Help advice with protein powder.

If you get enough protein from food, you don't necessarily need protein powder. How much protein are you getting without powder?

I like Quest salted caramel and their cinnamon crunch. PEScience snickerdoodle is also really good. It depends on what you like and how you use it. I blend 1tbs in 1/4c soymilk for my morning coffee.

Good on you for starting at 19 years old. I sincerely wish I had done so myself. Welcome to the world of supplements. There are more types of protein powder and more opinions on which is the best than you would have time to read or watch on you tube. I use protein powder 1-2 times daily depending on my food intake for the day. I usually try to take in 1-1.5gms per kilogram of bodyweight. I generally try and get the most bang for the buck. Look for powder that contains 20-30 grams of protein. Try and keep the calories down as well as the price. I usually get mine at Walmart or Meijers. 15-17 dollars for a 2lb jar. Occasionally you may find optimum Nutrition on sale then I might spent $20. Once I found discontinuing Mark Walhberg powder on closeout price. Profile was pretty good so I bought 3 tubs. I workout in the morning and usually add a scoop of powder to my oatmeal or Cream of Wheat for breakfast after I workout. I always try and eat clean food with bigger meals earlier in the day and smaller dinner. If intake is low I usually have a cup of fat free greek yogurt with a scoop of powder mixed in in the evening. You tube will be a valuable resource for you, there are a lot of fitness guys who provide alot of helpful information.
Alex Eubank, Anthony Mantello are a coulpe that younger and have good content. I am close to 70 years old and watch more for entertainment than advice though. Good luck on your journey and remember consistency is the key with slow steady progress over years of effort.

Just a paste of my comment on a recent thread:

I'd echo most of the non-vegetarian advice for fish, eggs, lean unprocessed meats, and dairy though I eat a lot of tofu. Whey protein is the big top-up for me, mainly mixed in morning oatmeal, shakes and non-fat yogurt with nuts, berries, fruit. I buy on sale and in bulk on the basis of grams per dollar.

(The protein powder industry is a heavily marketed chaos of ingredients and percentages, scoop and jar sizes, and PEDrugged fitness influencers - purified "isolates" and heavily marketed brands are radically overpriced. Here in Canada some good whey brands are relabeled as drug store generics and sold at half the price. Amines, etc. added to the basic whey in "concentrates" or blends are inexpensive filler, redundant to what's in ordinary good nutrition. Apart from grams/ dollar price, the mixability and flavor are important considerations if it's stirred or shaken by hand, but matter much less if blendered with other tasty things.)

If you consume a carnivorous diet I would choose Whey first. A often ignored concern to protein consumption is to make sure you are also getting sufficient EAAs(essential amino acids). The three most important are Leucine, Isoleucine, and Valine.

The problem most people have with consuming protein is they may not consuming enough of the EAAs as well. This use to be the main knock on eating a vegetarian diet as far as results of MPS. Now with research readily available as well as Mr. Google and apps we can balance the plant based diet out more efficiently to obtain nearly the same results.

For example with the absence of Leucine we literally will not obtain a MPS(Muscle Protein Synthesis) response which then the body to utilizes the protein source for a energy instead. Not to achieve MPS. A optimal amount of Leucine is 3g per meal.

I would be more concerned about protein intake first, but we do want to also keep in mind the importance of EAAs.

In our diet we can also consume both protein and EAAs traces from our carb and fat macros as well.

The issue is compounded when somebody is assuming that just because they consume protein from a "protein bar" or the other well marketed sources of tasty protein is we consume enough of the EAAs in our diet per meal to meet our goal(s).

With Whey we don't have to worry almost always. Just check the nutrition label and everything should be there.