Increasing protein and help with protein powder

I make my shake with almond milk, banana and vanilla whey protein. Yum.

usmcmp wrote: »

You probably don't need 180 grams of protein a day.

All due respect but this doesn't answer the question. You have no way of knowing whether the OP "needs" 180g/p a day or not.

Maybe he does and maybe he doesn't but 180g or 720 cals out of 2400 is just 30% of his diet and isn't obviously too much.

My macro has always been 40%p which is currently 190g on 1900 cal a day at maintenance.

I have lost weight and gained strength consuming this much or more protein a day for over a yr and 1/2 doing it starting at 196 down to my current wt at 160.

While THAT much protein is probably not necessary for protein synthesis and muscle development, a high protein diet has other benefits including appetite suppresion and thermogenisis which both contrubute to wt loss and maintenance.

So, I wouldn't be so quick to tell the OP that he doesn't "need" that much protein.

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As for your question, OP, there are already a lot of treads on this topic with many suggestions about what food to eat in order to increase your protein intake. Just do a search for them.

However, it's almost always necessary to supplement w/protein powders, drinks or bars of some sort.

All of them taste different in one way or another. So, if you don't like the taste of phD, all I can suggest is try another.

My favorite powders are Cytosport Muscle Milk (available at Costco) and MyProtein (available online); both in chocolate. Cytosport and MyProtein taste fine to me. Cytosport (at normal pricing) and MyProtein (on sale) offer the most protein at the cheapest price per serving, about 20-25g eacg, which is why I've used them.

I also supplement w/a premade protein whey drink sold by The Vitamin Shoppe called Isotech42 which provides 42g/p per bottle. It normally costs a little over $3/bottle but is currently on sale for about $2.25. Not cheap, easy way to load up on protein quick.

I also buy protein bars made by Pure Protein which provide 18-20g protein per bar. My fave flavor is the peanut butter and chocolate 200 cal bar. I like the taste of the Pure Protein bars better than Quest and Costco bars and they are also cheaper than them as well.

Finding the protein powder, drink and/or bars that you like best will just require some trial and error. So, don't buy too much of any until you find the ones that taste the best to you.

Good luck!

@sgt1372

OP is female.

I do 2 protein shakes a day. I like Cytosports Vanilla and Optimum Nutrition Chocolate whey powders. Sometimes I mix the vanilla into greek yogurt or add it to Kodiak Cakes pancakes mix. I usually drink the chocolate at night, with almond milk and cold brew coffee. Delicious and very satisfying. Gets me through the hardest time of the day for me, diet-wise.

Besides that, I plan my daily diet around hitting my protein target, and I rarely fall short. Put the protein in place, hit that target, then allocate the rest of your calories. I eat a lot of eggs, egg whites, cottage cheese, and various forms of chicken. I manage to hit my goal of 140 grams on 1500 calories most days, with a little effort.

I have ~ 1200 calories and I got ~ 150g of protein today And that's before my nightly "chocolate milk" (chocolate protein powder with almond milk). It's not that hard, but I do find it hard to also eat the percent of carbs and fat I'm supposed to. Oh well I'm happy lol. Anyway... I eat Greek yogurt for breakfast, cheese on everything, lots of chicken, 3 eggs with ham or chicken in them when I do eggs, Protein bar for a snack, ive drank protein water and do my chocolate milk for dessert.


I love the peanut butter think thin protein bars! Sadly the store was out last week so I tried chocolate coconut pure protein instead.. Not my favorite...

I get that. I'm starting over. I can't even weight myself. It makes me crazy and I'll under eat. I'm taking baby steps.. Starting with a 20 minute walk every morning and eating well. Eventually I'll join a gym again..but for now walking and chicken it is. Lol

I mix it in the magic bullet, works better than a shaker bottle. Plus that way you can add stuff likea tbls of peanut butter, a banana and milk.

herbgardinia wrote: »

Thanks for the answers - appreciate all input.

The target of 180g was suggested by my PT - though he has said if I shoot for that and land around 160-165, that's fair enough. Yes - it's weight loss rather than muscle building, and I'm losing 2lb/week and haven't been hungry/had cravings at all, so it seemed to be working atm.

I'm only in my fourth week of a rather major change in lifestyle. It might seem a bit ridiculous to people who have caught the habit already but the sheer time commitment of fitting 10,000 steps daily, 3 times week training at gym and planning my macros/calories has me a bit overwhelmed!

Will go looking for some of the suggested alternatives - I got the Belgian chocolate after the vanilla to see if I liked it better, but not really... Also will try to take my shakes earlier in day rather than have a big protein load in the evening.

Thanks again.

I am not sure why your PT put you that high, but it's definitely higher than what you need, even if you are losing weight. Realistically, you would only need 110 to 140g... Now if you want more, that is fine.


How tall are you? If you are losing 2lb a week, your PT might have increased protein that high to help with muscle maintenance because that is aggressive weight loss.

Eat other foods that "double dip" macros so that you have extra protein without adding in more meat/dairy. For example - beans, edamame, quinoa, barley and lentils all have more protein than a potato, bread, rice or pasta. If you need snacks in the day, focus on protein centered snacks. I always keep canned chicken, beef jerky and tuna packets in my desk at work along with quest bars.