Tag Archive: weight loss

Do you need BCAAs?

BCAAs are a popular supplement currently used for everything from weight loss to muscle soreness and muscle growth. Let’s explore what they are, how they’re used and if they’re needed.

WHAT ARE BCAAs?

BCAA stands for “branched chain amino acid,” which are building blocks of proteins. A chain of amino acids make up a protein. There are two categories (some argue three), which include essential and non-essential amino acids. ESSENTIAL amino acids are not naturally produced by your body and you must supplement them externally. Foods that have all 9 essential amino acids are called “complete” proteins. Complete proteins are usually animal proteins – everything from milk to meat and cheese. Non-animal product complete proteins include quinoa, hempseed, chia, soy, spinach and a few others. Protein sources that don’t have all 9 essential amino acids are called incomplete proteins. NON-ESSENTIAL amino acids are produced naturally by your body and don’t often need supplementation.

WHY DO PEOPLE USE THEM?

There are many claims about what BCAAs do – let’s investigate them.

  • INCREASED MUSCLE PROTEIN SYTHESIS: Mostly, yes! See below
  • HELP WITH MUSCLE SORENESS: no evidence to support this
  • HELPS CARDIOVASCULAR PERFORMANCE: no evidence to support this
  • HELPS WITH WEIGHT LOSS: no evidence to support this
  • DECREASES FATIGUE (MENTAL) DURING EXERCISE: Slightly lower when supplemented >10g during exercise
  • DECREASES FATIGUE (PHYSICAL) DURING EXERCISE: People claim they increase the time to exhaustion in prolonged endurance exercise – but this has only been shown in lightly trained or untrained athletes.
  • INCREASES FAT OXIDATION IN PROLONGED EXERCISE: Some studies show this, but it’s unsure if this is due to glycogen preservation or not
  • Further studies show no effect on cortisol or insulin levels, as well as epinephrine, etc.

MUSCLE PROTEIN SYNTHESIS:

While many of the original claims of the usefulness of BCAAs have been debunked over the last few years, one claim that sticks around is its effect on muscle protein synthesis (MPS). This is the idea that supplementing with BCAAs will increase muscle growth and even be muscle sparing during weight loss.

These claims come from studies around leucine, one of the essential amino acids. This amino acid alone was shown to increase MPS due to its effects on mTOR (mammalian target or rapamycin). Various studies explored how supplementing leucine could be used. When leucine was supplemented alone the results weren’t significant, but when paired with a protein source MPS was higher. This is most likely because it interacts with isoleucine and valine to create the best stimulus. Further studies show that if you add leucine to your post workout protein and carb source you’ll have more MPS than with just protein or just carbs. It also reduced protein breakdown.

HOW MUCH LEUCINE?

Most of these studies advocate for supplementing 2.5 g of leucine per meal, for a total of 8-10g of leucine a day.

HOW MUCH LEUCINE IS IN FOOD VS BCAAS?

  • A scoop of whey protein: 2.5 g of leucine
  • 142g of chicken: 2.5 g leucine
  • 142g of round beef: 2.5 g leucine
  • 4.6 whole large eggs: 2.5g of leucine
  • BCAAs: ~2.5g/serving

IS IT SAFE?

TUI (tolerable upper intake) is 500mg/kg, as it can increase ammonia levels.

WHAT’S THE TAKE AWAY MESSAGE?

  • BCAAs are made up of the building blocks of protein, the most important of these for muscle stimulus is leucine
  • When pairing leucine with protein (and, more specifically, the amino acids valine and isoleucine) you have a higher muscle protein synthesis than just carbs or just protein
  • Complete sources of protein are also high in leucine and can be supplemented if BCAAs are cost prohibitive
  • Vegans/vegetarians/those who dislike animal protein would benefit from supplementing BCAAs to ensure they get all their essential amino acids
  • BCAAs do not decrease muscle soreness, help with weight loss, or effect insulin

REFERENCES:

  1. Blomstrand E, Hassmén P, Newsholme EA Effect of branched-chain amino acid supplementation on mental performance . Acta Physiol Scand. (1991)
  2. Consuming a supplement containing branched-chain amino acids during a resistance-training program increases lean mass, muscle strength and fat loss
  3. Elango R, et al Determination of the tolerable upper intake level of leucine in acute dietary studies in young men . Am J Clin Nutr. (2012)
  4. Liu Z, et al Branched chain amino acids activate messenger ribonucleic acid translation regulatory proteins in human skeletal muscle, and glucocorticoids blunt this action . J Clin Endocrinol Metab. (2001)
  5. Lynch CJ, et al Regulation of amino acid-sensitive TOR signaling by leucine analogues in adipocytes . J Cell Biochem. (2000)
  6. Shimomura Y, et al Effects of squat exercise and branched-chain amino acid supplementation on plasma free amino acid concentrations in young women . J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo). (2009)
  7. Shimomura Y, et al Branched-chain amino acid supplementation before squat exercise and delayed-onset muscle soreness . Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. (2010)
  8. van Hall G, et al Ingestion of branched-chain amino acids and tryptophan during sustained exercise in man: failure to affect performance . J Physiol. (1995)

June 17, 2017 Fat Loss, Myths, Science, , , , , , , Read more >

TDEE Calculator

Below is a calculator I developed to help you determine your TDEE, or Total Daily Energy Expenditure. Just plug in the numbers and you’re good to go!

Activity levels

Sedentary – 1.2 – You don’t work out and have a desk job
Lightly Active – 1.375 – You have a desk job, you work out 1-3x a week
Moderate – 1.55 – You work out 3-5x a week OR you have a job with some manual labor
Heavy – 1.725 – You work out 5-7x a week OR you have a job with a lot of manual labor
Very Heavy – 1.9 – 2-a-days, or a job with manual labor and frequent gym use

October 26, 2016 Fat Loss, , , , , Read more >

A Case Against Breakfast

Let me preface this article by saying “If you’re hungry, you should eat.” Plenty of people wake up ravenous, enjoy breakfast, and go on with their day. Others wake up without an appetite and report that when they do eat breakfast, they feel like crap all morning, or they’re hungry twenty minutes later. Without delving into the “What are you eating? How much? Etc” argument, I’d like to present this little piece of science for those of you who want it. If you find breakfast a chore here’s some ammo to shoot at the pro-breakfast crowd always trying to get in your face. If you’re not hungry, you’re not hungry: end of story. Every body is different.

Let’s start with hormones and waking. Cortisol (click the link to read about it) is a huge part of your sensation to wake up. It gradually rises through the night, and reaches its peak when you open your eyes. Your cortisol is highest in the morning and may continue to rise after you wake up, until about 30-45 minutes later. That’s breakfast time. Here’s the deal with cortisol – it antagonizes insulin. Insulin helps pull the sugar from your bloodstream after a meal and put it into your cells to refuel them. Because of this, you end up with a higher blood sugar than you would normally.

The issue is that with a blunted insulin response your cells aren’t getting the energy they need. Simply put, insulin gives the energy directly to the cells, and cortisol gets in the way of them doing that. If your cells are yearning for energy they’re going to send hunger signals to your brain to encourage you to eat and feed your cells. This is the case with people with chronically elevated cortisol levels as well who have trouble maintaining a normal appetite.

What about the fit person?

A fit person will have increased insulin sensitivity, especially as they lean out. They tend to be very responsive to an increase in blood sugar and quick and efficiently pump out insulin to compensate. These people then see their blood glucose drop faster, and tend to get hungrier faster. This is exacerbated in the fasted morning states with a high cortisol. You have an extremely active pancreas pumping out insulin and being countered by cortisol, so you’re pumping out more. This can mean a dramatic decrease in blood glucose. Not so much as to cause hypoglycemia, per se, but enough for your hunger signals to fire up just a short time later.

But why does this not affect ALL people – why are some people breakfast lovers and others aren’t? The level of cortisol in your blood is highly dependent on a lot of factors. Some people simply do not have a high enough level of cortisol to counteract any of the breakfast-induced blood sugar problems. Others, such as diabetics, have a need for a regular blood sugar management. Every individual is different, which is why I say again – if you’re hungry, eat!

Lastly, let’s look at a very specific study targeted at the traditional “If you skip breakfast you’ll gain weight” hoopla. This study was a 16 week controlled study in overweight and obese adults, one group ate breakfast, the other didn’t. Between both groups the average weight loss was 1.18 kgs vs. 1.17 kgs. Essentially, the results showed little difference in weight loss between breakfast eaters and non-breakfast eaters.

So, as I said earlier – eat if you’re hungry, don’t eat if you’re not. If you find breakfast is detrimental to your state of mind (no one likes being ravenous at 9am!) then skip it. It’s your individual choice.

August 6, 2014 Fat Loss, Myths, Nutrition, Science, , , , Read more >

Cortisol – A Love Story?

Cortisol is one of those hormone buzz words that is making its way around the diet industry right now, especially in respect to how it helps or hinders fat loss. People advocate for a stress free lifestyle in hopes that you lower your cortisol levels, or talk about exercising during the morning or the night depending on your cortisol levels, or even not eating breakfast because of its effect on cortisol. I think before you make a decision on what to believe, you should get a little more information about cortisol and what exactly it does.

Cortisol is a hormone that comes from the adrenal glands, which are located right above the kidney. It really has a few main functions: raise blood sugar through gluconeogenesis (making “sugars” for your body to utilize when it doesn’t have any carbs immediately), to suppress the immune system (which is why you use them with some allergic and autoimmune conditions), and also to help with fat, protein and carbohydrate metabolism.

When the diet industry is talking about cortisol they usually are referring to its role in gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis (breaking down glycogen, the stored form of carbohydrates in the liver, for energy). This is where things get tricky – cortisol can both help and hinder these scenarios. For example, long-term elevations in cortisol can lead to muscle wasting. While cortisol does break down fat, it’s also shown in some conditions to SUPPRESS the break down of fat.

Like stated above, cortisol is released in times of stress. If you’re running away from a bear cortisol is one of the hormones that tells your body to stop digesting your food and start running…fast. Cortisol is also a hormone that tells your body it’s time to wake up, which is why it’s highest in the morning.

Cortisol literally has a hand in every body system you can think of. From counteracting insulin to controlling diuresis, cortisol is involved. When you’re reading studies or claims about how cortisol will help or hinder your lifestyle don’t think of cortisol as a bad hormone. Remember instead that hormones exist in a balance in our system and we must pay close attention to how they make us feel. If you feel like you have a medical problems that may be related to excessively high or excessively low cortisol it’s important to contact your doctor and schedule an appointment.

Remember, like anything there are no “good” or “bad” hormones, foods, etc. there are only imbalances in the system.

July 15, 2013 Nutrition, Science, , , Read more >