100g over my need is very pleasant though it helps it’s not NEEDED for satiation. It just feels good, sometimes I had protein but not enough meat lately so I can’t just stop eating meat at the right time (when I reached my minimum protein intake)…

But it’s probably normal, anything helpful is only a tiny puzzle piece and we should do everything right. Except for some super lucky folks who not easily overeat protein (but when I can’t eat more protein, I still can overeat fat…).

I still barely eat collagen peptides as the stuff tastes and smells (when baking) so bad… I figured out which cakes and bread type things I can include some without feeling anything (if there is a hint, it’s too much, I don’t sacrifice taste for anything, basically) but it’s not much. Hopefully still better than nothing.

I do focus on lean protein sources lately. It turned out low-fat quark is like normal quark, at least this brand I buy. Tasty and not dry at all :slight_smile: It’s Hungary so it’s not SUPER low-fat. Normal (half-fat) quark is 7% fat, low-fat is 3.5%.