Bulking up to Slim Down - Whey Protein and Looking Great

Many people think that the scale and dropping a pant size have a simple relationship.  If the scale show a smaller number than before, your pant size will drop – right?  Not necessarily.  Your body shape doesn’t have a direct relationship with your actual body weight: one pound of slim, toned muscle takes up less volume than one pound of fat.  This means that two people with the same number on the scale can have drastically different body shapes and sizes.  Someone with toned muscles will fit their clothes better and take up less space than someone with flabby or fatty muscles.  If you only cut calories to lose weight and neglect your muscle training, you may not get the shape you want; weight training exercise is important as well.  

However, not all exercise is created equally.  While doing cardiovascular activities (cardio) will help burn calories, the key to a trim body is developing lean muscle.  In fact, cardio isn’t even the only way to burn calories!  Muscle mass will burn more calories per day than fat mass: thus the more muscle you pack on the more calories your body burns each day, doing nothing.  Since twenty to thirty minutes of cardio is all you really need to develop a healthy heart; spend the rest of your gym time building and toning your muscles.  Just be careful to alternate different muscle groups on different gym days to avoid injury.

Another benefit of developing lean muscle is that it will increase your metabolism.  Studies have shown that people with more lean muscle have a higher resting metabolism, which in turn helps you burn fat faster.  In fact, as you grow older, your muscle mass will break down over time.  In turn this will slow your metabolism and help create a flabby and sagging appearance.  In order to counteract that aspect of aging, you need to develop a good metabolism and maintain toned muscles.

Finally, don’t just exercise harder – exercise smarter.  Taking a whey protein supplement can expand the impact of your weight training workout.  Muscles are made up of protein, so adding it to your diet can help repair damage that occurs during weight training as well as by providing the building blocks necessary to develop new muscle.  This will help tone and define your muscles while helping prepare them for the next workout.  Whey protein is a better choice than soy protein for adding to weight training; because it is more concentrated.  Whey protein is also dairy based, and is easier for your body to break down and absorb.  You can take less and feel more of an impact using whey protein.  

If you want to slim down into your favorite pair of jeans, the weight loss key isn’t to cut calories or do a ton of cardio: instead develop lean muscle mass.  Work those muscles out and do it smarter: take whey protein after every workout.