Find out whether ricotta cheese is good for weight loss so you don’t accidentally undo all of your hard work.
Ricotta cheese generally contains reasonable amounts of calories, a nice amount of protein, and nice amounts of vitamins and minerals.
Eating more ricotta cheese will likely help you feel fuller and help you hit your protein goals without adding that much energy to your diet.
In that sense, you can say ricotta cheese is generally good for weight loss.
On the flip side, just adding this food on top of your regular diet will likely not help you lose weight.
You still have to make other changes to see the results you want.
Additionally, there are more weight-loss-friendly cheeses and other foods too.
Calories in ricotta cheese
The first thing you want to look at when figuring out whether ricotta cheese is good for weight loss is how many calories it contains.
While brands can vary, one example of ricotta cheese contains about 148 calories per 100 grams (1).
With how many calories come from carbs, ricotta cheese is somewhat keto-friendly in reasonable amounts.
This is definitely more than vegetables and fruits.
On the flip side, the number of calories in ricotta cheese is still very reasonable and smaller than certain food groups and many cheeses.
In terms of the total amount of calories, you can say ricotta cheese is alright for weight loss.
Where these calories come from will be important in the bigger picture.
Protein in ricotta cheese for losing weight
The protein in ricotta cheese is generally helpful for weight loss because of a few reasons.
Before going into these, ricotta cheese contains around 9.6 grams of protein per 100 grams (1).
If you want to compare, cooked salmon contains around 25.4 grams of protein per 100 grams (2).
In simpler words, ricotta cheese is not the most impressive option out there, even compared to other cheeses, but it still contains a nice amount of protein.
The first reason why protein is helpful for weight loss is that it is a very filling macronutrient type.
Since hunger and cravings make it a lot harder to stick to a weight loss plan, you will likely find this a big benefit.
Secondly, protein helps you preserve and build muscle.
In turn, this muscle helps you burn more energy which is very helpful when trying to lose weight.
You likely want to eat other protein-heavy foods too but ricotta cheese can be a nice start.
Vitamins and minerals in ricotta cheese
Before making your conclusion it can be helpful to check the vitamins and minerals in ricotta cheese.
It is hard to put into numbers exactly how much these benefit weight loss. Partly because the rest of your diet influences this a lot.
However, it is fair to say that vitamins and minerals play a role in a variety of health areas, including weight loss.
100 grams of ricotta cheese contain some of the following vitamins and minerals (1):
- Calcium: 25% of the DV (Daily Value)
- Phosphorus: 17% of the DV
- Selenium: 16% of the DV
- Riboflavin: 16% of the DV
- Vitamin A: 9% of the DV
- Zinc: 6% of the DV
And some other vitamins and minerals in smaller amounts.
There are more impressive options too but ricotta cheese contains a nice amount of vitamins and minerals.
In combination with a healthy diet, ricotta cheese can help you consume nice amounts of these micronutrients.
Does ricotta cheese make you lose or gain weight?
In short, ricotta cheese is reasonably low in calories, contains a nice amount of protein, and contains nice amounts of vitamins and minerals.
Eating more ricotta cheese will likely help you feel fuller without adding too many calories to your diet and helps you hit your protein intake goals.
In turn, you can say that ricotta cheese is generally good for weight loss.
However, just adding this food to your diet without changing anything else will likely not offer you the results you want.
Additionally, it is also worth mentioning that there are more weight-loss-friendly foods if you already hit your protein intake for the day.
Theoretically, you could also overeat this cheese to the point where you start gaining weight.
However, you will likely feel too full before this happens.
Ricotta or cottage cheese for weight loss
Since cottage cheese is so popular you may wonder how it compares to ricotta for weight loss.
First of all, cottage cheese is lower in calories with about 82 per 100 grams (vs 148) (3).
Secondly, cottage cheese is higher in protein than ricotta with about 11 grams per 100 grams.
The result of these differences is that cottage cheese will generally be better for weight loss than ricotta cheese.
Different ways to eat ricotta cheese
In combination with what dishes you eat ricotta cheese will influence your weight loss results a lot.
For example, some of the more weight-loss-friendly ways to eat ricotta are on its own, in salads, or with fruits.
On the other hand, you generally want to stay away from ricotta cheese with a lot of pasta, lasagna, and pizza when trying to lose weight.
FAQ
Can you eat ricotta every day when losing weight?
The rest of your diet matters too but you can generally eat ricotta every day when trying to lose weight.
