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Elliot Hutchinson

PROTEIN... But not for building muscle.


There's a common misconception that protein is some sort of elixir that will swell your biceps like Violet Beauregarde... On behalf of the whole weightlifting community I can confirm that, sadly, this is not the case. So no you don't need to worry that eating too much of the stuff will turn you from skinny to Schwarzenegger (something I hear all the time, particularly from my female clients).


It is key, however, in the repairing & hypertrophy (growth) of muscles. Most people are aware of this but we will go through the details of how this works another time. For now just remember that muscle is primarily made up of protein. So to make new muscle we need more protein.


Now imagine we are in a calorie deficit (burning more calories than we are consuming) in order to try to lose some fat. Your body needs to find the extra energy it would normally get from food, from somewhere else in order to keep everything running smoothly.

So you have given your body a decision to make; does it take the easily accessible glucose energy from your muscle mass, or the energy from your fat which is harder to break down & use. Well the obvious answer is take the easy route of breaking down your muscles, but we want to encourage your body to lose fat instead.

So we do this by upping our protein intake, reminding the body that those muscles are needed so don't get rid of them! That can be done easily with the right nutrition plan in place, or to make it even more simple, a coach can marry it up with your lifestyle in a flexible & sustainable way.


Not sold yet? What if I told you that protein also makes you more satieted (full up), for longer & that your body burns 30% of the calories from the protein to digest it. Unlike carbs & fats which only burn around 5% of their calories to be digested.This all contributes to you burning more calories over the day & encourages your body to take that extra energy from fat, not muscle. When you add to this all the bone density, blood sugar regulation & skin benefits, it's no wonder protein has become an $80billion market worldwide!


HOWEVER... knowing all this is one thing, but actually doing it? No simple task. Have a play around with more protein in your diet & let us know how you get on.



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Elliot Hutchinson // 21.04.2024

© The Coaching Collective


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