Protein Powder and Weight Loss - Page 4

Organic,
Cycling and Low-Carbs is not a good way to go to loose weight. If you are doing any long distance riding you will Bonk (run out of energy) without carbs. The best way to be sure you work-out is optimal is to use a Heart Rate monitor and stay in your "Zone." As you become acclimated to riding longer, you should vary distance and intensity (long and short, spring days etc).

As far as protein goes...It is a must for repair. When I did some bodybuilding way back when...I would take in one gram per pound of body weight...for cycling you don't need that much, keep your protein to 5-10% of you total calories and you should be fine.

Best of luck, and when it comes to cycling, gender does not matter! It is a sport of self-punishment but the rewards are well worth it...

As far as seeing results, they will come, and you may even gain some weight af first (muscle weighs more than fat). Don't fret your legs will be beautyful.

Take care

T-Bolt Pilot

Do I detect a level of McDougall influence? He's been studying this for years and what you have there is pretty much what he recommends.

Yes, you do!

__________________
- Liz

I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants.
-A. Whitney Brown

http://www.famousveggie.com/quotes.cfm

e

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If you cant keep up, then you simply dont want to.

There are many benefits to a high protein diet for weightloss. For one, protein has the highest TEF(Thermic effect of food) at 30% compared to Carbs at 6% and fat at 3%. What this means is that if you eat 100 calories of protein your body will need 30% or 30 calories of energy just to digest and process those 100 calories of protein. So if you eat 100 calories of protein you will end up with a positive calorie balance of 70 calories. Carbs have a TEF of 6% so eating 100 calories of carbs yeilds a positive calories balance of 94 calories. Fat is 3% which would cause a positive calorie balance of 97 calories. If a person were to replace 400 calories of carbs in their diet with 400 calories of protein, they would burn an extra 96 calories a day. Protein causes the release of a hormone called Cholecystokinin(CCK). This hormone is your bodies own natural apetite supressant. When you eat protein your intestines make this hormone CCK. CCK then connects to the brain which causes apetite to decrease. carbs don't cause CCK release. Fat does, but not as much as protein. Another way protein helps to control apetite is that protein is digested much slower than carbs or fats. Since protein is digested slower, it sits in your stomach longer keeping you feeling full longer.




One of the biggest problems with losing weight is muscle loss. When you lose muscle your metabolism slows down. The average person loses about 20% of their weight as muscle loss.The reason for this is that when we are losing fat, a hormone called Leptin goes down. which causes Cortisol to go up and cortisol causes muscles to break down and be destroyed. Though our bodies build back this muscle almost as fast as its being destroyed. But our bodies need protein to build back the muscle. Think of muscle being like a brick wall. with cortisol being like a guy with a sledgehammer tearing down the wall.and then a brick layer building the wall back. the bricks would be like protein. If you can build back this brick wall(Muscle) as fast as its beind torn down the wall stays the same(no muscle loss). But this brick Layer can't build back the wall if he dosnt have enough bricks(protein). This is why their is a great need for protein on a diet or when losing weight.



Another problem with losing weight is that our thyroid hormones decrease which causes metabolism to slow down. Most of our Thyroid hormone T3 comes from the liver. The thyroid hormone T4 is made by the thyroid gland, but it then has to go to the liver to be converted to T3 to be effective. The Liver needs Glycogen(stored glucose) to do this process of converting T4 to T3. When we are on a low calorie diet our body quickly uses up liver glycogen for energy. which dosnt allow the glycogen needed to convert T4 to T3 and less T3 is made resulting in a lower metabolism. when we eat protein, 58% of it is actually converted to glucose through a process in the liver called gluconeogenesis. Unlike glucose from carbs the glucose made from protein mostly stays in the liver and makes liver glycogen. More liver glycogen means more energy needed to convert T4 into T3 and keep our metabolism stong.



Those are a few of the benefits of a higher protein diet while dieting or losing weight. Oh, and protein dosn't cause kidney damage in healthy people. People who already have severe kidney damage shouldn't be on a high protein diet. For healthy people its perfectly ok. All of the studies done on healthy people showed no kidney problems at all. The whole thing about kidney damage and protein came from the fact that high protein diets can further damage the kidneys in a person who all ready has kidney damage. Just because something is bad for a person with a certain health problem dosn't mean its bad for a healthy person. Example, a high carb diet might be bad for a diabetic. That dosn't mean a high carb diet is bad for a healthy athlete.

Thank you for the wonderful information, BiochemGuy. It would appear that you've spent some time really doing your homework on the subject. Although I still believe that most people already consume more protein than they need, (at least in developed countries), your information fills in a lot of the blanks such as why the body's metabolism slows when trying to lose weight. That, of course, makes losing weight even more difficult which would seem to be the body fighting a process which would bring it back to a healthier state which is counterintuitive. Now, with your explanation, it finally makes some sense.

I did want to clarify one thing, though. Your comments on the potential or lack of potential for kidney damage is certainly correct in as far as what results most people will see. But the reason for that has a bit more behind it. Prolonged intake of excess protein will damage kidney tissue, specifically the lumen, whether you start with healthy kidneys or not. The key is that the kidneys have far more lumen than they need to perform their function. People who have destroyed up to 75% of the lumen in their kidneys have still shown normal urine output and a perfectly normal and healthy ability to filter the blood. Much more than that and kidney function begins to be an issue. Since healthy people have more lumen than they need, it's easy to jump to the conclusion that the damage done from excessive protein consumption is negligible, which is almost the case. But after years of consuming excess protein, if additional lumen is lost to an accident or disease, the lost lumen might mean the difference between maintaining sufficient kidney function and insufficient kidney function. To my mind, destroying healthy body tissues, especially those in the vital organs which the body can't regenerate, isn't to be recommended.

Origanic, I advise a fair number of folks on diet. We have done many research studies on low carb diets. The comments below are from the anecdotes I hear from patients enrolled in formal research studies. A strict low carb diet is very hard for physically active folks. On your days of long rides (and probably the night before), you are going to need some extra carbs. As far as your specific question re powders, certain protein powders could be good for you. The Whey-based protein powders will have less carbohydrate than many of the other very high protein powders designed especially for buidling muscle mass and weight. My suggestion would be two scoops of protein powder in water for breakfast. Because a low-carb diet can be constipating, you can even add a teaspoon of sugar-free metamucil to your morning drink. The liquid can be water, or you could use an unsweetened soy milk (lower carbohydrate). I've found that putting this in an extra-large glass and using a hand-held drink blender works great for making it a palatable texture. If you use water, you might try drinking it over ice.


--If you are not losing weight, the cause is very simple. You are taking in more calories than you burn up! You said you love carbs, so my guess is that you are simply eating too much. Try cutting out some of your starches, refined processed foods, ice cream and sweets.

Protein by itself does not promote weight loss. Nor does protein by itself cause you to build muscle. Protein is used to repair muscle. It is resistance training (like weight lifting) that builds muscle. The muscles are broken down and then repaired (using protein) and hopefully come back bigger than before.
Calorie intake controls weight loss. A calorie is a calorie regardless of the source. The fact that you are seeing toning without weight loss probably means that you are replacing intramuscular and some subcutaneous fat with lean muscle. That is a good thing. Protein is not a bad thing. It is important. How many calories do you think you are consuming a day? Women should not drop under 1200 calories a day. Most Americans do consume more protein that they need. Even for a vegan or vegetarian it is not very difficult to get adequate protein.

Here are the ratios I use for my own weight loss program
Fat - 30% no more that 10% of these are saturated fats.
Carbs - 54%
Protein - 16%

I have used protein powders as meal replacements, but only for the purposes of calorie reduction. That is what will make you lose weight.

Remember, there are lots of ways to lose weight, but what you should really aim for is to lose fat. It sounds like you are doing pretty well in that department.

Hope this helps.