I am on a quest to lose body fat- specifically to lose belly fat- and I think I have located the one last thing I’m not doing right- I’m not getting enough protein. My workouts are good and are whole body workouts incorporating both strength training and cardio. My diet is healthy, but questioning it has made me realise it is lacking in protein. No wonder my (leg) muscles hurt so much the day after workouts! They are not repairing themselves. At home, are meals (just like all meals of ordinary people around the world) revolve around carbs, not protein. We did not eat any protein whatsoever for dinner for the last two days!!

Just for the record, I am not overweight- I am slim (size 8-10) and definitely fitter than most of my fellow 19 year old female peers, but I still have a really flabby belly that I want to get rid of!

As a 19 year old student, I can’t afford to eat lean chicken and beef all the time. The main sources of protein I have access to are tinned tuna, sardines, free range organic eggs, baked beans and yogurt, but I still think I am not getting enough protein.

Would it be okay if I supplemented this with a protein powder? I heard you can make it into "tasty" drinks, or even add it to your food. It feels weird asking this, because isn’t it bodybuilders that use protein supplements?!

And is it important to have an intake of protein straight after working out, or carbs instead? And how does one effectively eat 5-6 small meals a day?!

Lastly, shouldn’t I see tangible results in my body fat after two weeks if I were to make this change?! Because I have been working at it for the last three weeks without seeing any visible fat loss- obviously my lack of protein was largely responsible for that.

Thanks.

You have been misled in several ways. Some of the things that you describe as ‘obvious’, are WRONG.

A lack of protein is NOT the reason why your legs hurt the day after you have worked them hard. Recovery (muscles ‘repairing themselves’) from a vigorous workout can take several days. If you want to work out every day, then you should turn the intensity down so that you DON’T ache.

You are not losing bodyfat because you are not doing fatburning exercise. Muscles ONLY burn fat when they are working gently enough to keep going continuously without getting tired, without making you ache, and without making you hungry.

‘Whole body’ workouts will NOT help to change your ‘flabby belly’. Exercise is SPECIFIC. You need to tighten and strengthen the muscles that control the shape of your tummy, if you want to change your shape. Untrained (or undertrained) muscles feel exactly like bodyfat, so most people with a bulgey belly THINK that they are carrying more fat than they really are.

AVOID situps and crunches. These focus the effort on a small, superficial part of the abdomen (the RA muscle), which tires easily. By exercising in a lying position, you prevent the other, more important waist muscles from working effectively.

To improve your belly and waist, you need to work your whole CORE (back muscles, breathing muscles, oblique & transverse abdominal muscles, and pelvic floor muscles), with movements that TWIST, BEND, and SLIDE your waist while your body is vertical.

(Sliding movements are the sort that dancers call ‘rib isolations’.)

How quickly you see visible differences will depend upon how much bodyfat you are carrying. Bodyfat is only released and burned off VERY SLOWLY. To see a visible change in less than two months, your bodyfat percentage would have to be very low already.

Muscle tissue changes VERY QUICKLY. Exercises that cause muscles to tighten (increased ‘resting tone’) can have a dramatic effect on your posture or body shape. Because you are affecting the muscles’ automatic behaviour, it is possible to achieve postural or shape changes in under a week, IF you perform the RIGHT exercises in the RIGHT way.

Try learning PILATES, in a well-established class. You will be taught how to identify and control various muscles, and use them singly and in combinations to focus your body improvements on exactly those places that you want to target.

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