Whey protein versus plain milk

Prahasaurus

I'm starting my heavy lifting program this week. Quite excited about it.

I need to eat more, however. I've managed to change my diet considerably, and now eat around 2000 - 2500 calories per day of good quality food (fish, chicken, veggies, brown rice, etc.), which is what I need to maintain. The problem is that this is the absolute minimum, so I'll need to be creative about getting more calories in me as I lift.

I'm 6'2" and 185, and not looking to gain any weight. Just add muscle. Although I'm no longer really fixated on my weight, I don't really care where the scale goes, so long as I continue to look more or less like I do now, just with more muscle...

I just bought a nice blender, and I love smoothies. I see some people swear by whey protein shakes. My question:

In general, I'm not a fan of supplements. But my struggle to get calories in me, especially more protein, may mean whey is the way to go... However, I've also read that full fat milk is even better. And cheaper. And easier. And cleaner (cleaner in the sense that I have less of a mess to clean up in my kitchen!)...

Thoughts??

Sorry if this has been covered 1000 times. I promise to only ask once. :-)

--P

Elleinnz

If you are looking for a good easy protein source whey is much better than full fat milk....

8g in 250ml milk - 18g in a 250mil whey protein powder shake

If you are looking for higher calories, higher carbs, higher fat - but lower protein full fat milk is the way to go.....

So I think potentially a combination of whey protein powder, and a cup of full fat milk will give you more protein, more carbs, more fat....higher calories

Personally I like the convenience of whey protein shake right after my heavy lifting - it feeds my body immediately I have finished lifting, as it normally takes me about and hour before I get home and have dinner ready after gym.

Prahasaurus

Personally I like the convenience of whey protein shake right after my heavy lifting - it feeds my body immediately I have finished lifting, as it normally takes me about and hour before I get home and have dinner ready after gym.

Thanks. And yes, I need more protein. I can only eat so much chicken and salmon... :-) Is there a particular brand/type that you recommend? I'm a complete newbie when it comes to protein shakes.

And btw, just looked at your pics. Holy smokes, what a transformation. You look fantastic.

--P

Hendrix7

Optimum nutrition - look online and you will almost certainly find it in a sale somewhere and get a discount

Like the above poster said it depends on how it fits into your macros, milk is a great mass gainer but you do have to get a lot of fat and carbs to get a decent serving of protein out of it, which is probably not a huge concern when you are looking to add lean muscle but worth thinking about.