Protein - Losing fat and gaining muscle

alung2k3

Hi all,

Quick question: How much Protein should I consume per day to gain muscle? I've read conflicting amounts.

Stats: Male
Age 31
Activity Sedentary
Gym 4 times per week
I eat back half of trained calories

I struggled today to eat around 150g of Protein. If needed, should I consider a powder suppliment? Any suggestions?

Thanks guys & gals.

psuLemon

What are your stats? And more importantly, what is your lifting program consist of. If you are a relatively new lifter and don't go too aggressive on your deficit, than you can lose fat and gain a little muscle at the same time. But it certainly won't be at the same rate.

alung2k3

I think you're probably right. I would consider myself a beginner, currently tagging along with a friend who's more experienced.

Intensity wise I would say Medium. I was always warned to never go too hard to fast. The goal is to lose more fat and try to gain a little muscle.

4LeafMint

I have been lifting weights a long time. If you are a hard gainer eat your protein and forget the powder. If you are trying to lose weight and gain muscle (not probably going to happen unless you use steroids) you have to drink protein powder and lots of it. You should be getting about 1g per pound of lean body weight or day.

alung2k3

Right-O,

Litterally on Amazon now looking at the different options.

Brand wise, is there anything you champion? Better yet, any to avoid? I don't have any allergies or diety issues.

Thanks!

4LeafMint

Rules for buying protein.
1. Taste decent enough to drink.
2. Has high protein ratio to calories.
3. Low carb and no added sugar and NO SUCRALOSE.
My humble opinion is to buy pure plain whey protein and add stevia to sweeten and maybe some vanilla. Save your money and forget the isolates and casein proteins for now.

4LeafMint

I use MyProtein (Impact Whey Protein). I buy 11 pounds for around $55 but I wait till it goes on sale.

alung2k3

Really struggling to find a product that isn't using Sucralose. Other than that issue there seems to be some great options.

MichelleSilverleaf

alung2k3 wrote: »

Really struggling to find a product that isn't using Sucralose. Other than that issue there seems to be some great options.

Googling sucralose real quick, it seems only the woo sites disprove of it so not sure I'd worry about the sucralose. It's just a sugar. I've been using Kaizen as a protein supplement and enjoy it.

alung2k3

Not sure if links are allowed on here but i'll try anyway.

https://www.myprotein.com/sports-nutrition/the-whey/11353515.html

I managed to get it cheaper too, based in the UK.

sarabushby

Consider a sachet to try the flavour & brand before you buy a massive tub. I personally find them all to be too ‘sweetener’y tasting. One time I tried a flavoured pea protein, Omg that was so so so far beyond bad!!!

MichelleSilverleaf

sarabushby wrote: »

Consider a sachet to try the flavour & brand before you buy a massive tub. I personally find them all to be too ‘sweetener’y tasting. One time I tried a flavoured pea protein, Omg that was so so so far beyond bad!!!

^ Super good advice. I believe most health food or supplement stores will have sample sizes you can grab of varying brands. At least that's what I've heard.

4LeafMint

I want to eat my carbs...fruits and vegetables. Sucralose actual made me gain weight. But if you are going to use sucralose just use sugar instead...honestly. I avoid all sweeteners like the plague. I do use stevia a little. Actual bought a stevia plant and going to experiment with it in some recipes.

kimny72

4LeafMint wrote: »

I want to eat my carbs...fruits and vegetables. Sucralose actual made me gain weight. But if you are going to use sucralose just use sugar instead...honestly. I avoid all sweeteners like the plague. I do use stevia a little. Actual bought a stevia plant and going to experiment with it in some recipes.

How could sucralose make you gain weight? It's got less than 5 cals per gram.

*
*
@alung2k3 , how much do you weigh and how many cals are you eating per day? What program are you running?

shadow2soul

sarabushby wrote: »

Consider a sachet to try the flavour & brand before you buy a massive tub. I personally find them all to be too ‘sweetener’y tasting. One time I tried a flavoured pea protein, Omg that was so so so far beyond bad!!!

Definitely. I used to use EAS Lean 15 which they discontinued and replaced with their EAS Advantage line. The powder for the Advantage line does not like to dissolve. Even with a blender I had chunks.
I currently use Optitmum Nutrition Protein Energy and have it on auto ship to my house every month. On of my favorites is 1st Phorm Level-1, but they aren’t exactly cheap ($50 for about 30 servings).

psuLemon

Before you buy protein powder, whats your actual lifting routine? Are you following a structured routine or did you make it up?

lemurcat2

MichelleSilverleaf wrote: »

sarabushby wrote: »

Consider a sachet to try the flavour & brand before you buy a massive tub. I personally find them all to be too ‘sweetener’y tasting. One time I tried a flavoured pea protein, Omg that was so so so far beyond bad!!!

^ Super good advice. I believe most health food or supplement stores will have sample sizes you can grab of varying brands. At least that's what I've heard.

Yeah, I highly recommend this approach too. Some of them are not tasty at all. You probably don't need to supplement (depends on your stats, but I expect 150 g is plenty), but some find protein powder to be an easy way to bump up protein some.

4LeafMint

kimny72 wrote: »

4LeafMint wrote: »

I want to eat my carbs...fruits and vegetables. Sucralose actual made me gain weight. But if you are going to use sucralose just use sugar instead...honestly. I avoid all sweeteners like the plague. I do use stevia a little. Actual bought a stevia plant and going to experiment with it in some recipes.

How could sucralose make you gain weight? It's got less than 5 cals per gram.

*
*
@alung2k3 , how much do you weigh and how many cals are you eating per day? What program are you running?

I am only saying it made me gain weight... Not that it make someone else gain weight. If you Google sucralose it will say it can make you gain weight so I am not the only one. Friend me and I will show you my program. I don't want to take this chat in a different direction.

sijomial

In the UK too.....
The Protein Works do a whey protein (Naked range) sweetened with Stevia instead of sucralose (but there isn't a sensible reason to avoid sucralose unless you dislike the taste or have some sensitivity to it).

But do remember it's your training that drives muscle gain, a poor program and glugging protein shakes won't get you anywhere. You don't eat yourself strong.

quiksylver296

sijomial wrote: »

In the UK too.....
The Protein Works do a whey protein (Naked range) sweetened with Stevia instead of sucralose (but there isn't a sensible reason to avoid sucralose unless you dislike the taste or have some sensitivity to it).

But do remember it's your training that drives muscle gain, a poor program and glugging protein shakes won't get you anywhere. You don't eat yourself strong.

Really?!? *Kitten*!

sijomial

quiksylver296 wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

In the UK too.....
The Protein Works do a whey protein (Naked range) sweetened with Stevia instead of sucralose (but there isn't a sensible reason to avoid sucralose unless you dislike the taste or have some sensitivity to it).

But do remember it's your training that drives muscle gain, a poor program and glugging protein shakes won't get you anywhere. You don't eat yourself strong.

Really?!? *Kitten*!

I remember a simpler time when people went to the gym to get strong and went to the shops to buy food...…
:grumble:

magnusthenerd

4LeafMint wrote: »

kimny72 wrote: »

4LeafMint wrote: »

I want to eat my carbs...fruits and vegetables. Sucralose actual made me gain weight. But if you are going to use sucralose just use sugar instead...honestly. I avoid all sweeteners like the plague. I do use stevia a little. Actual bought a stevia plant and going to experiment with it in some recipes.

How could sucralose make you gain weight? It's got less than 5 cals per gram.

*
*
@alung2k3 , how much do you weigh and how many cals are you eating per day? What program are you running?

I am only saying it made me gain weight... Not that it make someone else gain weight. If you Google sucralose it will say it can make you gain weight so I am not the only one. Friend me and I will show you my program. I don't want to take this chat in a different direction.

I can Google Bigfoot built the pyramids to have a location to snipe JFK from and potentially get a result. That doesn't make it factual.
Sucralose is essentially ubdigestable by humans.

OP: if you're new to lifting, even in a deficit, protein level isn't liable to be your limiter to strength gains.

alung2k3

Thanks for the replies so far.

I wouldn't say I have a routine down yet. I've sort of researched via the internet and used my friends sets as a guideline.

It's been about 3 weeks and I've managed to move up 5kg in both arms. 15kg to 20kg d-bells.

I do alot of dumbell work on arms and chest. Then I'll head into the machinary to hit the things I didn't hit yet. My friend is alot more technical than me. He does different movements per day, pull/push etc so I kind of incoperate that too.

General rule is 10-12 reps. The last 2 you should struggle to get up. If not it's too easy and you should go up a level.

Weight wise I'm 266lb or just over 19st. Calorie target is 1860 cals, aiming to drop 2lb per week. I'm 6"4 so I carry it abit better.

Exercise wise I do like to do some cardio too. I like to burn 500 cals a day. I eat back approx half of that.

Before I started my weightloss of around 3 months I had body fat of approx 33.8%, latest reading was 27.4%. I went from the obese to the poor region. My BMI is still miles out tho.

psuLemon

So the biggest issue for your goals, is your training. The best way to gain muscle while losing some weight is getting on a structured lifting routine (see below link), and in particular, one that is appropriate to your lifting skill level. If your friend has been training for years, than I would advise that you go onto a different plan. The idea is to work with a beginner program for 3-12 months so you can build a base of strength and work on form. And then you should move to a immediate program.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

The good news is, you are still in the beginning stages of weight loss and are overweight/obese. This makes it a bit easier to gain some muscle fairly quickly (still not a lot, but you should easily be able to gain a few lbs). You can still have a moderate deficit (1-1.5 lbs/wk) while working on your diet to incorporate higher protein sources (meats, fish, Greek yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese, etc.. ).

If you want to supplement to get it around 140-160g of protein, I recommend PEScience. You can get a bunch of samples before you buy a lot. MYProtein is supposed to be good too.

But keep in mind, that supplementation does not make up for overall poor diet or poor training.

Carlos_421

OP, I will second the suggestion that you get on a structured lifting plan. If you're mainly doing arm work with dumbbells you're likely leaving a lot of potential muscle gains on the table by not focusing on full body work incorporating compound lifts.

As for how much protein you need, it's generally recommended to get .8 to 1.0 or .8 to 1.2 grams per pound of lean body weight to maximize muscle growth (assuming a well structured lifting program). An easy way to figure it could be to just multiply your goal weight by .8 since you're trying to lose weight and may not actually know your lean body weight.

If that's difficult for you to achieve, it's totally fine to bump up your protein with a supplement (I have a whey protein shake pre-workout 5 days a week).
My favorite (and a great bang for your buck) is the Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard whey. I believe it may have sucralose in it but that's not actually a problem. Sucralose is just Splenda. It's a zero calorie sweetener that has been well studied and shown to be totally safe and we know that it doesn't make anyone fat (and no, the Mayo clinic doesn't say that it does).

Best of luck, man!

alung2k3

Thanks guys, I will take a look at those links then and go from there!