Protein Powder and Weight Loss

Eating adequate protein can make a big difference if you are dieting. Resist the temptation to crash-diet by drinking only protein powder drinks. Instead, follow the dietary guidelines in My Food Pyramid for weight loss designed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Most healthy adults can aim for consuming about half their body weight in grams. For example, a 150-pound man might consume about 75 g of protein daily. Athletes might eat up to 0.8 g per pound in body weight.

Pros, Cons of Protein Powder

The convenience of protein powders make them popular for breakfast fruit smoothie drinks or as a meal replacement. Long-term, however, they do not provide the other vitamins and minerals found in animal or legume and grain sources of proteins.

Most protein powders are made from soy, egg or milk protein. Many people are not able to digest these foods. Also, consider that you do not get the hemoglobin from red meat if you consume only protein powder drinks to lose weight. Vegans would get valuable B complex vitamins and iron from brown rice and beans, respectively.

Select Low-Fat Protein

Think of an old-school diet plate of lean hamburger, a scoop of low-fat cottage cheese and some peach slices and you are not far off a good diet plate. Today, you might eat salmon (only 110 to 150 calories for 22 g of protein), small raw green salad and 2 tbsp. of roasted almonds or walnuts.

The USDA recommends eating lean red meat, fish, low-fat dairy foods, eggs, legumes and whole grains. Vegetarians and vegans should combine beans with rice to get a complete protein of all amino acids. You can eat the food items at different meals --- but in one day.

Variety Equals Weight Loss Success

Sheer boredom from drinking only protein powder drinks to drop weight can lead you down the slippery slope of a binge in the middle of the night (understandably). You may find that you consume many more calories and gain weight, rebounding.

By eating a wide variety of protein foods such as fish, lean beef, poultry, eggs, legumes and whole grains, and low-fat dairy foods, you receive important fiber, vitamins and minerals.

Fish gives you Omega-6 oils important for the heart and eggs give you acetylcholine for improving and sustaining memory. Low-fat dairy foods such as 2% milk and live-culture yogurt provide calcium and beneficial probiotics to keep friendly flora in the gastrointestinal tract to improve digestion and absorption of nutrients.