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I'd recommend consuming at least 20 grams of protein within 30 mins after finishing your weight lifting workout. This is the most important time for protein intake- a protein shake at this time can be the fastest easiest way to do this, but a meal is effective too. You should also aim to meet your total protein goal each day. You may need to adjust your macros manually if the myfitnesspal settings don't have your protein goal set high enough for weight lifting.

Personally I like Tera's Whey protein powder - the organic grass fed in dark chocolate flavor, and I use coconut water as my mixer. I like that it has minimal ingredients and is sweetened only with stevia. Between 8 and 12 oz of coconut water to 2 scoops of protein powder is good for a shake. But there are literally hundreds of options for protein powders out there, and you can use whatever mixer you prefer too- water, milk, almond milk, etc. So find what you like best. Whey concentrate tastes the best and is least processed, but a lot of people like whey isolate because it's more pure and has less lactose. Just make sure you get a good brand and there aren't any weird ingredients.

For your training it might be good to follow a program, or you can check out Fitnessblender on YouTube for free at home free weights workouts to get you started and you can see what style you like since they have a lot of variety.

As far as heavy vs light and more vs less reps - my experience is that when I first started lifting I had to go pretty light at first and work on getting my form correct and work on the mind to muscle connection- a mirror would be helpful so you can see yourself while you exercise and notice if you're doing anything weird with your posture etc. And since I was going lighter I tended to need more reps. As I got stronger and used to all the movements I was gradually able to increase weight and lower reps. But I still prefer a higher rep range actually, like 10 to 12 reps, and up to 15 when I'm almost ready to increase weight. It depends on the exercise too. Some people really like to go pretty heavy and lower reps, but I just don't like that as much. Start slow and see what you prefer best. I think lower weight higher reps generally builds muscle mass, and higher weight lower weights generally builds strength? But since you'll be in a caloric deficit for weight loss you'll most likely just be trying to preserve muscle rather than build- so just do whatever works best for you, the most important thing is that you just use your muscles. When you do strength training while in a deficit your body will prioritize burning fat rather than eating up your muscle (as long as you're getting sufficient protein).

Since you have quite a bit of weight to lose I would suggest a quicker paced high volume training style like circuit training, with lots of full body movements like squats and deadlifts, and also you can add in some exercises that get your heart rate going (like jump squats, jumping jacks, step ups, burpees, etc) into your circuits to get sort of a simultaneous cardio effect. Circuit training is where you pick a few different exercises that work different muscle groups and do them one after the other without resting much in between. This burns more calories than straight body building style training. I did full body circuit style training at first when I was mostly focused on weight loss- after a while I'm now still doing circuit style training but have transitioned to mostly working upper body one day, then lower body the next time, plus a little core work during every workout. Eventually when I've lost all the weight I want and want to just maintain muscle I might do a more traditional body builder split like push, pull, legs. I might even someday do regular training instead of circuits... Not sure yet, we'll see. Again, see what you like and what works best for you and your goals, body type, fitness level, preference, etc. The most important thing is that you enjoy it and workout regularly and keep progressing. I like to track my weight and reps for each exercise so I can see if I'm gaining strength or not. Ideally you want to see improvement over time.

Good luck and have fun!

robdowns1300 wrote: »

It's hard enough to keep calories down when losing weight. Protein supplements usually are about 250 cals per scoop. When I'm cutting, I just do my best to hit my macros. It's a pretty lean day that i'll get out the protein powder.

Are you sure that's not a weight gainer or meal replacer??? My protein powder is only 110 calories for 2 scoops (1 serving, 22 grams of protein).

And quest is about 100 calories for 20 g protein, mix with water. Honestly you can get your protein from food and may not need a supplement. I don't take anything after I lift, just go home and make dinner. And no, it is not within 20 minutes, more like an hour.

I like stronglifts 5x5 as a beginner strength program and had good success with it