Can you lose weight with protein shakes?

Protein shakes are extremely 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 endlessly and it is a tasty and easy way to meet your daily protein requirement. But a question we often get asked is: can you lose weight with protein shakes? We will go deeper into this in this article.

You only lose weight if you burn more calories than you consume. You can ensure this by increasing the overall calorie burn through sport and exercise, by eating less or a combination of both (be careful that it does not come at the expense of your health). Protein shakes are not decisive here, but can have a stimulating effect.

Hunger Hormone

Proteins are (besides carbohydrates and fats) one of the three energy sources of your body and are extremely important during weight loss. One of the effects of eating a lot 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. The hormone travels through your bloodstream to your brain, where the ghrelin stimulates your brain to produce signals of hunger. This makes you look for food.

Once we have finished eating, the production of ghrelin is inhibited and the hormone leptin is released. Leptin is produced in the adipose tissue and signals to the brain that we have eaten enough and you get a feeling that you are full. The use of protein-rich shakes such as casein inhibits the production of ghrelin. This is because these proteins are slowly broken down in your stomach, so that you automatically produce less of the hunger hormone ghrelin.

Saturation

Proteins and in particular casein therefore ensure that you feel full for longer. In other words, you're less likely to reach for snacks and snacks because you're hungry. Research shows that this can also counteract the well-known yo-yo effect. Proteins therefore not only cause a delayed feeling of hunger, but also make you feel full.

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.

Muscle building

In addition, it has been proven that whey, casein, but also vegetable proteins such as peas and rice protein in combination with sports ensure that your physique improves. By eating enough proteins in combination with sports, the muscles will become stronger and grow, so that you eventually lose weight more easily 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 in a certain sense, provide a feeling of satiety and an improved combustion. However, there is one protein that stands out and that is casein. The body has to put in a lot more effort to burn casein compared to other proteins. This ensures that the metabolism increases over a period of a few hours after ingestion, which has a positive effect on fat burning. You will also feel full for longer because the production of the hunger hormone ghrelin is delayed.

Last but not least, casein also has a positive effect on muscle building due to its high protein content. For the effect and more benefits of casein, you can also read the following article: What is casein? 5 benefits.

Quality

There are many different protein powders on the market. However, pay attention to which one you take because in many cases the cheapest are certainly not the best. Also take a good look at the ingredients 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 (eg aspartame, sorbitol and saccharin), soy, wheat gluten, preservatives and inferior proteins.

Ekopura therefore only uses organic ingredients that are guaranteed to be pure and clean. The result: protein that is free of artificial/unnecessary additives and that is produced with respect for humans, animals and nature.

Want to know more about Ekopura and our products? Look here.