Nutrition

Is Eating Liver Good for Weight Loss?

When it comes to stripping down fat and showing off your tight abs and lean physique it’s all down to your diet. Is eating liver good for weight loss? We take a look.

Smashing your way through a grueling strength workout and hitting the pavement for mile after mile of cardio might be important for crafting a toned and athletic machine of a body. But to really dial in on single-digit body fat and etch out a torso of the gods, it’s all down to nutrition.

We know that you can’t shred fat without being in a calorie deficit. But once you’ve tracked your numbers it’s important to optimize performance, health, and wellness with the right foods.

And that’s why in this article we’re taking a look at this ‘superfood’ internal organ meat, and answering the question – is eating liver good for weight loss bro?

Spoiler… damn right it is.

Come with me if you want to liver…

Liver – An Evolutionary Privilege for Omnivores

For some people, the thought of eating liver is enough to make them puke up their organic kale shake.

There’s slime, there’s blood and there’s a god awful smell. Welcome to the lively world of liver.

Dudes that don’t like liver meat are straight up pussies who don’t deserve the gains that this delicacy offers. In fact, we’d go so far as saying they’re an embarrassment to the hairy-ass cavemen ancestors who were raised on the internal organs of animals.

Many biologists suggest that our teeth evolved not just to tear at the tough muscle of our prey…. but to dive head first into the softer liver and kidney stuff that resided underneath.

Much like when you finally crack your way through those hard-boiled candies and all of that soft and syrupy goodness comes leaking out.

Hunter-gatherers didn’t just eat muscle, they ate everything else too – from brains and kidneys to liver and intestines. If you’re not sure when your next meal will arrive you’re not taking any chances.

They probably ate the animal’s testicles too, but that’s a different article altogether we think.

We’re made to eat meat like manly men

You didn’t get those incisors and canine teeth just to enjoy a nice garden salad at the Waldorf did you?

No, it’s about ripping and shredding at those protein-rich insides to make those gains.

Bro, we’re getting hungry just thinking about it. Yeah, filling up her waffle with your offal and getting up to your nuts in guts is where its at…. but getting a face full of liver guts is just as important for getting jacked.

Organ meats are an important food for bodybuilders and athletes

Looks awful, tastes offal

Known as ‘offal’, organ meat such as liver comes from lamb, pig, chicken, goat, and cow. It’s an often overlooked food because it’s slimy as f*ck and stinks worse than a week old shaker that’s been left in the sun.

But gains are more important bro aren’t they? And that’s why liver should form a part of your weight loss and muscle-building diet.

No questions asked. If you’re a bodybuilder, this food should be a staple in your diet.

Liver nutrition: Why is it such a good meat?

Your own liver does a great job at keeping you alive. It filters all of the sh*t out of your blood like a sieve, and detoxifies any chemicals and drugs that get into your body (but we know you aren’t in that game bro, right?) to make sure you don’t come to harm.

Your liver also stores glycogen so that you can keep a little extra energy back for those ball-breaking HIIT workouts, and works as a machine to re-synthesize glucose from lactate so that you don’t quit after your first few sets of high-volume squats.

Organ meats such as liver used to be a prized source of nutrition. Now you can get it in the local supermarket for a fraction of the price of bodybuilder favorites chicken breast and steak.

And that’s a good thing.

Here’s a breakdown of liver nutrition (we’ve used beef liver as an example):

  • 100 g of liver provides less than 200 kcal
  • High in protein and amino acid content at nearly 30 g
  • Packed with vitamin B12, B6 and A
  • Contains the fatty acids EPA and DHA
  • Hits you with a punch of zinc and iron
  • High in selenium, riboflavin, copper, folate, phosphorous and pantothenic acid

Liver is basically a frickin’ multi-vitamin with a super boost of protein. 

Is eating liver good for weight loss? Hell yes
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Liver is low in calories but full to the brim with protein, vitamins, and minerals.

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Is Liver Good for Weight Loss?

Any bodybuilder, athlete, weight loss-enthusiast and even thirsty ass-heavy Insta-thot needs to take their diet and nutrition seriously.

So, is liver good for weight loss? The short answer is yes. It provides a number of benefits to your healthy diet that can support you in building a solid physique and drop fat faster than you drop your guts after a spicy burrito.

It’s definitely one of the best meat to eat on a diet foods. Here’s why liver is so good for weight loss…

Low in calories

You can’t lose fat if you’re not in a calorie deficit. That’s just basic physics of energy thermodynamics. It’s been tried, tested and proven by scientists over and over again.

Any successful weight loss journey comes down to your ability to maximize nutrient intake in fewer calories. Yeah, a diet of chocolate bars and donuts will help you lose weight if you’re in a deficit – but you’re missing out on vitamins and minerals that’ll not only boost performance but optimize your health too.

The great thing about liver is that it provides a face-slapping level of nutrition in low calories. This helps to keep your body topped up with what it needs, without spilling over into an energy surplus.

Does liver cause weight loss? No.

Does it support a weight loss journey? Hell yes.

High in protein

When it comes to weight loss, fat shredding and muscle building, protein is the macronutrient you need to focus on.

Every bro knows about protein.

Catch the bodybuilders coming out of the changing rooms after a wrestle with the iron and chances are you’ll see them chugging on a shake or shoving a chicken breast (with rice and broccoli of course) into their mouth. Lifters know the value of a good meat-heavy diet.

Here’s how liver can use its high protein content to support your weight loss goals…

Muscle building properties

As the nutrient responsible for repairing lean tissue after a muscle fiber-blasting weights workout, protein maintains, builds and promotes new growth. You just can’t get jacked without sufficient amounts of protein in the diet.

Current guidelines suggest shooting for around 1.3-1.8 g per kilogram of body weight.

That’s a fair amount to achieve from food alone. But liver helps you get there in low calories.

Higher protein diets also help you hold onto more muscle mass during a calorie deficit. This in turn not only helps to keep that muscular, jacked look, but also keeps your metabolic rate ticking over too.

Weight loss

Eating more protein during a weight cut results in faster results.

Protein has the highest thermic effect of food, meaning higher protein foods help to keep you feeling satiated (fuller) for longer.

Not only that, your body also has to work hard to digest protein and break it down into amino acids. As much as 30% of its calories are used during digestion. Compare that to the 5-10% from carbs and 0-3% for fat and you can see how protein supports weight loss right away.

Studies show that high-protein diets decrease overall calorie intake and result in significantly more weight loss – as much as 4.9 kg in 16 weeks.

And large studies using over 20,000 men as participants found that over a 5-year period, those that ate more protein (possibly from eating liver as well as other meats) reduced abdominal fat.

Bodybuilders should eat up their offal to make serious gains
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Just the tip: High protein diets help to reduce total calorie intake which supports weight loss. Not only does it help to keep you feeling fuller for longer, protein also preserves and even builds lean tissue levels in a calorie deficit.

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Summary – Is Eating Liver Good for Weight Loss

Adding liver to your diet helps to provide you with maximum nutrition in minimum calories. It’s high in protein and other important vitamins and minerals, and should provide the basis of any serious lifters culinary arsenal.

You just have to see past the texture, taste, and smell!

Where next? if likes this meaty article, check out these high protein morsels…

This post was last modified on February 1, 2019 12:42 pm

View Comments

  • No one seems to touch on the level sof cholesterol in beef liver. Hearing people say they quit read meat because of cholesterol, and me being me I don't really believe alot of the nonsense like saturated fats and what not but just wanted a clear answer since no article touches base on it.

Published by
Chad Stan

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