If you’re looking to steadily lose weight the healthy way, then try using two shakes a day to help reduce your calorie intake. Unlike fad diets, you won’t starve yourself. You won’t sabotage hard-earned muscle or spend a fortune on prepared meals or diet systems. And you’ll get healthier in the process.
Keep your calorie intake to about 500 less per day than your breakeven calorie level and you’ll lose one pound of fat a week. It’s a very livable plan that’s backed up by research. Adjust your carb intake to lose weight faster or slower. Be sure to exercise at least four times a week.
Choosing the Right Protein for Weight Loss
The foundation of your shake will be a high quality protein powder mixed into water. Add about 20-30 grams of protein per shake. Which should you choose? A combination of whey and casein protein has the best diet research results. The combination is ideal for optimizing metabolism and controlling appetite.
Studies show how much you’ll lose
Compelling research shows that drinking 1-2 shakes a day can help you lose weight and keep it off.
Two whey shakes a day and lose 5 pounds of fat
A clinical trial published in the Journal of Nutrition tracked the body weight of 90 overweight men and women during 23 weeks of drinking two shakes a day. No other instructions on what to eat were given. They drank either whey protein (28g of protein each), soy protein (28g of protein each) or carb shakes. Each shake contained about 200 calories. They drank them around breakfast and dinner. The whey group lost 4 pounds of body weight and 5 pounds of fat mass, as well as reduced their waist circumference and fasting hunger hormone (ghrelin) levels. The soy group lost 2 pounds of body weight and 2.4 pounds of body fat. The carbohydrate control group showed minimal changes.
Dominick Walsh is a blogger for Performance Nutrition and TMRzoo.com and covers all men’s health topics and exercise issues including protein powders, diets, weight loss, weight lifting supplements, fat burners and supplement reviews. Dominick’s columns cover everything you need to know about your pre, during and post workout nutrition.
