So you may ask how does protein contribute to fat loss? Doesn’t it build muscle?! Isn’t it for bodybuilders looking for weight gain? Why do I need it? I just want to lose fat! Protein…muscle……fat loss? Well, let me help you make sense of it all.

Protein has many responsibilities in the human body. First, protein is made up of amino acids. These amino acids help build and repair healthy cells in the body for hair, nails, skin, muscles, organs and bones. It also helps your immune system by forming molecules that help ward off disease. But without getting too scientific, let’s get to why protein aids in fat loss! After all that’s why you’re reading this, right?!

If you consume a serving of protein every 3-4 hours you help stabilize blood sugar levels by controlling the release of insulin. This provides you with more consistent energy throughout the day without those “dips” that occur frequently mid day. The reason why this happens is because protein is the most difficult nutrient to get broken down and requires substantial effort from your digestive system. The digestive system needs to break down these proteins in to amino acids that form dipeptides and tripeptides. These dipeptides and tripeptides need to get broken apart to complete the digestive process. Due to all this work, for every 100 calories of protein you ingest you burn 25 calories through digestion alone!

That’s just to get things started. It gets better! By consuming protein every 3-4 hours you’re providing the body with the necessary nutrients to help recover from your weight training workouts (which you should be doing by the way…… if fat loss is the goal!) to help boost metabolism, considering the amount of muscle on your body will dictate how many calories you’ll burn through a 24 hour period.

Now a great way to help speed the recovery process is to consume a “liquid” protein drink immediately after a workout. There are several benefits to this. Since it is a “liquid” your body is able to utilize these nutrients quickly for fast absorption that will aid in muscle repair. This will help keep you in a positive nitrogen balance so you don’t break down that valuable muscle tissue.

In the “real” world I know it’s difficult to get to meals frequently so an ideal way to get your nutrients in is to invest in a high quality meal replacement powder to help get those 5-6 meals in daily. Try to limit these to 1-2 servings per day. A supplement means the extra!

Many people are left confused in deciding which protein supplement is best. The supplement industry does an incredible job of “over hyping” these products. The latest rage the last several years has been “whey” protein. It’s been marketed as for “quick absorption” and of the highest biodegradable protein on the market. True, your body does process this protein very quickly. But you have to know how to use it. If you take this protein on an empty stomach without a mix of carbohydrates your body won’t be able to utilize this type of protein. It gets processed very quickly so your body doesn’t have time to absorb it. It would be like drinking water! Albeit, expensive water! Now, it is a good quality protein but ideally you want to have a protein blend such as casein and whey blended together. That way you create a “time-release” where your body can continually absorb the protein your ingesting for the next several hours.