One of the most popular eating plans today is the high-protein diet. The idea behind this plan is that protein is essential nutrition for building muscle, losing fat and promoting a lean body. Making these kinds of changes requires giving the body extra portions of protein to do the work.
Protein is the body’s essential building block for muscle. Professional body builders have eaten high-protein diets for years to increase muscle mass. Weight lifting and strength training breaks down muscles; protein is needed to rebuild and repair the muscles, which is what increases both their mass and their strength.
On the other hand, a high protein diet helps people lose weight because it restricts carbohydrates, which turn into sugar into the body, and saturated fats. A high-protein diet encourages the body to build muscle, which uses calories more efficiently than fat cells do.
High-protein diets typically center on large amounts of meats, the natural form of protein. Those recommended for a high-protein diet include chicken, turkey, lean beef, fish of any kind and egg whites.
Fitness trainers recommend that those seeking to build muscle on a high-protein diet consume anywhere from .5 grams to 2 grams of protein per pound of body weight. The suggest midrange is 1 gram per pound of body weight. As an example, this translates to eating 130 grams of protein daily to have a 130-pound body weight.
Most people can’t consume enough natural protein in a day to meet this requirement. That’s where protein supplements come in. Trainers recommend that body builders add protein shakes and bars to their eating plan.
Shakes are made from protein powder mixed with any liquid. On average, 2 scoops of protein powder will provide 30-plus grams of protein. Protein bars also average around 30-plus grams of protein as well.
Finally, many fitness experts contend that when protein is consumed, it makes a difference in building muscle. They urge body builders to eat protein first thing in the morning, immediately after a workout, and before going to bed.
Those who are building muscle, or trying to lose body fat, need to give their bodies a constant supply of protein to meet these goals. That’s why trainers say to eat protein every 3 hours, so that a body that’s busy making muscle has all the building blocks it needs.
|