Protein Is Crucial For Fat Loss!

Written by Nick Nilsson


Protein Is Crucial For Fat Loss! - Part 1 I Didn’t Realize How Important Protein Was For Fat Loss Until I Discovered Something That Blew My Mind...

The year was 1992. I had just finished a long cycle of weight gain whereupon I had moved my bodyweight up from about 150 pounds to about 215 pounds. And let me just tell you, it wasn’t all muscle!

I hadn’t been all that careful about my diet previously but I thought I knew pretty well what I was doing. It was time to lose some of that fat.

The first thing I did was makerepparttar biggest mistake a dieter can make: in my focus of trying to eat only low fat foods, I unwittingly and drastically reducedrepparttar 115746 amount of protein that I was eating.

The result? I lost weight and plenty of it. The problem was, I lost mostly muscle! I was smaller, weaker, lighter and nearly as fat as I was before. Not quiterepparttar 115747 results I was looking for.

In retrospect, I know exactly what I did wrong and it’s something I’ll never do again.

I FORGOT ABOUT PROTEIN!

Protein is an extremely important nutrient whether your goal is to lose fat, gain muscle or just tone yourself up. It isrepparttar 115748 main structural nutrient in your body, making uprepparttar 115749 bulk of your muscles and organs. Protein is essential for proper hormone function and immune system health.

Most importantly, for our purposes, protein is used for building and repairing muscle tissue.

When you are trying to lose fat, you reduce your calories. Unfortunately, your body views fat stores as more precious than your muscle tissue and will tend to eat up muscle tissue before it goes to fat for energy. This physiological adaptation used to protect our ancestors from famine but works against us now.

This is very unfortunate because muscle tissue is a great calorie-burner. The more muscle you have,repparttar 115750 more calories you burn even when you’re doing absolutely nothing! Protecting your muscle tissue makes fat loss so much easier, it will amaze you. Not only that, it will help you keep that fat off permanently!

What can you do to protect your muscle tissue?

The first thing you can do is exercise. Exercise, especially resistance training, provides a stimulus for your body that sends it a signal saying "keep this muscle, you’re going to need it."

The second thing you can do is provide your body with enough protein. This can be inrepparttar 115751 form of food or supplements.

Good food sources of protein include chicken, fish, eggs, lean meats, legumes (beans), soy, and dairy products. Protein supplements are derived from food sources but are concentrated for convenience and effectiveness.

How much protein do you need?

The standard recommendation for athletes is between 1.2 to 1.7 grams per kilogram of bodyweight per day (or 0.5 to 0.7 grams per pound of bodyweight per day), though some research indicates a ratio as high as 2 grams per kilogram of bodyweight per day (0.9 grams per pound) is beneficial. This means if you weigh 150 pounds, you should try to eat between 75 and 105 grams and up to around 135 grams of protein per day.

Essentially, you should experiment with your protein intake to find out what works best for you. As far as importance in your supplement program goes, I would rank protein as next in importance to a good multi-vitamin.

When I made my first grand attempt at fat loss, I maderepparttar 115752 mistake of neglecting protein and it cost me. Don’t makerepparttar 115753 same mistake I did!

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Protein Is Crucial For Fat Loss! - Part 2

How to Maximize The Results You Get From Your Protein Powder. Timing Is Everything!

Whether it be for fat loss or muscle gain, I always recommend taking a good protein supplement. The reason for this is simple: it is a convenient way to get high-quality protein without excess calories.

Be aware, however, that in no way am I advocating that you live on protein powder (likerepparttar 115754 dangerous Liquid Protein diets that used to be popular) alone. The key point to understand here is that a protein supplement is exactly whatrepparttar 115755 name suggests: a supplement. It should be taken in addition to a nutritious diet in order to achieve a certain purpose, in this case increased protein intake.

Protein powders and protein bars can also be used as meal replacements on occasion, especially when you are onrepparttar 115756 go. They are far more nutritious than a fast food meal and more convenient.

The most popular and highest quality protein powder is whey protein. Whey is very digestable and is used efficiently inrepparttar 115757 body.

You can maximizerepparttar 115758 effects you get from your protein supplement simply by knowing exactly when to take it. Here is a list ofrepparttar 115759 when, why and how of effective protein supplementation, ranked in order of importance.

1. Immediately After A Workout

If you only take protein once per day, this isrepparttar 115760 absolute best time to take it. Immediately after you finish your workout, your body needs raw materials to rebuild and recover with. If you don’t supplyrepparttar 115761 raw materials through eating, your body will break down muscle from elsewhere in your body in order to rebuildrepparttar 115762 damaged areas. This is very counterproductive as you can well imagine.

By taking in some protein (20 to 30 grams or so) within minutes after exercise, you provide your body withrepparttar 115763 raw materials it needs to recover without breaking down it’s own muscle tissue.

2. An Hour After A Workout

About an hour following a workout, your body has settled down fromrepparttar 115764 excitement and is ready to really start rebuilding. The protein that you took in immediately followingrepparttar 115765 workout has been metabolized and your body is looking for more. Another protein shake at this time is a good way to help speed recovery. Try to take in another 20 to 30 grams about an hour after working out.

3. First Thing In The Morning

Immediately upon waking, or as soon after that as you can manage, take a scoop of protein powder. Your body has just been through an (approximately) 8 hour fast and is hungry for nutrients. Feed your body!

The Most Amazing (and Ridiculously Simple) Trick For Stiff-Legged Deadlifts You Will Ever Read In Your Life!

Written by Nick Nilsson


The stiff-legged deadlift is one ofrepparttar best exercises you can do for your hamstrings. The only problem is, it can also be onerepparttar 115745 hardest exercises to perform properly.

For years, I tried to feel my hamstrings working when I didrepparttar 115746 stiff-legged deadlift. I knew it wasrepparttar 115747 best exercise to workrepparttar 115748 hip extension function ofrepparttar 115749 hamstrings but I never succeeded in feeling my hams work until I came up with this simple technique.

Let me tell you,repparttar 115750 very rep ofrepparttar 115751 very first set I used this technique on, I could feel my hamstrings like never before! It was like a revelation. It was also extraordinarily simple. I guarantee if you’ve never had success with stiff-legged deadlifts, you will definitely have it after applying this technique.

The trick? Elevate your toes on weight plates while you dorepparttar 115752 exercise. That’s it! It’s very simple but very elegant inrepparttar 115753 way it addressesrepparttar 115754 kinesiology and anatomy ofrepparttar 115755 hamstrings. I will explain exactly how to set it up andrepparttar 115756 mechanisms of why it works so incredibly well.

How To Do It:

Set two 25-pound weight plates onrepparttar 115757 ground butted up against each other (one for each foot). They should be right beneathrepparttar 115758 barbell you will be using forrepparttar 115759 exercise and placed side-by-side so you can set your feet on both of them.

Stand in front ofrepparttar 115760 barbell with your feet half onrepparttar 115761 plates and half off. The front parts of your feet will be onrepparttar 115762 plates and your heels will be onrepparttar 115763 ground. Userepparttar 115764 weight plates to brace your feet up so that your toes are up inrepparttar 115765 air and your feet are flexed up (known as dorsiflexion). Atrepparttar 115766 end of this article you will find a link to a picture of how to set up this exercise.

Bend over and grasprepparttar 115767 bar at about shoulder width with an overhand grip. Keep your knees locked but slightly bent while doing this exercise and keep a tight arch in your lower back.

Look directly forward while you are coming up and going back down. This will help you to keep an arch in your lower back.

Squeezerepparttar 115768 bar offrepparttar 115769 ground slowly and deliberately, coming up only until your upper body is slightly above parallel. Any higher and you’ll start to lose tension inrepparttar 115770 hamstrings and throw it on your lower back. The real value of this exercise lies inrepparttar 115771 stretch atrepparttar 115772 bottom anyways.

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