Adequate protein intake aids weight loss

PROTEIN 

Protein is one of the basic building blocks of the human body, making up about 16 percent of our total body weight. Muscle, hair, skin, and connective tissue are mainly made up of protein. 

Proteins are made up of smaller units called amino acids. Our bodies can manufacture most of the needed amino acids, but nine of them must be gotten from our diets. Animal proteins such as meat, eggs, and dairy products have all the amino acids, and many plants have some of them.

It is important to remember when you are cutting calories in order to lose weight that you should NOT cut back on protein foods. Instead, start by cutting out empty calories such as sweets and sweetened beverages. Next, cut way back on fried foods. If you're still looking for calories to cut, scale down your portions of bread, pasta, cereals, and other grain-based foods.  

One reason that we want to make sure we are taking in adequate protein when we try to lose weight is that we want to lose extra fat rather than muscle tissue.  In a recent study researchers wanted to see if increasing the amount of protein in the diet might protect against muscle loss during weight loss. And it turns out, it does!

For the study they divided a bunch of overweight people into three groups. One group ate the recommended Daily Allowance for protein, which amounts to about 10% of calories, or 50g per day. The second group ate twice that much and a third group ate 3 times that much.  All of these diets, by the way, fell within the Institute of Medicine's acceptable range of 10-35% of calories from protein.

Then, the researchers put all three groups on a calorie-restricted diet (where each group ate different percentages of protein but ate an equal low total amounts of calories) The results showed that all 3 groups lost about the same amount of weight--approximately 2 pounds a week. But there was one big difference....

The group that ate 20% of their calories from protein(which translates to about 100 grams or approximately 3/4 of a gram per pound of body weight) lost less muscle and more fat than the group eating half that much. 

This means that more of that hard won weight loss was actually due to fat loss. Also more muscle tissue is left behind to burn up calories, making that weight loss easier to maintain. But there is no need to go over board! The group that was eating the most protein (30% of calories) didn't do any better than the folks in the middle group.

So the question is are we eating sufficient amounts of protein daily?

Calculate Protein Needs

To determine your daily protein needs, you must first know your weight in kg. To convert your body weight into kg, simply divide your weight in lb by 2.2. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends 0.8 g of protein per kilogram of body weight for healthy individuals. If you are under stress or moderately to vigorously active, use a number between 1.1 and 1.8 per day. To calculate your protein needs, multiply your weight in kg by the number of g of protein you require each day. For example, if you are a healthy individual and weigh 70 kg, your protein needs would be 56 g of protein per day. If you are moderately active and weight 85 kg, you need 99 g of protein daily.

And did you know you can customize your myfitnesspal? 

To change what nutrients are tracked: Go to settings/ click on diary settings/ click on change and you can track the nutrients you are concerned about 

To change what number you are attempting to reach in any nutrient category: go to Home/ click on Goals/ Click on Change Goals

So you have probably guessed that our challenge for this week is:

1. Calculate how many grams of protein you should be eating per day.

2. Adjust myfitnesspal if needed to track you toward that number

3. For every day that you eat adequate protein you earn the daily 5 challenge points

You might want to look over our previous weeks and see if you generally eat enough protein. I eat very little meat so I fall short most days. I guess that’s why I chose this challenge. If you always get enough and will automatically earn the points this week you might want to unofficially challenge yourself to get the adequate amounts in another nutrient category.

Planking

Planking

You have probably heard people refer to “Core exercise”. The term core refers to your body minus your legs and arms. Functional movements are highly dependent on the core, and lack of core development can result in a predisposition to injury. In fact in many cases when you fall and incur injury (sprained wrist or ankle, broken arm, hip etc.) disaster doesn’t come because you tripped. Instead it happens because you tripped and were unable to right your course and catch yourself. Your core muscles were too weak to come to your aid so you plummeted all the way to the pavement.

Core exercises are an important part of a well-rounded fitness program. Aside from occasional sit-ups and push-ups, however, core exercises are often neglected. Still, it pays to get your core muscles — the muscles around your trunk and pelvis — in better shape. Read on to find some ideas shared by the Mayo clinic.

1. Core exercises improve your balance and stability Core exercises train the muscles in your pelvis, lower back, hips and abdomen to work in harmony. This leads to better balance and stability, whether on the playing field or in daily activities. In fact, most sports and other physical activities depend on stable core muscles.

2. Core exercises can help tone your abs Want more-defined abdominal muscles? Core exercises are important. Although it takes aerobic activity to burn abdominal fat, core exercises can strengthen and tone the underlying muscles.

3. Strong core muscles make it easier to do most physical activities Strong core muscles make it easier to do everything from swinging a golf club to getting a glass from the top shelf or bending down to tie your shoes. Weak core muscles leave you susceptible to poor posture, lower back pain and muscle injuries. (Note back pain is often the result of weak abdominal muscles—your poor back is having to make up for what your abdominal core muscles aren’t able to do) 

4. Core exercises can help you reach your fitness goals Aerobic exercise and muscular fitness are the primary elements of most fitness programs. But to have a truly well-rounded fitness program, you should include core exercises in the mix as well. 

5. Core strength needs to be safeguarded as you age. My girlfriend Gail and I often visit our 100 year old friend Lorna. Back when she was in her 90's and more able to do things she  could be sore for days if she did something as simple as step up on a stepstool to dust something. On the other hand when my daughter was a Pilates teacher she had her class doing a plank challenge –"HOLD A PLANK FOR 3 FULL MINUTES" she instructed. An older gentleman in the class (in his 60’s) said “My wife and I can plank for 6 minutes”. The whole class was impressed and after they dropped out at 3 minutes the gentleman went on to plank for 6 minutes and his wife continued to 7. (He explained he can go to 7 also but if he goes to 7 she tries to go to 8 and he didn’t want her to hurt herself.)

So what is your challenge for the week? I would like you to practice planking every day and I hope you will continue this challenge beyond this week and complete this monthly challenge. (Note I have a young friend that makes it a practice to plank every day before her morning shower- a great way to keep up with core strength)

I am including 5 levels of planking so you can begin where you must. Remember it’s not where you are at now but that you begin to make dedicated daily positive progress. For each day that you give your best effort to planking you earn the 5 daily bonus points.