protein— why its important if YOU'RE active and how to use it to your benefit

Protein is one of the most talked about topics in the coaching world. Almost everyone wants to know how they can increase their protein consumption for weight loss and muscle gain and how to be stronger. What most people don’t know however is that they actually need to be working out and using their muscles in order to lose body fat and gain lean muscle.

Many people are told and come to explaining that they want to lose body fat but they were told to just increase their protein without actually changing their lifestyle or eating a better diet first or becoming more active and doing resistance training. While eating protein is not at all bad and your body needs it for muscle maintenance, it can cause extra body fat, so unwanted weight gain, in the body of individuals who are mostly sedentary. Proteins primary is muscle maintenance and tissue and cell repair of muscles. So if there is nothing to repair and the individual has a carb heavy diet, it turns into body fat.

Many people are also told that they can just supplement with protein powders and protein bars for weight loss, and while these are healthy for busy and very active people to get their protein intake in for the day, its not essentially helpful if youre not using your muscles. I would reccomend only if you’re really in a pinch and you need something satiating to hold you over but it doesn’t and shoudnt’t be replacing any of your fiber packed meals or fruits and vegetables.

Protein is esspecially important for individuals who are working out, resistance training, using weights, cardio or just very physically demanding to their muscles quite often. It can help repair the muscles and build new lean muscle as it repairs. For super active indicuals who get muscle soreness in their body, it can help with that as well as your body uses that protein to become stronger leading to stronger bones and muscles. But, it’s really essential to exercise, otherwise it’s just a waste of money on expensive shakes and bars.

For sedentary individuals the ideal rule of thumb is to have around 0.8 grams of protein per your ideal body weight in kilograms. So if you weigh 200 pounds but your ideal body weight is 16o, that’s about 72 kilogram. And 0.8 grams per kilogram is only 57 grams of protein. That would be a diet of 3-4 eggs in the morning on a multigrain toast with avocado slices, a cup of cottage cheese or yogurt for lunch with seeds and nuts and berries. For dinner, if you’re eating meat would be a small 6 oz steak with a side of vegetables and perhaps some potaoes. There is no need to taking in crazy amounts of protein from shakes and bars if your body is not using it and your trying to lose weight.

For healthy weight loss I would suggest to eat healthier, exercise and have enough protein. That is good for healthy weight loss and lean muscle gain.

Protein intake for the active person, its recommended to be eating about 1.2-1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of ideal body weight. So if your ideal body weight is 160 pounds, or 72 kilograms then your ideal protein intake per day is between 86.4 to 122.4 on the very active side. Now, it could be beneficial to be supplementing with a protein shake in addition to your healthy diet to help you get to your protein goals.

A sample high protein day of about 100 grams could be eggs on multigrain toast with avocado or yogurt for breakfast with nuts and seeds. It could be a protein shake after your workout and a salmon filet for dinner with quinoa and greens and lentils.

The trick to consuming protein is to make sure that your body is actually using it and if your muscles are active, then making sure that you get enough. Lots of people think that they just need to up their protein because it’s become so trendy but again, it’s important to also workout and eat healthy for optimal full body wellness and longevity!