Protein Vital For Fat Loss - "The Discovery That Blew My Mind"

By Nick Nilsson

Maximize the effect of your protein powder.

In 1992, my weight had gone up from 150lbs to 215lbs – and it wasn’t all muscle.  I’d been careless with my eating and I knew that I needed to lose weight.  I also thought that I knew exactly what to do.  Big mistake!  I made one of the most common mistakes that dieters make, I concentrated on low-fat and, without realizing it, I also dramatically reduced my protein intake.

I lost weight, in fact, I lost a lot of weight.  But I didn’t just lose the excess fat, I lost mostly muscle.  The result?  I was smaller, weaker, and lighter than before.  I was also just as fat as I had been at the beginning!  Disappointed doesn’t begin to describe how I felt.

Now, older and wiser, I know exactly where I went wrong and, to prevent you from making the same mistake, I’m going to share it with you.

I forgot about protein!!

Whatever your body goal, protein is vital.  Doesn’t matter if you’re trying to lose fat, trying to build muscle, or simply trying to get toned up.  You have to have protein.  It’s the basic building block for all your body structures, and is essential for hormone production and a healthy immune system.  For our purposes, of course, the most important factor is that protein is essential for building and repairing muscle fibers.

When you reduce calories, your body has to get the energy it needs from somewhere and, rather than use up your fat stores, it tends to use up your muscle tissue.  It’s all to do with the famine theory, which I’m sure you’ve read about – if your body thinks its going through a time of famine it holds onto its fat stores, conserving them for future use.

Now, muscle tissue burns calories faster than fat and so, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn – even when your body is completely at rest.  That means that, if you protect your muscle tissue, you will continue to burn calories and losing that excess fat will be easier.  Extra muscle also means that you will be able to keep that fat off in the longer term.

So, how do you protect your muscle tissue?  Well, first you need to exercise so that your body keeps the muscle tissue because it needs it.  Resistance training is particularly effective here.  The second thing you need to do is feed your body with sufficient protein, so that it doesn’t need to burn off your existing muscle.

Protein can come from food or supplements.  Protein supplements come from food sources, but they are concentrated for convenience.

Good food sources of protein are:

When it comes to quantity, the standard recommendation for athletes is that they get between 1.2 grams and 1.7 grams per kilogram of bodyweight per day.  Some experts, however, recommend that you have as much as 2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day.  This works out to 0.9 grams per pound.  So as a rough guide, if you weigh 150lbs you should try to eat between 75 grams and 135 grams of protein per day.

Really, the best way to assess how much protein you need is to experiment, starting at 75 grams and working upwards until you get to a point where you feel good.

As far as I’m concerned, protein supplementation is only second in line in terms of importance to your daily multivitamin.

Timing is Everything

Whether you are trying to lose fat or trying to gain muscle, I recommend that you take a good protein supplement.  It is simply the most convenient way to get the high quality protein you need, without piling on the calories.

What I am NOT recommending is that you live on protein powder alone.  Protein supplementation is exactly what it says it is, it is a supplement to your healthy diet.

If, however, you are out and about, a protein powder or protein bar is much better for you than fast food!

The most popular protein powder is whey powder, it is also the highest quality protein because it is easily digestible and the body is able to use it efficiently. 

Like the title of this section says, however, timing is everything – you can maximize the efficiency of your protein supplementation by knowing exactly when you should be taking it.  I’ve listed below when you should be supplementing, in order of importance.

If you only want to supplement once a day, this is the time you should be doing it.  When you’ve been working your muscles, your body is desperate to renew and repair the fibers that have been damaged – it is hungry for protein and will absorb all that you give it.  If you take in 20 to 30 grams of protein immediately you finish training, you are providing your body with the building blocks it needs for recovery, so it won’t need to break down healthy muscle to achieve its aims.

At this time, when your body has settled down from the hard-work of the training session, its ready to start rebuilding properly.  The protein you had immediately after exercising has all been used and your body is searching for more.  Taking in another 20 to 30 grams of protein just now, will even further aid your body to repair itself.

Your body is ready for more protein after fasting for eight hours overnight.  A scoop of protein powder as soon as you wake will feed your body.

The opposite of the one above really, you need to prepare your body for the long hours overnight when it won’t be getting any nutrients.  A lot of body repair and renewal goes on in your body whilst you’re asleep!  A scoop of protein powder in a small glass of milk will not only feed these repair processes, milk is also good for helping you to sleep.

Whey is one of the ‘fast’ proteins, that simply means that its digested quickly.  Casein, another of the milk proteins, is a ‘slow’ protein and, you guessed it, is digested more slowly.  By mixing the fast with the slow, you get the benefits of both.

Instead of snacking, take a quick protein shake.  It will help keep your protein levels up throughout the day and, if you tend to go several hours between meals, this could mean the difference between losing muscle and gaining muscle!

This is simply just a good way of increasing the protein content of your meals, especially valuable if you are eating something that is a bit sparse of protein content.

A body builders trick, this one.  Keep a mixed protein shake by your bed and, if you wake up, drink it.  Some body builders actually set their alarm clock to wake them up to drink it!  I’m not suggesting that but, if you wake up, you might as well drink it.  It just means that your muscles will be supplied with protein throughout the night as well as throughout the day.

Never drink a protein supplement immediately before working out!  It will not give you an energy boost or a head start, it will just sit in your stomach and make you bloated.

These recommendations will help you to maximize your muscle growth and, even if you only follow one or two of them, you will certainly see an improvement in your rate of recovery.

Nick Nilsson is Vice-President of the online personal training company BetterU, Inc.  He has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been inventing new training techniques for more than 16 years.  Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding eBooks, including ‘Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss,’ ‘The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of,’ Gluteus to the Maximus – Build a Bigger Butt NOW!’ and ‘The Best Abdominal Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of.’  All are available at www.fitness-ebooks.com

He can be contacted at betteru@fitstep.com