Protein shake question!

Jenism1
Jenism1 Posts: 149 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hello all,

I have a question about protein shakes. Since adding it to my diet I have gained 5 pounds. This is the first time I have used protein shakes. I replaced my breakfast with it. It works out to 236 calories as I mix it with 1% milk. Sometime I add a banana which would make it 336 calories.

Is this what protein shakes do? Add weight? Not what I intended AT ALL!! :sad:

I took it initially to help me feel full, which it did. I was happy to be able to make it to lunch with out feeling like I was starving to death!

I have been drinking it for a month now but that is over. I do not weight myself very often but was feeling quite "fluffy" in the midsection so I hopped on the scale and almost fell off. Seriously...5 pounds???

I have maintained my weight since August. I hover between 141 and 143. Up two, down two, up one, down one...like for 10 months...no joke. So imagine when I got on there and saw 147. Seriously...nothing has changed but this shake. I still work out 5-6 days a week. I run, step classes, weight train, circuit train...my food intake has not changed...I eat about 1400-1500 calories a day maybe a little more maybe a little less. Nothing out of the ordinary. I didn't just start eating cheeseburgers or anything.:grumble:

So I guess protein shakes add weight...good if that is what you want to do, bad if it is weight loss you are looking for. I just didn't realize.

Any others out there with a similar experience? Thanks for the input!

Replies

  • srpm
    srpm Posts: 275 Member
    Are you counting the calories from the shake in your daily count? If not that could be your problem I use them before workouts so that I am not starving after since I work out in the morning and don't want to eat something heavy.

    As my husband says they are a snack/meal replacement not an extra snack/meal.
  • Jenism1
    Jenism1 Posts: 149 Member
    Thank you for the reply. I am counting it in my daily count. I have replaced my breakfast with it.

    Thanks again!
  • dr3wman
    dr3wman Posts: 205
    Im not going to be that guy and say "you've probably gained muscle weight", because you said you felt pudgy around the mid-section. Did you take any body measurements before and after starting the shakes? I have found personally that mixing whey protein with milk is alittle too much dairy for my body to handle at once and its noticable with my digestion. Since you're replacing breakfast with the shake, Im assuming your macros/calories have stayed the same. I would suggest trying another type of protein shake or just drinking it with water because some are harder to digest then others.
  • jgic2009
    jgic2009 Posts: 531 Member
    Took a peak at your log -- some days you are a little over, many days you are several hundred under, and many days it looks like your log is incomplete (missing meals).

    For the next month, I would work on consistently logging everything and meeting your calorie goals every day.
  • jennakrysteen
    jennakrysteen Posts: 77
    I would defiinetly use watter instead of milk. I use unsweetened almond milk in mine and its fine. But he is right. Maybe the milk is to much!
  • Dhemeyer
    Dhemeyer Posts: 157 Member
    This is pretty curious and it must be pretty frustrating... let's think about this. It takes approximately 3,500 calories to form one pound of weight, so the only way to add acutal pounds to your frame is by consistently eating more calories than you burn. In order to gain a single pound, for instance, you would need to consume over 17 servings of a 200-calorie protein shake while maintaining the same intake of foods you normally consume. It doesn't sound like this is whats happening with you.

    So could the weight gain be caused by something else. Perhaps water weight retention is the problem... have you started a new fitness routine, perhaps additional sodium in your diet, or maybe you just aren't drinking enough? All of these things could contribute to a sudden weight increase due to water retention.

    Perhaps you've started a new medication... some side effects of medication is weight gain.

    dr3wman has good tips... personally I'd go with his advice

    Good luck!
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    Protein shakes aren't magical. It's just protein. If you substituted some chicken or egg whites for breakfast it would have the same effect. Look elsewhere for your explanation - if you gained an actual 5lbs of fat then you have been eating more or moving less (or both). Period.

    For example, I too have a shake every morning for breakfast and I've lost 66lbs so far. It doesn't make you gain weight. Eating more calories than you expend does.
  • Jenism1
    Jenism1 Posts: 149 Member
    Took a peak at your log -- some days you are a little over, many days you are several hundred under, and many days it looks like your log is incomplete (missing meals).

    For the next month, I would work on consistently logging everything and meeting your calorie goals every day.

    Thanks for the input. I tend to track really well on weekdays and let is slid a bit on weekends. You are right...I will log every ounce of food that enters this body for the entire month and see...perhaps I am eating more than I think!

    It is just weird that such a gain has happened while I have maintained for 10 months.

    Thanks for all the replys, everyone! Really appreciate it!
  • adam1885282
    adam1885282 Posts: 135 Member
    In addtion to the tracking issue (good catch on that one) I'd say that 5 pounds isn't that much weight. It's equal to a little over 1/2 gallon of water. I'm usually up 2+ pounds if I weigh in the evening instead of the morning. You said you don't weigh in very often. While you work on your tracking maybe you should weight yourself more frequently, maybe daily for a month or two? Five pounds may be a normal fluctuation for you but you don't know it.

    While I've been losing weight consistiently I have seen a pattern from daily weighing. I'll plateau for a few days, then drop 2+ pounds the fourth day, bounce back a bit the next day, then level out again one pound down overall. My explanation isn't perfect but you get the drift.

    Last guess, does your shake have any other supplements in it? This is a long shot but creatine, for example, tends to pack on water weight for a few days.
  • bigpinch
    bigpinch Posts: 21
    Protein shakes aren't magical. It's just protein. If you substituted some chicken or egg whites for breakfast it would have the same effect. Look elsewhere for your explanation - if you gained an actual 5lbs of fat then you have been eating more or moving less (or both). Period.

    For example, I too have a shake every morning for breakfast and I've lost 66lbs so far. It doesn't make you gain weight. Eating more calories than you expend does.
    ^^^this. Well said, simple and to the point.
  • shakeshake2
    shakeshake2 Posts: 1
    There are too many variables to consider, just check out the science.
  • beharriman
    beharriman Posts: 3
    Jenism1,
    I have the same problem.
    I drink a LEAN Shake, made by GNC. I add either skim milk or almond milk for the calcium effect, and add either a banana, strawberries or blueberries, and sometimes a little bit of all three. I drink this after my work out in the morning.
    Because I am thin, and I am mainly working on toning and I drink the protein mainly for recovery and as a replacement for breakfast on workout days. I generally try to do a low carb diet as well.

    I had started drinking protein shakes last year and noticed that I was gaining in my mid-section as well as more gas than usual. I was told that the gas was not uncommon. I quit drinking the shakes though because the weight gain in the mid-section was ridiculous.

    Well a year later, I switched to the Lean Shake, and started adding the LIGHT vanilla almond milk or skim milk and again with in 2 weeks of starting them again, I am noticing the mid-section weight gain. Nothing else in my diet has changed other than I may be eating less because I snack less after having a shake, and I am working out more.
    I was told that I may not be digesting them well and try adding probiotics to my diet. Why don't I just stop the shakes and eat eggs instead. Unfortunately, the shakes are more convenient. I don't drink the shakes for weight loss nor do I need to loose any weight. It was strickly for the protein and recovery after my workouts.

    So Jenism, I agree with you on the weight gain in the mid-section. I am stopping protein shakes.
    Anyone interested in buying my leftovers!!

Categories