Why You Need Protein To Lose Weight?

If you’re looking to lose weight, whether you’re in Uxbridge or anywhere else, chances are you’ve probably heard a lot about protein – why you should eat MORE, or why you should eat LESS.  With so much contradiction and misinformation, it’s hard to know what to make of it all.  After all, protein has been touted both as the essential nutrient, and the nutrient that will ruin your kidneys if you eat too much, etc, etc.

However, scientific research has shown repeatedly that protein is key to weight loss, helping to provide the feeling of fullness, and that it is safe. 

Here are my top 3 benefits of protein that directly help us burn more calories and lose excess fat. 

1. Protein is key to weight loss because not only does it help you feel fuller faster and longer it also burns more calories than carbs or fat.  That’s right the thermic effect of protein is nearly double of carbs and fat. When you eat it your body burns energy to break down that food. Well, protein causes your body to burn nearly twice as much energy to breakdown the food as does carbs or fat. This added Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) is an added boost to your metabolism. By eating some type of lean protein at every meal 4-6 times a day will keep your metabolism at a higher state all day long. You could essentially burn 100-200 more calories per day by just adding protein at every meal. 

2. Another benefit to adding protein at your meals is the fat releasing effect. Eating protein leads to the release of glucagon, a hormone that aids in the release of stored bodyfat to be used for energy. It also helps prevent the storage of fat by creating a lower insulin response. 

3. Of course, most are familiar with protein/amino acids as the building blocks for creating new muscle. Adding muscle increases our metabolism and force our bodies to burn more calories which results in more fat calories being burned off. 

I suggest to my Uxbridge personal training clients that they incorporate a lean protein source (ie.  Bacon does not count – Sorry!) at every meal to enhance utilization of fat for energy, provide satiety(fullness), increase the TEF of their meal and to provide the building blocks to add new metabolism friendly muscle.   I suggest you do the same.

Five Ways to Boost Your Metabolism

“Metabolism” is the name of the bodily system that converts food calories to energy needed to perform various tasks, like pumping oxygen to muscles during a long walk. Many variables contribute to your metabolism, including heredity, gender and age. But you can quicken yours; here’s how.

Exercise more. When you walk, run, or lift weights, you increase the energy required of your body, which raises your metabolism then, and for hours afterward.

“It’s not a huge spike, but it makes a difference,” says Gary Miller, PhD, associate professor of health and exercise science at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.Work out with weights. During weight training, muscle tissue is stressed; afterward, it’s repaired — which raises metabolism.

A woman who strength trains three times a week for six months can build enough muscle to burn 10 to 32 extra calories a day, according to Robert Wolfe, PhD, professor of geriatrics at the University of Arkansas.

Practice portion control. This helps ensure you don’t overload your metabolism with a surplus of unusable energy (that is, food).

Use a food scale or measuring cups to identify proper portions. Or use your hand as a guide. A fist equals a serving of fruit, a cupped hand equals a serving of cereal or grains, two cupped handfuls equal a serving of leafy green vegetables and an open palm equals a serving of meat.

Eat smaller meals more often. Some experts recommend eating smaller meals throughout the day, known as grazing. “Grazing helps normalize blood sugar levels rather than producing three large spikes, which is what happens eating three meals a day,” says Nick Flynn, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas.

Determine the amount of calories you need at Mypyramid.gov. Then keep that number in mind as you transition from eating three ordinary-sized meals to five smaller ones.

Laugh it off. When researchers from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, put people into a “metabolic chamber” (a small room that measures heat output in order to calculate a person’s metabolic rate) and showed them funny videos, the subjects’ metabolic rates rose by 10 to 40 calories. It’s a small increase, but every calorie counts for those seeking weight loss, says lead researcher Maciej Buchowksi, PhD

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#Metabolism #WeightLoss #WorkingOut