protein powders???

ncthomas09
ncthomas09 Posts: 322 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Ok let's try this one more time. I went to walmart and just grabbed a random inexpensive protein powder without really thinking about it or reading the label. I get it home and it has 170 calories per scoop. Well I am going to go ahead and use it until payday when I can go get something else. But in researching the powders I have become overwhelmed and I don't know what I should go get.

There are whey, soy, etc to choose from and I don't know if one is better than the other. I know all brands will have different calories but I am looking for lowest calorie too. Does any one have suggestions on what I should look for when choosing a powder? I really only use it to make protein shakes. I am also trying to avoid shipping if I can but will resort to that if I need to.

Please help me out and give this overwhelmed girl some input!!!

Replies

  • AllDIVA
    AllDIVA Posts: 45 Member
    Hi. It depends on how many grams of protein you are going for. ready made works for the protein not necessarily fullness for a long period of time. Pure protein 35 grams of protein 2 carbs and 160 calories. You may be hungry sooner than you would like. I also use xsport protein powder. 90 cals per scoop i use 2 scoops with unsweetened vanilla milk and half banana. totals 40 grams protein. I have to look at the carbs but not too many. take you time and ready the labels. I so not know if you talked to your doctor or a nutritionist or trainer. you may want so see what is best for you. I try low carb high protein. carbs should be eaten early in the day. veggies and protein at night. I have a nutritionist and personal trainer so they stray on me about the food.
  • takumaku
    takumaku Posts: 352 Member
    I personally wouldn't buy the powder. I feel natural food is better for you. I will provide some suggestions which you can use that aren't protein powders.

    Some suggestions
    1) Raw egg whites (buy Egg beaters since they will be pasteurized)
    2) Peanut butter flour. PB flour is what is left over when peanut oil is extracted from the nut. It taste just like PB. PB2 is a brand of peanut flour with added sugar.
    3) Nuts
    4) Greek yogurt
    5) Powdered milk
    6) Dried fruit
    7) Tofu
    8) Lentils.
  • catwoman131
    catwoman131 Posts: 55
    Hi! I hope I can help. As a matter of fact I work in nutritional supplements as a formulator. Whey and soy provide protein of the same quality (regardless of what you hear to the contrary). The significant difference is taste and solubility. Whey is most popular because it dissolves much better than soy. I prefer the taste of whey protein powders, but soy is good for other health benefits. However, most products don't give a combination of soy and whey. You might also see whey or soy ISOLATE and whey or soy CONCENTRATE on the label. Don't worry too much about it, you are still getting the protein, but the isolate is only protein and the concentrate brings along some other nutrients that might be in the original protein source.

    Pure Protein products are excellent and low calorie. Jillian Michaels's (part of the Pure line) is 100 calories per serving and really delicious.

    Bottom line, go with whey. It's most consistent and works well as a shake or in a smoothie.

    Good luck!
  • ncthomas09
    ncthomas09 Posts: 322 Member
    Thanks...that kind of helps me head in the right direction. Basically I am making "smoothies" with things like cottage cheese, fruit and all that and then adding the protein powder for the extra protein. So I'm not solely relying on the powders for my "food source". But I'm not against unnatural things personally (I'm sitting here drinking MIO enhanced water now). I know all the reasons that kind of thing is bad for me but I'm willing to deal.

    My parents and a friend uses unjury which has to be ordered but I have heard a lot of people mention designer whey from GNC but that doesn't really help me pick what I am after so this helps!
  • catwoman131
    catwoman131 Posts: 55
    Personally I don't really consider protein powders to be unnatural. Unnatural is more like something engineered in a chemistry lab (and I'm not even opposed to that!) but these powders are simply protein that has been extracted from milk or soy by-products then dehydrated and milled into a powder.

    Designer Whey is really tasty too :smile:
  • shady1987dre
    shady1987dre Posts: 186 Member
    Whey is what you want and Optimum Nutrition is the best. (get the 100% gold standard)
  • mstifb
    mstifb Posts: 230
    I got overwhelmed looking at all the protein powders too! You're not the only one! Glad you asked the question! :smile:
  • JosieRawr
    JosieRawr Posts: 788 Member
    Ok let's try this one more time. I went to walmart and just grabbed a random inexpensive protein powder without really thinking about it or reading the label. I get it home and it has 170 calories per scoop. Well I am going to go ahead and use it until payday when I can go get something else. But in researching the powders I have become overwhelmed and I don't know what I should go get.

    There are whey, soy, etc to choose from and I don't know if one is better than the other. I know all brands will have different calories but I am looking for lowest calorie too. Does any one have suggestions on what I should look for when choosing a powder? I really only use it to make protein shakes. I am also trying to avoid shipping if I can but will resort to that if I need to.

    Please help me out and give this overwhelmed girl some input!!!

    There was some good advice here, my addition is don't freak about the calories, access your protein need and take what u need supplemented, as long as it doesn't have a bunch of added sugars the majority of the calories are from the protein itself(4kcal per gram) if u don't need the full 35 grams, make a half batch, if you do need it, then the calories come with it :)
    BUT if the calories are from added sugars etc, I'd be very unlikely to even continue to use it till u can afford better.. just my opinion.
    personally I like chicken breast n tuna for easy tasty protein :)
  • ncthomas09
    ncthomas09 Posts: 322 Member
    The only reason I am concerned about calories is because by the time I add in my cottage cheese or fruit or whatever it is I want to add my shake has 300+ calories!! Yesterday i made two shakes. One for me and one for my dad. Mine was 280ish caloires and his was 200. Same recipe except for his I used unjury whey protein at 100 cals per scoop and mine was 170 cals per scoop. I just don't like spending all my calories at one time. I like to have room for small snacks through out the day if I want them.

    But I will definately be changing from soy to whey. I will also be going to GNC tomorrow!!
  • 0SayWhatSarah0
    0SayWhatSarah0 Posts: 2
    I've tried tons of protein powders and my absolute favorite is Designer Whey. Both the Chocolate and Vanilla are great.

    It is only 100 calories per scoop :smile: But my favorite part is it only has 2 grams of sugar per serving. You will find that many protein powders are LOADED with sugar, which is really bad.

    I buy mine at Trader Joes. I know you can buy it online too and I am sure it's sold in many other stores. Good luck!


    Not that you asked, but my favorite go-to protein shake is: 1-2 tablespoons of PB2, 1 scoop of Chocolate Designer Whey, 1 cup of 1% milk, and 5 ice cubes. It tastes like a chocolate-peanut butter milkshake! Love, love, love it!
  • ncthomas09
    ncthomas09 Posts: 322 Member
    Not that you asked, but my favorite go-to protein shake is: 1-2 tablespoons of PB2, 1 scoop of Chocolate Designer Whey, 1 cup of 1% milk, and 5 ice cubes. It tastes like a chocolate-peanut butter milkshake! Love, love, love it!

    Thanks for the recipe!!! I have about 5 pages of different recipes I have been trying out to find my fave. So far its the cake batter shake from dashingdish.com only instead of using vanilla pudding mix I use white chocolate. I have also tried almond milk which I am finding an easy replacement for regular milk on certain occasions.

    I finally decided on GNC amplified wheybolic extreme 60....supplement info (per 3 scoops not 1) calories 280 sugar 2g protein 60g

    it was buy one get one half off so I got chocolate and vanilla.
  • LegendDairy
    LegendDairy Posts: 3
    you tried Visalus? tastes great and fills you up! Great product
  • gregpack
    gregpack Posts: 426 Member
    Before you buy based on calories alone look at protein content. Some people say "mine has only 100 calories per scoop" Well, if it only 16 grams of protein, you can do that. Want to make your protein serving 100 calories per scoop? Get a smaller scoop. :)

    I am also pretty happy with Optimum nutrition gold standard whey. It is reasonable priced on amazon , and the natural version has a minimal number of ingredients. It has 120 calories per serving, but it has 24gs of protein, not 16.
  • Susan2BHealthier
    Susan2BHealthier Posts: 130 Member
    bump
  • ncthomas09
    ncthomas09 Posts: 322 Member
    When I went into GNC I basically told him that I wanted to keep calories as low as I could while keeping up protein so I get 90 cal and 20 g protein!!

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