Why You Need Proteins To Boost Your Fitness Results
My story in short
Who doesn’t want to be or get in great shape. Maybe you work out regularly, but still don’t see results? You think that you can get in shape without paying attention to what you eat? Nope!
Getting in shape isn’t only about fitness. A huge part how you feel and look is nutrition! I’ve always worked out and have done sports as I love it, but the past 2-3 years I still gained weight! I didn’t pay too much attention to what I ate, which really pointed out to me that I “had” to do something about it. First I changed my mindset and secondly my eating habits as 20% is fitness, 80% nutrition.
I decided at the beginning of this year to become leaner and lose some weight at the same time. Instead of counting calories, I concentrated on the right diet. In total I’ve lost 8 kg (about 18 lbs).
One key figure I changed was the protein intake every day! To make things easier, I supplemented two meals with a protein shake. What diet I followed, I will write about soon.
Today I would like to talk about the importance of protein for a healthy diet, to which you can stick for your life. If you don’t fuel your body with healthy food, you won’t see results by just working out. But what do you need? What’s important?
What do you need?
It’s simple what you need! Good carbs, fats and most of all PROTEINS! It doesn’t sound complicated, right? It isn’t complicated!
Good carbs will provide you with energy. Proteins will help you build lean muscles mass and keep your energy level up. Also important are low sugar fruits vegetables.
Why do you need protein every day?
Many people are dieting, counting calories and believe that this will lead them to their body goals. Of course, it’s import that you don’t eat more calories as you burn during the day. More important though, is what you eat.
Your muscles and organs, are all made from proteins. Proteins are essential for the development of cells in your body. Food-based proteins are used by every part of the body in order for cells to develop, grow, and function properly. Adequate consuming protein is essential for you cellular building block!
What happens when you you don’t eat enough proteins?
Loss of Muscles mass:
Very important for building muscles mass is protein. If you have insufficient intake of proteins, your muscles will degrade quickly. And girls, you won’t bulk up eating proteins. Your body degrades protein quickly. So you need to consume protein in order to support the continuous production and supply of this cellular foundation.
Your body breaks down its own proteins to collect amino acids. Muscles contain a large amount of protein and they are a choice location for amino acid withdrawal. So if you have a lack proteins over some time, your muscles will diminish. This is also very important for women as older as they get. Women lose muscle mass a lot faster than men. So, girls, it’s important to get enough protein into your body!
2. Hair and Nails
Low protein consumption may also be a cause for thin hair and breaking nails. Your hair and nails contain a special protein called keratin. If you don’t have enough of this protein in your body, thin and slow-growing hair can be one of the results as well. In most cases, if you level up your protein intake, hair and nails will return to normal.
3. Increased susceptibility to infection and recovery
Insufficient protein consumption can lead to a weakened immune system response, while the ability to recover from infections is also jeopardized if your body has a low protein level.
Where to find proteins?
So many good tasting foods contains protein. Here are some examples:
Fish
Meat (chicken and turkey have less calories)
Eggs
Milk and any products made of milk like:
Cheese
Yoghurt: Greek Yoghurt or Skyr
Cereals and pulses
Grain
Nuts as Cashews and Almonds
Combine Proteins
To get the best results it’s so important to combine proteins with carbs and fats. Anything your body is missing, will be taken from elsewhere , most likely from your muscles. That’s want you want to avoid.
At the beginning I mentioned that I added some shakes. Even though I’m don’t want to lose weight anymore, I’m having one shake every morning. This protein shake boosts my metabolism and is packed with proteins, great minerals and vitamins.
Do you have any questions? Contact me. I’m here for you to help you stay or get in shape!
XO Cordula