Why High Protein Diets Won't Help You Lose
Weight:
There are all kinds of diet recommendations all
over the bodybuilding magazines, fad diet books,
and websites that advise to divide your eating
into different "ratios" and "percentages" for
weight loss and fat burning.Some recommend high
fat, low carb, others say moderate carbs, moderate
fat, high carbs, low fat, etc.But the one thing
that each and every one of these "weight loss"
/ "fat burning" diets say is it must be HIGH in
protein.Well, I'm here to tell you the TRUTH.
It
is NOT necessary at all to eat a diet high in
protein to lose weight.Just about everything you
read says to eat 1-2 grams of protein per pound
of bodyweight.Some even go as high as suggesting
you have to not only eat high, but massive amounts
of protein to lose weight and burn fat.
This MYTH is due to 3 reasons:
1) Everyone thinks that muscle tissue is made
up mostly of protein
2) Everyone thinks that either high amounts of
fat or high amounts of carbohydrates will cause
you to get fat
3) Everyone thinks that protein has a "thermogenic"
(inner-body temperature raising) effect, which
helps burn fat
All three of these beliefs are completely wrong!
(In this article I am going to give you a very
brief explanation, but in later articles I will
go into more detail)First, muscle tissue is NOT
made up of mostly of protein. Muscle tissue is
70% WATER.The other 30% is made of GLUCOSE, and
AMINO ACIDS.
Your muscles need just as much glucose
(which is what carbohydrates are converted into),
if not MORE than protein.You should know that
one of the KEYS to weight loss is to have a significant
amount of muscle tissue (that doesn't mean you
have to look like a bodybuilder if you don't want
to, though) on the body.Why???Because the more
muscle you have, the faster and higher your metabolism
gets, meaning you can literally burn hundreds
of calories a day even when you are just sitting
around watching TV.
The more muscle you have, the
higher the amount of calories that you can eat
while still losing weight / burning fat (trust
me, no one likes having to eat an extremely low
amount of calories in order to lose weight).So,
whether you are male or female, regardless if
you want to look like a bodybuilder or just be
toned up and in shape, you need muscle!Those that
have medically studied the physiology of the human
body know that amino acids are what make up protein.However,
the body uses whatever amount of amino acids it
needs at that particular moment.
The rest it stores
for later use.It is NOT true that you need to
be eating a "steady stream" of protein to lose
weight / burn fat.........your body keeps a little
"pool" of stored amino acids.Protein is by far
the most difficult macronutrient to break down
and digest.The higher the amount of protein you
eat the more stress you are placing on your digestive
system.Oh, by the way, what do you think happens
to any excess protein??? It turns it into FAT!Have
you ever noticed how you feel when you eat a huge
burger or steak?
Even after several hours have
passed, it still feels like you've got that entire
piece of meat just sitting and rotting in your
stomach.How much benefit in weight loss do you
think that's going to give you?Have you ever drank
those disgusting protein shakes or eaten those
chalk-tasting protein bars?
You get gas, you feel
bloated, and you might even get the "runs" (diarrhea).That's
a major sign that your body is NOT properly digesting
all of that protein!!!There are several real-life
examples of athletes that don't consume massive
amounts of protein to gain muscle weight, yet
have tremendous physiques, have extremely defined
and toned bodies, are in excellent health, are
powerful, fast, and agile.
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