Whey Protien and Weightloss?

rileya

So I have been on MFP for 50 days now and I lost 5lbs but have started weight training and now gained the 5 lbs back I will be the first to admit that I don't always come in under my calories...actually I usually am eating over because I try to get in 6 meals a day and I have been excercising at least 5 days a week for 60 minutes. I was thinking about starting to take whey protien and was wondering if anyone had any information on what this will do to my weightloss and my body...I would like to be lean and not very muscular seeing as I am already big framed. I started reading the Abs diet book but it is not the one that is specific for women so that is why i am wondering what the protein will do for a womens body.
Thanks

safiresp04

Whey protein is a great supplement for weight training as it contains quality protein, delivered in liquid form, that is easily broken down to help your muscles repair. I am "large framed" and I eat 6 meals a day - 3 of which have a protein shake included. Now, I am training for a bodybuilding competition, so my dietary/protein needs are very different from yours, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to include a shake with either your first meal or the first meal after you work out.

Make sure you purchase a high quality whey - Optimum Nutrition is one of the best. Also, make sure your other meals are well rounded with lean meats, whole grains, dairy, fruits and vegetables, and you should see some great results. Don't be afraid to eat your exercise calories as those will help your body repair, too.

lvfunandfit

You should eat a minimum of half of your body weight in grams of protein. I drink 1-2 protein shakes a day. 1 first thing in the morning just to get my body working and one after a work out or right before bed if I'm hungry. you will not get big and buff like a body builder. You aren't genetically able with out the extra help of testosterone. So don't feel that extra protein will make you gigantic. Protein helps rebuild muscle. Muscle is lean, smooth and dense. The more you have the leaner you look and the more tone you will be. Plus, the more muscle you have the more fat you burn. You should keep track of body fat percentage (find a trainer at your local gym to measure your body fat).

The brands of protein powder I prefer are Muscle Milk (130 calories and 25 grams of protein per scoop) or EAS Myoplex (180 calories, 20 grams of protein and 1 g of sugar). There are many other options out there. Just drink what tastes best to you. You can go to a local health food store and buy sample packets of most. I prefer the powder since you can use it to add to pancake/waffle batter, muffin mix, etc. You can use it to make smoothies with fruit or add peanut butter/almond butter to it to make it more of a meal. I also prefer to mix mine with 1/2 c of nf milk and 1/2 c of water to make them a little thicker. The Ready to drink shakes are great for grab and go when you are in a hurry or to take with you to work for a snack.

jday53405

When you start weight lifting your muscles will retain water in the beginning. It is just what happens. Drink extra water and it will help. As far as protein. I would go for a meal replacement on rather than whey like myoplex light. Whey protein is a fast acting protein that breaks down quickly and is really used for before and after you work out to gain muscle. The meal replacement shakes are a slower digesting protein that will aid in your daily protein needs and also help you tone up.

Really the best I found was the choc myoplex. As far as taste, good fats, high protein.. ect ect (I kinda like the taste of all protein shakes though, even the ones people say are bad). And for a food plan, I lost a lot of my weight on the BFL foot diet. I like the workout to, but it only gets you so far. I still apply the same principles to my diet today. http://bfl.com

You're a girl, you don't need to be packing on the protein unless you want to get all bulky.

Jerzeebabie04

Hey, well going over your calories is probably a good thing... do you track your exercise on MFP? Because you should be eatting your exercise calories, since it will give you extra anyway, it's okay if you are going over without tracking your exercise.

I am having trouble losing ever since I started exercising again. But I can tell you from experience I have tried whey protein, but not incorporated with MFP. I did a whey/soy protein type diet because I felt that I lost more weight the more protein I had. It is a generic of some more expensive diet plan, but it follows the same guidelines of 20g of soy protein a day & 20g of whey protein a day. Researching all of the benefits of soy & whey for women is what had me doing it to begin with. I would have 2 shakes a day (1 for breakfast & 1 for lunch) each would include enough soymilk to add up to 10g of soy protein and then about a half scoop of whey protein powder (10g). And add some frozen or fresh fruit to the shakes.

Of course my dinners would consist of fish and vegetables. I'd have fruit or nuts or 100 calorie pack snacks (2 a day). When I was doing that I was also going to the gym doing strength training and the elliptical and I was losing a lot of inches! Then I started losing about 2 lbs a week too.

I havent done that in awhile and I can't say if it was the whey or the soy/whey combination that helped, but I loved the shakes! And the fact that they were chocolate, vanilla, banana, chocolate peanut butter, etc helped me with not having sweet cravings. I think women can definitely lose weight with whey protein, as long as you don't use as much as a man would use and aren't doing really heavy strength training all the time.

Behavior_Modification

I don't have any advice for you on how the whey will help, but I do have advice on how to prepare it. A few years ago, I purchased 3 large jugs of the stuff (chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry flavored) and figured that would give me lots of options for shakes and such. Unfortunately I just couldn't get used to the stuff and I tried everything. Finally I started making it in bulk and would put a few shakes in the fridge for later. Those shakes were the best ever. So, the trick is to make the shake(s) up ahead of time and let them sit in the fridge for at least 3hrs and they taste much better. I would mix all kinds of fruit with them, choco and bananas were my fave. With the vanilla one, I would use diet orange and root beer sodas sometimes and they tasted like ice cream drinks. Good luck!

TGIBriday83

it's probably not a bad idea to take some kind of protein. a lot of women have trouble getting an adequte amount of protein into their daily diet. my girl friend for example just isnt that crazy about meat and when she does eat it, she basically picks it apart. the slightest hint of fat and its "too fatty" and lord help if it's still on the bone. She also thinks lunch meat is disgusting. granted there are plenty of ways to supplement protein but in terms of ease, shakes arent a bad option at all. it'll help you to build lean muscle and lean muscle increases your metabolism.

someone mentioned you want to be careful because you don't want to get bulky. women lack the testosterone to really build huge muscle. unless your lifting like a professional body builder and drinking 4 shakes a day you should be ok. there will be some weight gain obviously from muscle gain, but it should balance out over time.