Accelerating You Weight loss with Protein Supplements

Most women are deathly afraid of taking protein supplements because they think it’s going to cause them to bulk up and look like a man. We see these giant tubs of powder called “weight gainer 2000” and “Muscle Milk” and instantly see visions of these freakish women who don’t look a thing like a women. Let me help alleviate a bit of your fear and promise you, if you enjoy a protein shake once a day, you will NOT end up looking like a man. In fact, you could have two protein shakes and a protein bar and you still won’t end up looking like a man. I promise you.

Protein is a vital nutrient your body needs to stay in shape. In fact, if you don’t get enough protein you’re going to have a very hard time losing weight.  Oftentimes, when someone reaches a weight loss plateau and are about at their wits end, I will suggest they start taking some sort of protein supplement each day.  The next thing you know, they’ve plowed through the plateau and they’re back on track to reach their goal.

Your body uses up more energy to digest and process protein than it does to process and digest fats and carbohydrates.  What’s this mean?  When your body is digesting food, your metabolic rate actually goes up a bit.  That means, the more you eat, the more you burn, but there’s a limit to that.  This is why it’s highly recommended you eat 5 to 6 smaller meals a day instead of 2 to 3 big meals.  Your metabolic rate will increase and stay elevated throughout the day.  Protein causes it to go up a bit more than other nutrients. This is called the “thermal effect.”

If you’re wondering how much protein you should be taking in, I would recommend 1 gram per pound of lean body mass.  This is different than just your body weight.  You need to subtract off the water weight and any weight from fat on your body.  That will give you your lean body weight.  This is usually calculated when you do you percent body fat. 

Protein is one of the most important items in your diet.  You can make a couple of small adjustments to what you eat, how much you eat and how often you eat and see some nice results from it all