Protein shakes are wildly popular among athletes because they contain amino acids that promote the repair of damaged muscle tissue and stimulate the production of new muscle tissue. You can vary it endlessly, and it's a tasty and easy way to get your daily protein needs. But a question we often get asked is: can you lose weight with protein shakes? We will go into that in this article.
You only lose weight if you burn more calories than you consume. You can achieve this by increasing your overall calorie burn through sports and exercise, by eating less or by a combination of both (be careful not to compromise your health). Protein shakes are not decisive here, but they can be stimulating.
Hunger hormone
Protein (along with carbohydrates and fats) is one of your body's three energy sources and is incredibly important during weight loss. One of the effects of eating lots of protein is that you produce less hunger hormone. The main hunger hormone in your body is ghrelin. Ghrelin is a hormone produced in your stomach. You produce ghrelin when it is empty. Through your bloodstream, the hormone travels to your brain and there the ghrelin stimulates your brain to produce signals of hunger. As a result, you start looking for food.
Once we finish eating, the production of ghrelin inhibits and the hormone leptin is released. Leptin is produced in fat tissue and signals to the brain that we have eaten enough and you get a feeling that you are satiated. Using protein-rich shakes such as casein inhibits the production of ghrelin. This is because these proteins are broken down slowly in your stomach, so you automatically produce less of the hunger hormone ghrelin.
Satiety
Proteins, and casein in particular, therefore make you feel full longer. In other words, you are less likely to reach for snacks and snacks because you are hungry. Research shows that this can also counteract the well-known yo-yo effect. So protein not only ensures a delayed feeling of hunger, but also makes you feel satiated.
Metabolism
Due to the fact that the body has to work harder to burn the proteins, the speed of your metabolism increases. A nice side effect of this is that you will also burn more fat as a result.
Muscle building
It has also been proven that whey, casein but also vegetable proteins such as pea and rice protein in combination with sports ensure that your physique improves. By eating enough protein in combination with sports, the muscles will become stronger and grow which ultimately makes it easier for you to lose weight because the muscles use more energy which in turn results in an increased metabolism.
Which proteins are the best choice?
All proteins have a positive effect to some extent, providing satiety and improved metabolism. However, there is one protein that stands out and that is casein. The body has to work much harder to burn casein compared to other proteins. This causes the metabolism to increase over a period of several hours after ingestion which has a positive effect on fat burning. This will also make you feel satiated for longer by delaying the production of the hunger hormone ghrelin.
Last but not least, casein also has a positive effect on muscle building because of its high protein content. For how casein works and more benefits, you can also read the following article: What is casein? 5 benefits.
Quality
There are many different protein powders on the market. However, be careful which one you take because in many cases the cheapest ones are definitely not the best. Also look carefully at the ingredient list and consider whether you are dealing with a reliable producer. The best quality proteins are rich in nutrients and do not contain harmful ingredients such as refined sugars and artificial additives (e.g. aspartame, sorbitol and saccharin), soy, wheat gluten, preservatives and inferior proteins.
Ekopura therefore uses only organic ingredients guaranteed to be pure and clean. The result: protein free of artificial/unnecessary additives and produced with respect for humans animals and nature.
Want to know more about Ekopura and our products? Then look here.
