Losing a significant amount of fat is no cakewalk. It can take a fair amount of time, requires a lot of effort and complete dedication. It also requires a certain amount of dietary knowledge: food to include, grub to snub, etc. Keeping fat loss on the fast track and not stalling then, is vital. The sooner it’s all over and done with, the better. Modern trends to dieting tend to emphasize high protein, so what about whey protein for weight loss? Can it really make a worthwhile difference, or is it simply a gimmick to suck more money out of your pocket? It’s not what you may think…
Why diets high in protein are good for fat loss…
Prior to getting into the why’s of whey, it’s important to first explain exactly why protein is so important for fat loss, period. It’s rather simple: protein is essential for muscle growth and repair. Muscle mass is largely responsible for regulating the metabolism – the rate at which your body burns energy (fat, in this case). This is because muscle mass requires calories to stay the same size. Yes – just by having muscle mass, you are burning calories. Which in turn means, the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you can burn, and the faster you can lose fat.
A crucial mistake most people make when they begin losing fat is that they eat so little they virtually starve themselves – and starve their muscle mass. The muscle disappears, so they lose weight, but, they don’t necessarily lose much weight from fat – it’s largely muscle weight they lose. In turn, the metabolism slows down and your fat burning potential is greatly reduced. This is not what you want at all. Therefore, you need to eat enough to continue feeding the muscle, but not enough to feed the fat.
Back to protein – the muscles are comprised mostly of protein, so by eating a diet high in protein and exercising (I recommend weight lifting) you help to maintain muscle mass so you can lose fat extra quick.
So why whey protein for weight loss? Why not any old protein?
Any old protein is certainly better than none, but the truth is proteins are created very unequally, and also have very different properties. Some are bona fide muscle mass producers – complete proteins – whereas others aren’t: incomplete proteins. Some are slow releasing; some fast. Some are even more absorbable by the muscles than others.
When it comes to building muscle or losing fat whey protein stands head and shoulders above all other proteins for several reasons. Firstly, whey protein is both a complete protein which means it contains everything – all essential amino acids – needed to build muscle. Secondly, it’s fast acting, so after a workout or in the morning after fasting during sleep you can get a good hit of protein into you system to replenish and repair the muscles. Thirdly, it’s the most absorbable protein known to man, sporting the highest biological value; so you know that when you use whey protein for weight loss your muscles really are absorbing every bit of it and making use of it, unlike a lot of other proteins which pale in comparison.
Using whey protein weight loss needn’t be a long and drawn out affair. Remember: the key to losing weight is to lose fat, not muscle. Keep the muscle mass and the fat will vanish as quickly as a thief in the night.