Not a Pound or an Inch

Diets containing more protein can reduce the drop in metabolic rate seen with low calorie diets.

To lose fat, you need to cut down on calories, to consume less energy than you expend. But. Here is the problem. Your body responds to this drop in food intake by slowing your metabolic rate, to keep you alive, which makes fat loss increasingly difficult.

Our ancestors had to deal with large variations in the availability of food. Those who survived were the ones whose bodies could adjust to this fluctuation in food availability. Those, whose bodies couldn’t adjust, died.

The result?

Our bodies want to hold on to our stores of energy for survival. It thus preserves fat by lowering the metabolic rate whenever food intake drops.

High protein diets reduce the drop in metabolic rate, and also lead to a greater feeling of fullness.

Dr Scott Connelly writes in, "Body Rx: pages 18-19…."Why do MASS protein? To escape fat-storage mode, you have to eat more protein.

If you want to shut down your metabolism and stay in fat-storage mode permanently, stay on the standard diet prescription- the high-carb, low-protein, low-calorie, low-fat diet. Protein is the key metabolic currency of the body. Your body was designed to run on it. Protein molecules drive all the chemical reactions involved in the breakdown and absorption of food, including carbohydrates and fat. In other words, protein drives virtually all aspects of metabolism. Many studies, including some of my own, show that simply adding protein to your diet turns on your fat-burning/muscle-building switch, even if you make no other lifestyle changes. When I gave one group of body builders extra protein along with their normal diet, they gained two times as much muscle mass as a second group of bodybuilders doing exactly the same workout and eating the same diet but without the extra protein. When you’re stuck in fat-storage mode, you need a powerful protein boost to jump-start your metabolism back into fat-burning mode. In most cases, you cannot easily get enough protein from food alone to do the job. To fill the protein gap, in addition to increasing protein consumption through food, I recommend a daily high-potency protein powder. It is a simple, safe, efficient way to repair your metabolism and build a lean, shapely body."

Muscle uses more calories to maintain itself than fat. Peole who are more muscular (and have a lower percentage of body fat) are said to have a higher metabolism than others that are less muscular.

Begin to exercise and stop dieting. You can increase your muscle mass by doing some type of resistance work (i.e. lifting weights, using exertubes, rubberbands, dynabands, hand weights, etc…). You can also decrease your level of body fat by doing some type of aerobic exercise at least 3 days a week for longer than 20 minutes. This is exercise such as walking, jogging, step aerobics, hi/low aerobics, biking, swimming, etc, that will increase your heartrate and keep it there for the duration of the exercise session. You also need to eat! Do not diet, jus****ch the types of foods you eat, and drink your protein!!

If you eat a very low calorie diet, your metabolism will slow down in order for your body to survive (your body thinks it is starving).