Protein shake throwing me off course?

Moosie232
Moosie232 Posts: 5 Member
edited November 18 in Health and Weight Loss
For the past month I have found this AWESOME café that serves protein shakes and other healthy meals and discovered a shake that has 230 calories for a medium, 30g of protein, 24g of carbs, 7g of fat and it tastes GOOD. I have been replacing my lunches with this shake because it really helps me to not get hungry and snack so much before dinner. I've been doing this almost every day while restricting my other meals and eating a (basically) primal diet for a month and haven't really seen any changes. Is this not a good idea? Am I getting too much protein with this shake or am I missing something else? Thanks for help! I would love buddies too if you want to add me!

Replies

  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Do you weigh the food in your other meals?
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
    How do you know it's only 230 calories? Sounds very low to me.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    Do you eat in a calorie deficit? Do you use a food scale for your other foods? Do you log everything you put in your mouth? Use accurate entries? Use the recipe builder? Accurately log exercise calories if you eat them back?

    What's "really any changes" - do you have realistic expectations?
  • JakeBrownVB
    JakeBrownVB Posts: 399 Member
    edited May 2015
    atypicalsmith wrote: »
    How do you know it's only 230 calories? Sounds very low to me.

    Depends if its done with milk or water. If its milk, yeah I agree it does seem low. If it is water, I'm surprised it taste nice because protein powder with water always tastes like butt hole.
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
    JakeBrownVB wrote: »
    atypicalsmith wrote: »
    How do you know it's only 230 calories? Sounds very low to me.

    Depends if its done with milk or water. If its milk, yeah I agree it does seem low. If it is water, I'm surprised it taste nice because protein powder with water always tastes like butt hole.

    LOL!!!
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    edited May 2015
    A gram of carbohydrate or protein is 4 calories. 30 + 24 grams equals 216 calories. A gram of fat has 9 calories so 7 grams equals 63 calories for a grand total of 279 calories. Now, if some of those carbs are fiber or sugar alcohols, and therefore aren't absorbed by the body, then 230 calories could be about right.

    That said, if you aren't losing weight you aren't eating at a calorie deficit. The protein shake is only a part of the equation and only the problem if those 230 calories are putting you over your calorie goal for the day. Whether you are eating primal, clean or whatever, it's still calories in vs. calories out for weight loss.

    If you aren't logging what you're eating start. If you aren't weighing what you're logging, start. Somewhere in the equation of food intake and exercise calories are more calories than you're accounting for. Figuring out where the problem lies should get you back on track.
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  • motivatemychange
    motivatemychange Posts: 31 Member
    Make your own so you know exactly what it is that's going in the shake! I reckon a drink coming from a cafe has more calories in it than you think it has!
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    The point is there is not one thing that is throwing you over your goal necessarily. You should spend a week making your own lunch, even if it's a shake, and weighing everything you put in your mouth to be sure you're at a deficit.
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
    Do they weigh the ingredients? Nutrition info from restaurants and fast food outlets can't be taken as gospel, there are too many variables. Someone was heavy handed with the scoop of fruit they put in your Smoothie... Or they put in double the PB etc. At a restaurant, someone overdid the mayo/dressing.... Or overfilled your fry basket.

    Calories easily add up!

    That said, it's not the Smoothie, it's your whole intake you need to consider.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,941 Member
    Moosie232 wrote: »
    For the past month I have found this AWESOME café that serves protein shakes and other healthy meals and discovered a shake that has 230 calories for a medium, 30g of protein, 24g of carbs, 7g of fat and it tastes GOOD. I have been replacing my lunches with this shake because it really helps me to not get hungry and snack so much before dinner. I've been doing this almost every day while restricting my other meals and eating a (basically) primal diet for a month and haven't really seen any changes. Is this not a good idea? Am I getting too much protein with this shake or am I missing something else? Thanks for help! I would love buddies too if you want to add me!

    Summing up the nutritional information I'm getting 279kcal, and not 230.
  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    Just going off of everyone else's comments; seems a bit low! There's nothing necesarily wrong with it, as long as you're hitting your calorie and macro goals. I would probably overlog the shake at 300 calories to be safe, since they seem to be low-balling the amount.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    What others are saying is spot on. I am so not for replacing meals with shakes, but if you really want that shake, then make sure you weigh everything else and overestimate the calories by, maybe, about 50-100. That's what I would do, anyway.
  • Moosie232
    Moosie232 Posts: 5 Member
    Thanks for all of your replies and input! You're right, I don't weigh my food... Yet. I've just purchased a scale to begin doing so and I hope that helps. I've also adjusted my daily calorie goal to lower to see if maybe it was just too high from before.

    Even if it is 300 cal or so for the shake, I'm ok adjusting my other meals just because it really does a good job with making me satisfied to not snack all day. But maybe next time I'm in I'll get their recipe and figure out what is really the deal. I've just read before that having too much protein can work negatively against you and didn't know if that could be a factor.
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
    edited May 2015
    Moosie232 wrote: »
    Thanks for all of your replies and input! You're right, I don't weigh my food... Yet. I've just purchased a scale to begin doing so and I hope that helps. I've also adjusted my daily calorie goal to lower to see if maybe it was just too high from before.

    Even if it is 300 cal or so for the shake, I'm ok adjusting my other meals just because it really does a good job with making me satisfied to not snack all day. But maybe next time I'm in I'll get their recipe and figure out what is really the deal. I've just read before that having too much protein can work negatively against you and didn't know if that could be a factor.

    How?

    You could just make your own smoothie.... Easy, and likely cheaper. You can control what goes in it too...

    I wouldn't lower your calories yet - start measuring and weighing and logging accurately to the calories you were set on before. If you still have issues then consider lowering them...
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