Is Whey Protein Powder a waste of money?

jdyg81

Wait. People take Yahoo! Answers seriously?

EXACTLY

grantdumas7

The protein debate will never end.

1princesswarrior

Because I am new to this I appreciate all the viewpoints & banter back & forth about what is sufficient & what isn't.

It was mentioned in my current course "Nutrition & Physical Activity for Health" that the body can only utilize 20 g of protein at a time...the rest is waste.

Here's another viewpoint from my class blog to think about:
They lack all the vitamins, minerals and nutrients from regular foods all for the mere hope of increasing muscle size. Athletes are the hardest people to convince because they see n increase in muscle size but don't realize that it's from all the hard work they put into their workouts and NOT the protein.

Again, I agree with the mere fact that whey powder is ok if you are short on protein but eat healthy otherwise. One cannot survive on blended whey protein drinks alone....although that would be SOO much easier!

I use a protein powder that not only has 8g of fiber per serving but also several vitamins and minerals. It's got 20g of protein per serving and can be used as a meal replacement and I will occassionally add fruit to make a smoothie out of it for that. So there are protein supplements out there that do add to overall health, you just have to look for them.

ahamm002

Hmmmm, I'm kind of lost here. Basically the point im trying to get across is,

I am hearing powdered whey protein doesn't work. But getting protein the natural way is more efficient.

Yes, but your point is completely wrong. If you do some more research you'll find that:

1. The CDC defines their protein requirements as the minimum amount needed to prevent disease. Whereas, we define our protein requirement as the minimum amount needed for optimal body composition.

2. No meals (including protein shakes) can just pass through your small intestine in one hour. It takes them hours and hours to get through your gut, and out into the toilet. So there is absolutely no issue with the protein passing through your system before it can be absorbed.

3. It's difficult to achieve the optimal amount of protein just from your diet. If you can do it, then good for you. But you will probably find shakes make it much simpler to hit your macro goals.

4. Some feel that the rapidly absorbing protein from whey protein shakes is superior to solid protein for peri-workout nutrition.

grantdumas7

Here is an answer I've seen off of Yahoo! Answers:

The answer was; does whey protein powder actually work?

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No. If you get sufficient protein with your diet - and most of us do - it won't do anything for you. It will go into the toilet and be a complete waste of your money. Protein supplements are a bad idea for most of the people who take them. Here's why.

Your body does not store protein as it does fat so there's no point in dumping a large amount of protein into your system at one time. You need protein in small amounts throughout each day so a protein shake will be mostly lost through excretion thereby making the calories in the shake wasted and of minimal nutritional benefit. Here's how much protein you need --> http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/ba… and you can get that easily with a glass of milk and a chicken breast or piece of meat.

If you get 150 grams of protein a day that amounts to 10 pounds at the end of the month. Bodybuilders may gain a half a pound of muscle in a good month. The rest of the 10 pounds goes into hair, skin, sinew, organs, and most of all the toilet.

Protein supplements have almost no fiber which means they will do little to give you the satisfaction of a normal digestive process and will not have any appreciable appetite suppression. They are refined foods with all the nutrition taken out of them except protein which makes them a bad addition to any diet. Some manufacturers add flavoring, sugar, and other junk to the protein to make the "shake" more palatable and more marketable which makes them an especially bad choice for any diet.

Here's why protein shakes should be avoided:

- They are not controlled by the FDA like foods and drugs.
- May have harmful or undesirable side effects
- May contain metabolically unavailable proteins
- Will probably provide more protein than you need with the rest going to waste
- Provide you with extra calories
- May contain junk food ingredients to make them tastey
- Possibly provide you unwanted contaminants or toxins
- Wastes money
- Replaces what you really need - good food!
- Perpetuates the myth

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Here is another answer from my friend that replied on my Facebook status:

Friend: Eat real food. Shakes should be the last thing you want... Protein shakes... It's gmo produced food. Eat chicken, steak, turkey, beef real food. Protein shakes give bloat muscle... Ask any bodybuilder, they don't. I've meet Kai Greene, jay cutler and a **** ton of others and they all say the same thing. Get it all from food.

ebgbjo

Some of us can't get it all from food...

And that is why I use protein powder. I generally only get about 40-50g of protein a day through foods.

81Katz

It's not a waste of money for me. No matter how I try some days I can't meet all my protein needs DESPITE eating chicken, turkey, cheese, yogurt, beans, etc. So I'll mix some of my whey protein powder into my yogurt or I'll have a protein smoothie post workout. It's easy mostly post workout and sometimes I'm not 'hungry-hungry' so that's why a shake works for me.

Dogbox1982

In short, that answer is rubbish! Most protein powders are designed for and targeted to weight trainers! Of course, if you do not train with weights with the intention of BUILDING more muscle, then you don't have the requirement for whey protein. If you ARE trying to build muscle then protein powders are ESSENTIAL for building and maintaining muscle mass and recovery. It is NOT possible to build a muscle without enough protein. WHEY - The fastest absorbing protein available is required immediately after intense weight training. CASEIN - A slower absorbing protein designed to drip feed the muscles protein (best taken at night during your fasting period) There is SO much to know and SO much evidence to prove the effectiveness of Whey and Casein powders that i don't have the patience to explain it all now. The bottom line is, YES they are effective and not a waste of money if you are an intense weight trainer trying to burn your fat with your muscle. NO they are not needed whatsoever for someone trying to lose WEIGHT with cardio. Cardio will make you lose weight but that weight consists of both fat and muscle. When you are in intense cardio trainging you are most likely using muscle as your source of energy than you are using fat. Why? Because stored fat is harder for the body to breakdown for energy so it bypasses it and goes for the muscle to faster supplying you that energy. Hense the reason that weight training is the most effective way to burn fat and raises your metabolism higher and for far longer after the workout than cardio! The problem with the answer you got on yahoo is that it came from a nutritionist and not a fitness trainer. Check out bodybuilding.com for all the information you will ever need on weight training, cardio, supplements and their roles, FREE exercise programs, articles and exercise database a mile long showing videos for every exercise and how to perform them with the right form

MityMax96

Whatever you posted is wrong. Protein can be stored as fat if you eat over your TDEE.

You sure about that?
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/how-we-get-fat.html

Carbs are rarely converted to fat and stored as such
When you eat more carbs you burn more carbs and less fat; eat less carbs and you burn less carbs and more fat
Protein is basically never going to be converted to fat and stored as such
When you eat more protein, you burn more protein (and by extension, less carbs and less fat); eat less protein and you
burn less protein (and by extension, more carbs and more fat)
Ingested dietary fat is primarily stored, eating more of it doesn’t impact on fat oxidation to a significant degree


Typically, the body will oxidize the protein or carbs, and any fat you take in will get stored......
Once you go over your TDEE....

MityMax96

for the record I use Met-Rx Whey.....
usually once a day (2 scoops), sometimes twice.
But If I can get protein from food, I am fine with that....and doing so isn't that big a problem....
I just do the protein powders for the extra calories.