Macronutrients are simply a protein, fat or carbohydrate – but how do they impact weight loss?
People often associate protein with muscle gain or bodybuilders, forgetting about the day-to-day requirements of the body. The amino acids (that make them) form the structural core of the human body and are the building blocks of all cells! They’re essential for almost every bodily function and contribute more than 20% of your total body composition. The body is constantly regenerating itself and requires a regular supply of protein to service the body’s needs. For maintenance of a healthy condition, your usage should be matched by the same level of consumption.
Proteins are not just for muscle gain; they are essential for almost every bodily function. They improve hormone balance, maintain blood sugar levels and accelerate recovery.
They are hugely important for…
- Body composition
- Recovery
- Strength
- Sports performance
- Overall health and wellbeing!
For body composition, they help maintain or increase muscle mass, which in turn can increase your resting metabolic rate. They improve metabolic hormone balance, help maintain blood sugar and insulin levels as well as reducing cravings for sugary foods. They also accelerate recovery which allows for more demanding training sessions with fewer rest days in-between. As well as being essential for body composition, proteins are beneficial for overall health with improvements in brain function, blood pressure, cardiovascular health, disease prevention, a reduced risk of osteoporosis and improved sleep. As well as all of the above, diets low in protein can cause adverse skin, nail and hair conditions.
Understanding this required supply of protein is important if you are an active sports person, gym user or someone looking to gain lean muscle mass, as the requirement is substantially higher than the average person in order to maximise performance and recovery. Your intake level is personal to YOU as variables such as age, gender, weight, training goals and physical activity will have an impact upon your own requirement. At FORM we start our one to one personal training and small group personal training clients with Phase One – Eating ‘Clean’ you will not be concentrating on hitting a specific amount of protein per day but rather ensuring that most meals contain a quality portion of protein. As you progress onto future phases we will delve deeper into personalised protein intakes for your training and fitness requirements.
Quality – eat well!
The quality of protein consumed is paramount. As the saying goes “you are what you eat” works twofold when it comes to meat.
What we mean by this is that, if the animal has been eating a poor quality diet and living in an unsuitable environment then consuming the meat of this animal will have a direct effect on your health. Choose good quality protein from a local source. You should ideally know a lot about the life of the animal and whether it will be a high quality source of meat.
In every animal, toxins are stored in their fat stores. This is why low quality meats are detrimental to your health and weight loss. There are a number of studies that conclude high fat proteins or red meats are bad for you. What is not mentioned is the quality of the meats used in these studies. Protein itself places stress on the liver, which combined with the possible toxins stored in the fats of that meat places increased stress on the liver inhibiting it from converting your body fat into a usable fuel source. For this reason, it is essential to buy good quality protein.
Frequency – eat right!
Many people working in the health and fitness industry suggest that increasing your meal frequency will increase your metabolic rate, and as a result increase your body’s rate of fat burning. Unfortunately, there is very little evidence to support this.
That said, there is reason to increase your meal frequency as long as these meals contain a source of protein. The digestion of protein increases the body’s ability to build muscle and prevents the catabolism (break-down) of muscle, both of which are important for fat loss. This anabolic (regenerating) affect from protein consumption lasts for roughly three to four hours.
It is this increased muscle mass which will play a part in an increased metabolism rather than the meal frequency itself. This is not to say that by increasing your protein frequency you are going to turn into a super muscly body builder!! It is important when on a calorie deficit diet that you try to lose as much fat as possible whilst preserving your muscle mass, and protein digestion can help with this preservation.
How much should you be eating?
1.2g of protein per 1lb of body weight will suit most looking for weight loss
If you want to keep it really simple aim for 1 palm sized piece of protein in each of your meals per day
Our personal trainer and nutritionist FORMULA recipe book is filled with protein-packed recipes tailored to your goals that will compliment a busy lifestyle.
