Boosting Collagen for Weight Loss - How to Build Lasting Results
When it comes to losing weight, most people turn to the same routines, diets, and supplements as others have for decades: hours on the treadmill, expensive sports drinks, and whatever fad diet is most popular that week. And, like more than two-thirds of all dieters, most will end up back near their original weight within a few months.
While many nutrition gurus and trainers have attributed this pattern to many causes, the simple truth is that far too many weight loss attempts focus on temporary, immediate changes rather than the development of long-term health.
Luckily, more and more people have begun realizing this and taking steps to build a strong foundation of health rather than temporarily shedding pounds through any means necessary. And, in pursuit of this rock-solid foundation, an increasing number of would-be fitness enthusiasts have begun turning to collagen boosters for help with weight loss.
Unlike crash diets or caffeine-packed stimulants, collagen boosters can set you up for consistent, long-term results that won't fall through in a few short months. In this article, we'll teach you how including high-quality collagen supplements can benefit your fitness journey and get you to your ideal body weight with all of the research and information you need to make the best decisions possible.
What is Collagen?
Collagen is a nearly-complete protein containing all the amino acids except tryptophan, which helps regulate melatonin and serotonin production. Despite this lack of tryptophan, collagen nonetheless comprises 30% of all protein in the human body, making it a major structural protein for a range of functions and uses.
For exercise-related purposes, collagen is one of the supplement world's most impressive powerhouses, helping individuals lose fat, protect joint and tendon health, and gain muscle. Despite these benefits, including enough collagen in your daily diet can often be challenging, especially for those who follow a Western diet. And, because dietary collagen is typically found in animal connective tissue, vegetarians and vegans find it doubly challenging to include it in a normal diet.
To counterbalance these struggles, many companies have begun offering convenient collagen boosters to help promote natural collagen synthesis within your own body rather than relying on external collagen in powder form.
The Three Types of Collagen Supplements
While countless products and brands exist on the market today, collagen supplements can be broken down into three primary categories. These categories include:
Collagen Boosters
Sticking with the trend of ground-up fitness, collagen boosters are specially-formulated products designed to boost your body's natural production of collagen. Rather than making you dependent on powders or shakes to achieve the daily recommended allowance of collagen, these supplements optimize your internal health for long-term results.
Additionally, many collagen boosters include valuable ingredients such as biotin, which studies have shown helps mobilize fat and increase metabolism.
Food-Based Collagen
Pulled from sources such as bone broth or pork skin, a person's intake of food-based collagen depends heavily on their personal diet and digestive health. For the former, those who dislike fatty, connective tissue-heavy meats may struggle to eat the most collagen-rich foods regularly. Also, individuals following a vegan or vegetarian diet may struggle to include any collagen-rich foods in their daily diet.
Regarding digestive health, some individuals with compromised stomach linings may experience challenges absorbing or digesting fat-rich foods like those containing the most collagen. In these cases, collagen supplements like those outlined above may provide a better option.
Collagen Peptides
A trendy, powder-based supplement much like you'd expect from your protein powder, collagen peptides provide a concentrated dose of animal-based collagen and amino acids. While these may prove useful for those willing to mix them into shakes each day, the quality of collagen included in these products can vary wildly, with the worst products using crude collagen sources with low bioavailability.
Also, some users have reported issues digesting certain collagen peptides, making them a suboptimal choice for those with less-than-ideal gut health.
Benefits of Taking Collagen Supplements to Lose Weight
While most people are well aware of collagen's ability to improve skin elasticity, nail health, and hair growth, relatively few understand the protein's importance in losing weight. Still, these benefits are as diverse as they are potent, so it's important to understand them before making the choice to begin taking a collagen supplement.
Protect Joint Health
As you exercise, you break down muscle tissue and exert force on joints in different areas around your body. Even when maintaining a caloric surplus, the process can cause soreness and potential joint pain. On a caloric restriction, the likelihood of these risks greatly increases.
By including dietary supplements such as a collagen builder into your fitness routine, you can promote better joint health even while cutting calorie intake. This is because your body harvests essential amino acids from collagen and uses them to repair and fortify your joints and tendons, protecting you from possible injuries.
Build Muscle Mass
Just like your body uses amino acids from collagen to build skin and tendons, it also uses it to help build muscle mass. When following a fitness routine to lose body fat, this means mean that a high-quality collagen supplement can help you gain lean muscle mass and improve body composition. This muscle-building benefit is so potent, in fact, that many studies regard collagen builders as some of the best supplements for muscle growth, alongside whey protein powder and creatine supplementation.
Control Appetite
Collagen, like all protein, has a high "satiety factor," a term we use to gauge how full or satisfied a certain food makes you feel. Additionally, some studies show that hydrolyzed collagen, either from supplements or made by the body, increases hormone secretion in the intestines, further suppressing appetite. For those struggling to maintain a caloric deficit, these satiating effects can mean the difference between sticking to a healthy diet or falling prey to sudden cravings.
Improve Muscle Recovery
Muscle fatigue can create a significant barrier between you and your fitness goals, especially if it comes with pain and soreness. By giving your body the collagen supply it needs to repair exercise-induced muscle damage, you can improve muscle recovery and promote muscle growth. That way, you can spend more time putting in work at the gym rather than taking days or weeks off to recover at home.
Mobilize Fat Stores
The best supplements for collagen production include certain ingredients, such as biotin, which studies have shown can help mobilize fat stores and increase resting metabolism. This means that even outside the gym, individuals who take a high-quality collagen builder will burn more calories during everyday activities.
Regulate Blood Sugar
Just like it positively affects fat storage, biotin, like that found in some collagen supplements, can regulate blood sugar and improve glucose metabolism. This quality is so significant, in fact, that some health professionals suggest supplementing with biotin for patients dealing with symptoms of diabetes. For fat loss, regulating blood sugar can improve energy levels, reduce cravings, and signal to the body that it needs to begin burning stored fat for energy.
Increase Exercise Capacity
Because of the way that collagen protects joints, promotes muscle growth, and improves energy levels, it can also improve the amount of exercise you can perform each week. Rather than taking days off due to soreness or fatigue, you can instead put in more time at the gym, on the treadmill, or wherever else you spend time on your path to a healthier life.
How Lean Body Mass Burns Fat
While some fitness newcomers believe that building muscle and burning fat are two sides of the same coin, the truth is that they are much more closely linked than you might expect. Specifically, increasing muscle mass also increases your "caloric maintenance," or the amount of calories you need each day to function. This occurs because muscle requires more calories than other types of tissue to maintain.
So, when you increase muscle mass, you also increase the number of calories you need each day to support that muscle mass, meaning you can consume more food without gaining body fat. This approach to fat loss makes for long-term, sustainable results that allow you to maintain a balanced diet while also including more of the foods you love.
Other Workout Supplements to Consider
While a quality whey protein isolate comes standard with most exercise routines, fine-tuning the supplements you use can take your results to impressive new heights. We recommend the following types of products for those looking to give their weight loss efforts a little extra push:
CBD Products
Often, the best supplements for muscle growth and fat loss are those that naturally reduce inflammation throughout the body. This advantage protects against joint pain, reduces muscle soreness, and can even increase nutrient absorption for those with GI issues, allowing you to get more from the other foods and supplements you consume.
Recovery Products
When it comes to sports nutrition, recovery drinks, powders, and other supplements have been a staple of the industry for decades. These supplements combine potent ingredients like magnesium, zinc, and vitamin C to refresh and hydrate your body after a hard session at the gym.
B Vitamin Complexes
Many studies have documented the importance of B vitamins, specifically vitamin B12, for enhancing muscle growth. Specifically, experts explain that vitamin B12 can stimulate muscle protein synthesis, a vital part of building a stronger, healthier body. This means that you can maximize muscle gain while minimizing downtime for a more efficient, effective weight-loss journey.
Why You Should Choose a Collagen Builder
Whether you're trying to lose weight, build muscle, or increase athletic performance, the best results come from a solid foundation. And, while products like collagen peptides may help with daily protein intake, they do little to improve your body's natural ability to produce its own collagen. With collagen builders like our Purvana line, you give your system everything it needs to keep you healthy during your weight loss journey, with added benefits like biotin and horse-tail extract to boost metabolism, improve energy levels, and facilitate better digestion.
If you're still on the fence about whether a collagen builder is right for you, consider heading over and checking out our deals. Stop settling for temporary progress--start building for a healthier future, instead.