[TeamSweetz]

I've always used protein shakes, I'm talking whey, casein, beef isolate, egg white and expensive blends of these. I don't need to tell you that it can be costly as well as leave you feeling bloated some times. This year I went down a different route, I've been cutting for the first three months and sticking to my same training method but altered my nutrition drastically. I decided to cut out all the pre digested shakes and focus solely on food intake.

The results have been huge. I've read up on the effects of thermic digestion and it has change my metabolic rate massively, I'm fitter and more cut than I have ever been, it means I have to eat more but I eat much more cheaply than the alternative protein shake intake. A large portion of my protein intake is now through quark cheese (brilliant stuff), 78p a tub and 30g of protein and virtually fat free! Low fat unflavoured cottage cheese, poached chicken, oats, as many eggs as I can get and oily fish for essential fats. I've decided to cut out red meats altogether. Add the usual carbs of sweet potatoes, broccoli and whole wheats and I'm amazed I didn't do this years ago. I still use creatine with a nitro boost and a daily multivitamin but I'll never go back to shakes again. I manage to maintain 2g of protein per pound of body weight rule and the difference the thermic effect has on my metabolism is amazing, I truly recommend it!

[Scoobiedoobiedo]

So you lowered calories and lost weight?

[Akbar2k7]

(Original post by Scoobiedoobiedo)
So you lowered calories and lost weight?

Thermic effect is about maximizing inefficient digestion resulting in excess heat hence increased metabolic rate as you burn more while digesting.

[TeamSweetz]

(Original post by Akbar2k7)
Thermic effect is about maximizing inefficient digestion resulting in excess heat hence increased metabolic rate as you burn more while digesting.

I haven't lowered my caloric intake, I've increased it and lost weight.

[Akbar2k7]

(Original post by TeamSweetz)
I haven't lowered my caloric intake, I've increased it and lost weight.

I know :P I said that. The other guy is confused not me

[TeamSweetz]

Apologies fella, I've quoted the wrong comment :-)

[ch0c0h01ic]

(Original post by TeamSweetz)
I've always used protein shakes, I'm talking whey, casein, beef isolate, egg white and expensive blends of these. I don't need to tell you that it can be costly as well as leave you feeling bloated some times. This year I went down a different route, I've been cutting for the first three months and sticking to my same training method but altered my nutrition drastically. I decided to cut out all the pre digested shakes and focus solely on food intake.

The results have been huge. I've read up on the effects of thermic digestion and it has change my metabolic rate massively, I'm fitter and more cut than I have ever been, it means I have to eat more but I eat much more cheaply than the alternative protein shake intake. A large portion of my protein intake is now through quark cheese (brilliant stuff), 78p a tub and 30g of protein and virtually fat free! Low fat unflavoured cottage cheese, poached chicken, oats, as many eggs as I can get and oily fish for essential fats. I've decided to cut out red meats altogether. Add the usual carbs of sweet potatoes, broccoli and whole wheats and I'm amazed I didn't do this years ago. I still use creatine with a nitro boost and a daily multivitamin but I'll never go back to shakes again. I manage to maintain 2g of protein per pound of body weight rule and the difference the thermic effect has on my metabolism is amazing, I truly recommend it!

The thermic effect of feeding is almost universally very poorly understood and realistically it's effects on weight loss are minimal. If you have noticed a significant different over the last couple of months through changing your diet the thermic effect of feeding is unlikely to be responsible. The main driving factor behind weight loss is a calorie deficit and the same can be said about any successful diet. If you've lost fat it's because you've inadvertently reduced your calorific intake (whether that is something you are aware of or not).

Why does the thermic effect of feeding not make much of a difference? Sure only about 70% of the energy contained within protein is converted into fat however for this to make much of a difference you have to eat absolutely vast quantities of the stuff and the vast majority of people can't or don't eat anywhere near enough. Secondly when most people increase their protein intake they also increase their fat intake. The problem is that fat is most efficiently converted into fat (close to 100%) so it works very well at cancelling out any potential benefit from eating more protein. If you are willing to do the number crunching the difference between a special 'thermic diet' and a conventional one is only around 50 fewer calories per day (if that).

So how did you really lose all that weight? Most protein supplements are bulked out with carbohydrate powders which are very calorie dense. Liquid calories are also easier to consume and less satiating. On the other hand whole food is more satiating and it is more difficult to overeat. The end result, you inadvertently ate less and so you lost weight.

Other pointers...

If you buy in bulk protein shakes are cheaper and lower in fat than stuff like cottage cheese and quark.

Nitrous oxide supplements are pretty much useless. They may feel like they do something beneficial but in practice they don't. There are some very lengthy writeups on T-Nation and MuscleTalk discussing this.

[flamingmoe]

on the point of cost, myprotein offers around 120g of protein for one GBP spent when you get the 5kg unflavored bag.. fyi