Weight Loss Through High Protein Diets?

The jury is still out on how effective how protein diets are in achieving weight loss. It is certainly that many have achieved impressive weight losses using high protein diets, but it is also true that there are many people who have not had such success.

Typically the weight loss achieved during the first few weeks on a high-protein diet is definitely more impressive than when eating a mixed diet, but it has also been discovered that almost all the difference is a result of water loss. As you can only lose so much water, that rapid weight loss slows down.

Rapid weight loss during the first month can be very encouraging to people following high-protein diets. In contrast, when eating a regular or mixed diet, no weight loss at all may be experienced for the first week, because the water is temporarily retained, and that can be very discouraging.

The rapid initial weight loss from high-protein diet can also lead people into a trap. When people discover that their initial loss of 4 or 5 pounds a week has now fallen to a 1 or 2 pound weight loss, it is easy for them to think that they are not dieting carefully enough and cut back their calories still more, only to find that the difference hardly shows up on the scale.

One theoretical benefit of the high-protein diet is that it "spares" body protein, some of which is always lost along with body fat when dieting. However, that theory has been called into question by a recent study, which revealed that eating a mixed diet actually spared more protein than a high-protein diet, although the difference was not statistically significant.

Another of the supposed benefits of the high-protein diet is that it produces a mild state of metabolic ketosis and, as a by-product of that process, certain chemical substances called ketone bodies are created, which may help suppress appetite. However, whether that really happens, and whether the effect lasts, is doubted by some researchers.

Possibly the biggest objection to the high-protein diet is that it forces you to eat in a radically different manner than the way in which you are accustomed to eating. What may happen is that when you either give up or reach your desired weight, you go off the high-protein diet and revert to the same old eating patterns that made you overweight in the first place. As a result, as you have not learned to modify your normal diet, when you go off the high-protein diet, you could easily put your excess weight back on again very rapidly indeed.

Please note: This article was are NOT written by a doctor or other medical professional, and represents the personal opinions of the author only. Always consult your doctor before changing your diet, or beginning any exercise or fitness plan, etc.!

First published at http://www.diet4women.com/article_high_protein_diets.php

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