Protein Shakes for dummies, please

MountainMinimizer
MountainMinimizer Posts: 23 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Used for? Meal replacement, snack or what? I feel like I need to start making them to help meet my goals, but I am not sure how. I do not do artificial sweeteners and my body can not handle too much milk.

I could enjoy an occasional shake, what kind of protein shakes are good and reasonably priced.

Thank you for any input.

Replies

  • cronoxfit
    cronoxfit Posts: 2
    Protein shakes should be a supplement, but only when your goal in mind is build muscle or "tone" muscle. If you're still trying to lose 64 lbs, you should stray away from protein shakes or any protein supplement. Remember you can lose weight OR gain muscle. Not both. Otherwise you'll have a hard time seeing ANY progress.

    Focus on counting your calories, gently curbing down portion sizes. Wait until you hit your ideal weight goal.
    Once you have and you decide you want to add some muscle or tone, then go with the shakes and supplemental protein. Keep in mind this is going to ADD weight in form of muscle and you will end up retaining more water than you did during your fatburn phase.

    In addition, nearly ALL protein supplements have some sort of artificial sweetener in them. They wouldn't sell if they didn't make them palatable. So they add sucralose as an "artificial" sweetener. So not much you can do there.

    As far as milk intolerance, you'll probably want to not invest in a whey protein or related product. There is soy out there and creatin powders.

    Hope this helps.
  • kristendeyell
    kristendeyell Posts: 80 Member
    My breakfast during the week consists of a smoothie containing...

    1 cup of frozen fruit (I love frozen cherries)
    2 tbls of ground flax seed
    2 tbls of vanilla whey protein powder
    1 cup of vanilla flavoured unsweetened almond milk
  • acogg
    acogg Posts: 1,870 Member
    My advice is to aim for at least 100 grams of protein each day. Protein will help you retain muscle as you lose, it will help you feel fuller longer and is good for muscle repair after exercise, among other things. What I do is log my planned day and then add my protein shake supplement as needed to meet my goals. I just take a scoop of my chocolate flavored protein powder, add 8 ounces of water and stir. Done!

    ETA: I buy Body Fortress at Walmart. It's about $15.00 for a container that lasts me about a month. The chocolate and strawberry flavors are good, the peanut butter-chocolate is dreadful. I haven't tried the vanilla. Plain chocolate is my favorite. I am sure not everyone would agree, but in my mind's eye, I am having a lovely glass of chocolate milk.
  • rejectuf
    rejectuf Posts: 487 Member
    Protein shakes should be a supplement, but only when your goal in mind is build muscle or "tone" muscle. If you're still trying to lose 64 lbs, you should stray away from protein shakes or any protein supplement. Remember you can lose weight OR gain muscle. Not both. Otherwise you'll have a hard time seeing ANY progress.

    Focus on counting your calories, gently curbing down portion sizes. Wait until you hit your ideal weight goal.
    Once you have and you decide you want to add some muscle or tone, then go with the shakes and supplemental protein. Keep in mind this is going to ADD weight in form of muscle and you will end up retaining more water than you did during your fatburn phase.

    In addition, nearly ALL protein supplements have some sort of artificial sweetener in them. They wouldn't sell if they didn't make them palatable. So they add sucralose as an "artificial" sweetener. So not much you can do there.

    As far as milk intolerance, you'll probably want to not invest in a whey protein or related product. There is soy out there and creatin powders.

    Hope this helps.

    Sorry but I need to disagree with one of your points here. Protein shakes can absolutely be part of a diet focused on weight loss. They are excellent sources of protein, which is essential to retaining lean muscle when losing weight.

    Many forms of whey protein, especially whey isolate, are very low in lactose. Many people who don't handle milk well can drink whey protein with few problems.

    Anyone who has a problem eating enough protein in their diet should consider protein shakes.
  • MountainMinimizer
    MountainMinimizer Posts: 23 Member
    Thank you, that clears that up. I have alot to lose first. There is so much nutritional info to learn and sort through. So overwhelming.
  • suremeansyes
    suremeansyes Posts: 962 Member
    I use plain whey protein to add to my protein totals as I NEVER hit my protein macro% without it.

    I just made some granola bars with protein powder because I LOOOOVE granola bars but the carbs were too high to justify eating them. Not anymore. :)

    Also, smoothies with banana, chocolate almond milk and protein powder are amazing.
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
    Protein shakes should be a supplement, but only when your goal in mind is build muscle or "tone" muscle. If you're still trying to lose 64 lbs, you should stray away from protein shakes or any protein supplement. Remember you can lose weight OR gain muscle. Not both. Otherwise you'll have a hard time seeing ANY progress.

    Focus on counting your calories, gently curbing down portion sizes. Wait until you hit your ideal weight goal.
    Once you have and you decide you want to add some muscle or tone, then go with the shakes and supplemental protein. Keep in mind this is going to ADD weight in form of muscle and you will end up retaining more water than you did during your fatburn phase.

    In addition, nearly ALL protein supplements have some sort of artificial sweetener in them. They wouldn't sell if they didn't make them palatable. So they add sucralose as an "artificial" sweetener. So not much you can do there.

    You can ignore the above post.

    Protein shakes are supplements for meeting your daily protein macro. They don't make you gain weight or build muscle. Calories do that. When you lose weight you lose water, fat, and muscle. Heavy lifting and meeting your protein macros helps combat that muscle loss so you lose mainly fat and water. This is where you muscle definition comes from, loss of fat that was covering the muscle that has been retained.

    A protein shake can 100% be incorporated into your diet while losing weight. It just needs to fit your calorie goals.
  • turomfp
    turomfp Posts: 2
    I start every day with Metagenics Ultrameal Rice (vanilla). I actually mix it, with soy milk, into my coffee and I absolutely love that. They have a soy product too. I try to avoid dairy and I don't eat meat, so protein can be a challenge. A few cups of coffee with soy milk and the Ultrameal amounts to 33 grams of good quality protein and about 400 calories. It's a great way to start the day!
  • 1Cor1510
    1Cor1510 Posts: 413 Member
    My goal is losing weight, I upped my protein to 100gs a day and use protein powder to help get me there. This is the first time I've tried to lose weight while watching this number, I am exercising regularly as well. A couple of benefits from doing this that I have noticed:
    I have lost inches, the losses I've had seem to be fat :)
    No longer have dry skin, and that's saying a lot being from West Michigan this winter.
    My finger nails no longer peel constantly.
    I no longer crave breads and sweets like I used to.

    Feel free to browse my diary. it's open. For me it's slow and steady, and about keeping the muscle I have and losing the fat. Oh and I just found Quest bars, they are great for supplementing the protein and fiber numbers!

    Good luck!
  • SrJoben
    SrJoben Posts: 484 Member
    Used for? Meal replacement, snack or what? I feel like I need to start making them to help meet my goals, but I am not sure how. I do not do artificial sweeteners and my body can not handle too much milk.

    I could enjoy an occasional shake, what kind of protein shakes are good and reasonably priced.

    Thank you for any input.

    I think you can buy premade 'shakes' that you just open and drink. It's probably worth drawing a distiction between them and protein powders. All the different shakes will be sorta their own thing. But we can talk about powder more generally.

    Protein powder is extracted/isolated protein from some natural source. The most common one is whey protein from milk. Some brands have little or no lactose and may be suitable for people with an intolerance. It's by far the cheapest so you should try it and see if it works for you. If it doesn't there are a bunch of alternatives including soy, egg, even hemp protein.

    If you decide to try some protein powder get a Shaker Bottle. It generally doesn't mix well with a spoon. It requires vigorous agitation.

    In general if it's not sold as a meal replacement you shouldn't use it as one. At least not too often, it's basically just protein, little to no carbs or fat, or vitamins or other micronutrients. It has exactly one job, providing extra protein. If it were to form the basis of your diet nutritional deficiencies would result.
  • suremeansyes
    suremeansyes Posts: 962 Member
    I shake my protein powder and chocolate almond milk in a tightly sealed Tupperware container. ;)

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