Why Protein Is King

Hey guys! Welcome to another Pinnacle Performance Video. Today I'm going to touch on why I think protein is King, I sent out a little e-blast the other day, and it got a few responses. So, I figured if people are responding to it in a written format, or most will do it in a video format, and it might get a little bit more engagement. So, we touched on why I think protein is the King macro, and people should be consuming more protein. 

And this is the case, a lot of the times hopefully, some people are already consuming an adequate amount of protein. But just through like conversations that I'm having in the shop in the gym, people that are even replying to this email, and we're going over there, what their portion sizes look like and what their meals look like in a day, a lot of the time people are under consuming protein. 

And I definitely find that to be the case, especially when people are dieting as well because they're inherently just eating less food. And they're not prioritizing protein as a macro, while in their deficit and their portion sizes for things are always a little bit out of whack. And they're just not eating enough protein in very protein sources.

So, one of the main things about protein and why I believe people should be consuming more of it, it has the highest thermic effect of food. So, if you are in a deficit, and you are trying to lose weight, your body has efficient mechanisms for storing fat and carbohydrates. But it doesn't have an efficient mechanism for storing protein. 

So, it actually requires more energy for your body to break down protein than that of the other macros. So, you can increase your calorie burn in a day by one to three hundred just by consuming an adequate amount of protein. And, you know, writing that effect that thermic effect of food. So, if you do have a fat loss-oriented goal will only take up obviously a small portion of the, you know, your overall calorie expenditure in a day. 

But it's pretty easy to utilize that extra calorie burn by consuming an adequate amount of protein. And then obviously reaping all the benefits that come along with that as well, such as increasing your soft tissue, soft tissue recovery, increasing your ability to build muscle, and improving your muscle protein synthesis. 

In protein in general as a macro, especially when you were dieting, or just in general as the highest satiety effect of the three macros. So, you consuming enough protein is going to reduce those cravings that you have if you are consuming a meal and it is primarily carbohydrates. The chance of you then feeling hungry, therefore, shortly after, will be much sooner and in much higher prevalence than if you were to consume a meal that is higher in protein and then lower in the other two. 

So, whether that comes from you eating a larger source of animal protein or plant protein, however, you know, your diet structure looks by prioritizing protein as almost the primary component of that meal is going to really help with you staying satiated throughout the day. 

The best way for you to be consuming protein, it's going to be in split blocks across the day, it's not going to be insanely important to consume it immediately post-workout, as there has been a lot of studies that show that just consuming enough protein on a daily basis is going to outweigh effective like just prioritizing and post-workout, there are some benefits, obviously to having protein and carbohydrates around that training time. So, if you are like looking to really get into the nitty-gritty, you can time your protein and carbohydrate sources like pre-post-workout and get the most out of it. But overall, it is just most beneficial to consume an adequate amount of protein over the course of a day. 

And that adequate amount of protein is going to look something along the lines of if you're, you know, looking to consume a low amount of protein is going to be point six, five per pound of body weight. And that's still going to be more than most and that's if you know, you're not exercising and not consuming an exorbitant amount of calories that point six, five grams per pound of body weight. Versus if you are, you know, training out like a moderate amount, potentially three sessions a week, three resistance sessions a week, you know, maybe a couple of resistance sessions and a bit of cardio, you could look at bumping that up to point eight five per pound of bodyweight. 

And if you're someone who is training five plus times a week with reasonable intensity, you can look at bumping that up to about a gram per pound of body weight. These are going to be really good targets for you guys to try and hit to ensure that you're consuming adequate protein and reaping all of the benefits of it. And if those numbers seem a little bit confusing, you can aim to consume thirty grams of protein per meal, this is a good baseline, and then consuming that spreads across the day. So, in your breakfast, lunch, and dinner and even looking at incorporating some sort of protein-based snacks in between, you know somewhere around that thirty to thirty-five percent, of your total calorie intake is another good unit of measurement. 

But overall just ensuring that you are consuming some sort of plant or animal-based protein in each meal of the day. And then as you want to get a little bit more meticulous about it you can look at making reference to the numbers mentioned previously, as a few convenient ways that you can look at making protein additions to your day especially based on the fact that sometimes protein sources can be quite expensive, you can look at utilizing some sort of whey protein powder, as per serve and program protein, it will be slightly more cost efficient than some alternative protein sources that you may just buy, in general, obviously, you don't want to rely entirely on a protein powder, but it is a very convenient and delicious and also very flexible source of protein to utilize in smoothies to add it to oats and cereal and different things like that and you can bump your content, the protein content right up easily digestible sources of protein such as whey protein, if you don't have any sort of lactose intolerance, you can look at utilizing collagen protein or myself either use a plant based protein, you use a combat reload, you can look at all of these things to just help bump up that protein intake in general. 

If you're someone who generally skips breakfast, and you're losing that protein source, you can look at utilizing a meal replacement such as Cyborg MRP, Redcon1, or MRE, or even accent sledge homemade, and they're going to be a balanced source of protein, carbs, and fat and ensuring you're getting adequate protein for that meal, rather than actually entirely skipping breakfast and or using some sort of low-quality coals Canada's best meal replacement, go look at utilizing a whole food high-quality meal replacement such as one of those ones mentioned. 

Another good way to get some protein in, especially later at night. If you're someone who is a sweet tooth or you're looking for some sort of late-night snack, you can look at things like Emrald Labs protein cream, the Red Dragon protein mousse, muscle nation, casein custard, and these are all they're all dairy-based, but protein sources that you can mix up like a custard, like a snack, add some fruit into that however you want to have it help satiate that sweet tooth, getting more protein in you could also utilize those same products as a snack throughout the day. 

So, there's a couple of supplement tips if you are struggling to get like whole food sources of protein, which should be the priority utilizing those whole-food-based protein sources. But if you're looking to add in a supplement to help increase that protein intake once again, some sort of protein powder if you are not lactose intolerant, certainly like I said, zero rule one protein, even things like Red Dragon, Dragon whey they're all great protein sources. 

They're good plant-based proteins, personal favourite CMBT Reload protein switch or White Wolf collagen-based protein sources. We've got things like collagen Pro, and cougar juice, crazy name, I know, but they're good, also collagen-based protein sources if you want to add those in. 

Hopefully, you guys found this blog valuable and informative and if you want me to touch on any other particular topics, we're going to be filming a lot more. So, we're going to be doing more of this kind of, like, short-form videos and then more longer-form blog stuff as well.