Using High Protein Diet Supplements for Weight Loss

Are high protein diet supplements really effective for losing weight?

Yes! I in fact over 30 published research studies have shown that, on average, people lose and keep off more than 3 times as much weight using portion-controlled protein diet supplements, compared with other typical diets.

So, what are the benefits of a high protein diet?
When attempting to lose weight, getting adequate protein is essential to losing your excess body fat, while retaining your healthy lean body mass.

When on a reduced calorie diet, the body experiences a negative caloric intake, and it will compensate for this calorie deficit by taking from BOTH its fat stores and lean body tissue to maintain its energy requirements. This is both counterproductive and unhealthy!

You must be concerned with losing your unwanted fat stores while dieting, and also preserving their lean body tissue.

To accomplish this, protein supplementation is necessary.

As the body's "architect", protein plays a vital role in building and maintaining body structures, including muscles, tendons, ligaments, circulatory system, brain, immune system, skin and other organs. These structures need a regular supply of "fresh" protein to build new cells. Unfortunately, when you cut calories to lose weight, you tend to cut protein-rich foods out of your diet. Without protein, your body's healthy tissues start to break down!

Protein provides many important benefits to the weight loss dieter:

Benefit #1:
Protein helps your body burn fat instead of muscle for a healthier weight loss.
When you are trying to lose weight, you reduce calories. Unfortunately, the human body tends to view fat stores as more precious than lean muscle tissue, and will burn or "catabolize" muscle tissue, before it goes to fat for energy. By consuming sufficient protein each day, you will spare and preserve your muscle tissue, which forces your metabolism to go to your fat for energy. This particular benefit of protein is often referred to as "protein sparing" or "anti-catabolic".

Benefit #2:
Protein curb's your hunger between meals and avoid "snacking temptation".
One of the amino acids in protein, tryptophan (a precurser of serotonin) has been shown to work on the satiety (hunger) center in the brain.

Benefit #3:
Protein supports your natural metabolism so you lose weight quicker.
Protein, like carbohydrates, does supply calories, and therefore energy. Unlike carbohydrates, however, the body uses more energy to break down protein. Simply put, your body will burn MORE calories converting protein into energy than it would converting simple carbohydrates.

As we already know, protein supports the formation of lean muscle tissue. The more muscle you have on your body, the higher your metabolism and the more fat calories your body will burn, even while at rest. Pound for pound, your lean muscle burns 25 times more calories than fat! Conversely, less muscle tissue means a slower metabolism. To illustrate this, one pound of muscle can burn 30 to 50 calories in a day, or 350 to 500 calories a week. On the other hand, one pound of fat only burns about 2 calories a day, or 14 calories a week. Therefore, building and preserving lean muscle tissue not only makes fat loss easier, put more permanent.

How much protein is needed when dieting?
People on a weight loss diet need more protein during weight loss than they do if they are on a weight “maintaining” diet. One rule of thumb states that the protein need is between .55 and .75 grams per pound of ideal body weight. Therefore, someone with an ideal weight of 150 pounds would need at least 82 to 112 grams of protein each day. Studies show that in order to maintain nitrogen or protein balance (in other words, lean body mass) on a calorie restricted diet, an average woman should ingest at least 80-100 grams of protein a day. Otherwise, the body will lose fat AND lean body mass, with possible negative health and body composition consequences. Consistent intake of portion-controlled protein diet supplements on a daily basis, combined with a restricted calorie diet is essential for healthy weight loss .

Protein Diet Supplements for Weight Loss
The protein diet supplements you use to lose weight must contain adequate amounts of high quality protein, yet remain low in overall calories, carbohydrates and fat. In fact, high protein supplements will make NO difference with your weight loss unless taken in conjunction with a restricted calorie diet plan. Otherwise, the excess protein will be converted into fat just like any other energy source.

Taking a closer look, all protein consists of amino acids . When you eat foods (or protein diet supplements) that are high in protein, your body breaks down the protein into its amino acids and rebuilds them in specific sequences to form the structures it needs. However, your body can't make nine specific amino acids (called essential amino acids ), so it relies on your daily food intake for its necessary supply.

When on a weight reducing plan, the protein you ingest must have adequate amounts of essential as well as non essential amino acids to be effective for weight loss, and to maintain (healthy) lean body mass. Essential amino acids, such as Tyrosine (a precursor of catecholamine) and tryptophan (a precursor of serotonin) are vital for consistent, comfortable weight loss. In fact, the serotonin from tryptophan has been shown to work on the satiety (hunger) center in the brain.

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