HOW PROTEIN SUPPLEMENTS CAN IMPROVE YOUR RESULTS
“A protein shake a day keeps the doctor away.”
Conventionally, this statement advocated for the health benefits of apples; however, with advancement in the dietary supplements industry, protein supplements have conquered the same place.
Protein supplements were initially popular among body-builders, who strived to increase their muscle mass, but gradually, they became popular among the common people for weight loss, muscle gain, sports performance improvement, injury recovery, and overall well-being.
“So, what about the meat, fish, eggs, and other food sources that I take?”
While meat, fish, eggs, milk, legumes, and other plant sources do contain a good amount of proteins, protein shakes and supplements have gained fame for being highly rich in this nutrient.
Thus, if you’re not able to reach your protein goal with the food you take, or you don’t have these food sources available nearby, protein shakes are the way to go. They’ll boost the amount of protein in your blood, to help you achieve your daily protein target.
The Building Blocks For Muscle Mass
Protein supplements are rich in amino acids, the small units that synthesize proteins in your body.
Whenever you sip up a glass of protein shake, a gush of amino acids in your blood triggers the formation of muscle protein fibers.
Dietary supplementation along with resistance training has shown a remarkable acceleration in muscle mass gain in many research studies. In a study conducted in the UK, 20g of whey protein combined with resistance exercise augmented muscle protein synthesis by 49%.
Even if you’re surfing on your weight loss journey, protein supplements will help you retain, and may even promote your muscle gain. In an experimental study published in the Nutrition & Metabolism journal, people who took protein supplements were found to lose more fat, and retain their lean mass than the control group.
Therefore, if you’re aiming to lose fat or to gain some lean muscle mass, protein supplementation would aid in either case.
Helping In Your Weight Loss Struggle
Protein supplements have been known to help in weight reduction, but how?
Protein stimulates the production of hunger-reducing hormones in your blood. Peptide tyrosine-tyrosine (PYY), and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) are two such hormones that exaggerate in your blood as soon as you eat a fulfilling meal or you take a protein supplement.
The feeling of fullness that you get is because these hormones decrease your hunger drive, and also delay the emptying of your stomach contents.
And what’s more? Protein supplementation also reduces the appetite-stimulator ghrelin in your blood, making you fall less for the appealing delicious meals.
Increasing your energy expenditure is another way to lose weight.
What happens when you intake a large amount of protein?
Your body decides to metabolize those proteins, but for that, it needs to burn a greater amount of calories than it does for glucose or fats.
It also helps you burn extra calories through gluconeogenesis, a process where glucose is synthesized from proteins or fats in the absence of carbs.
A study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported that the subjects who took a high-protein, and low carbs diet had a 42% increase in their calorie consumption due to the process of gluconeogenesis. Also, 33% of the glucose produced, was consumed in the process.
Thus, if you were still confused if protein supplements actually worked for weight loss, you’ve got the answer now!
Belly fat is the nightmare that most people want to get rid of.
However, losing it isn’t only important for aesthetic reasons, but for protecting you from heart diseases and Diabetes that are strongly linked with it.
Well, protein supplements are a savior here too!
High protein diets and supplements have been shown to increase fat metabolism in various studies. In a study highlighted in the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, protein was found to be inversely related to the central abdominal fat, i.e. the better the quality and the intake of proteins, the more belly fat you’ll lose.
“So, More protein shakes = More weight loss?”
Reading this blog till now might actually make you think that bombarding your body with protein supplements would actually make you lose more weight.
This isn’t completely true!
While protein supplements have a strong role in your weight loss struggle, there’s an even more important aspect that you need to take care of- your calorie intake.
Losing weight is only possible if you keep your body in a calorie deficit, which can be done by decreasing your intake or increasing your calorie expenditure, or a combination of both.
Protein supplements might decrease your food cravings, but they do add 4 calories to your body for each gram you take. Thus, flooding your stomach with protein supplements might actually mean overfeeding your body with calories, leading to a weight gain instead of the opposite.
So, what can you do to be on the right track??
“Calories in – calories out.”
To increase your calorie expenditure, you must indulge in workouts. A combination of cardio exercises and resistance training can actually help you lose weight while strengthening your muscle mass.
So, what’s the bottom line?
For the ones who had a doubt about the effectiveness of protein supplements, you now know that their weight loss and muscle gain benefits aren’t rumors.
Protein-rich diets have been proven to significantly increase muscle protein synthesis, and aid in your weight reduction regimen, by decreasing your hunger, increasing metabolism, and decreasing belly fat.
However, if you’re not able to achieve your daily protein target with your diet, then protein shakes, powders, or supplements are the best boosters.
With careful monitoring of your calorie intake, accompanied by cardio exercises and/ or resistance training you can actually speed up your weight loss or muscle gain journey without a doubt!
