How often to take Whey Protein

Lockstep

I'm Using nutritionX ProX whey protein and I was just wondering how often I should take it.

The box says one scoop in 200ml water or milk but I'm unsure as to how often to take it:
after training/boxing?
Every day?
etc


any help would be greatly appreciated, should I take more than the box directs as I'm trying to gain weight?

thanks

agentgreen

I take a scoop in the morning and a scoop at night just before bed. Then take RAM after training.

Gaz

If your trying to gain weight you want to be getting upto 2grams of protein for every pound of body weight ( i think) per day.

You should be getting this from whole food sources and your protein shakes. I usually have one before the gym , another after with carbs and then another before bed.

Im trying to hit 300grams a day and i get about 75 from the shakes.

rubadub

Darth Homer wrote: »

If your trying to gain weight you want to be getting upto 2grams of protein for every pound of body weight ( i think) per day.

You should be getting this from whole food sources and your protein shakes. I usually have one before the gym , another after with carbs and then another before bed.

Im trying to hit 300grams a day and i get about 75 from the shakes.

Thats a lot, I think it is 2g per kg of bodyweight (not per lb).

OP- it should be taken with water straight after a weights workout. Milk slows down absorption of the protein, and protein is needed straight away after the workout- hence water. If taking at night you can mix with milk when you do want slow absorption.

I like the taste of protein shakes and drink them as a snack. Some see it strictly as a "workout drink", and some people view it almost like a pharmaceutical product. I just view it like many other concentrated/processed foods I eat. Fruit juice, butter, glucose etc are all pretty similar i.e. people will describe them as not being "whole foods".

theKramer

Take the amount that is indicated on the box.

I would recommend U take it:
First thing in the morning. U will need it after sleeping all nite.
Straight after working out.
Before U go to bed, so U have some protein in your body while U sleep. Your body rebuilds the muscles while you sleep, so taking protein just before U sleep is a really good idea as it gives your body the fuel to build up the muscles.

The problem with overdoing the protein is that any excess protein get excreted out of your body. So you are wasting your money, if U take too much. Taking too much protein doesnt have any health implications, its just a waste of money.

Linoge

theKramer wrote: »

Straight after working out.

You don't really need to take it straight after working out. All you really need straight after a workout is some carbs.

Ditto on everything else Kramer and rubadub has said.

I would recommend 3 also. 1 in morning, 1 before bed and the other with whatever meal during the day is a bit deficient in protein. You want an intake of protein throughout the day.

justsomebloke

try and get all your protein from natural sources with a good source of protein in each meal.

Then work out how much protein you are taking in during the day and it is still not adequate try and take more in from natural sources but if you are still lacking then add protein shakes as needed

theKramer

rubadub wrote: »

OP- it should be taken with water straight after a weights workout. Milk slows down absorption of the protein, and protein is needed straight away after the workout- hence water. If taking at night you can mix with milk when you do want slow absorption.

I never knew that. I'll keep that in mind.

Lockstep

I eat nearly all chicken with fish a couple of times a week.

I weight 63KG

How many drinks should I take?

Cian

rubadub

kickoutthejams wrote: »

I eat nearly all chicken with fish a couple of times a week.

I weight 63KG

How many drinks should I take?

If doing heavy lifting most say 2grams protein per kilo of bodyweight. So you have to workout how much you get from the chicken & fish- both are roughly 20% protein when cooked (fish looses a lot of water upon cooking)

try and get all your protein from natural sources with a good source of protein in each meal.

Some would recommend some whey to have a better variety of protein, of course it should not be solely whey for the same reason, but whey is supposed to be a good protein for muscle building, while pork is not so great.

Also I do not view whey in the same way as some other "supplements". i.e. Whey is never going to be banned by the IMB like other supplements might, it is a concentrated foodstuff, like skim milk powder, glucose, veg oil etc. It is an ingredient in many off the shelf products in the supermarket. I do not know if they could even call for creatine to be banned as technically it would then be illegal to sell red meat.

People take protein and carbs after a workout, if you call whey protein a supplement then I would put concentrated apple juice in the same category if you are drinking it solely to boost your carb levels that you are not getting from "natural foods" or a "normal diet".

And whey is now part of my "normal diet", i.e. I drink it for pleasure, I am not forcing myself to, I like its taste, just like I drink apple juice and eat concentrated refined carbs (sweets).

TerrorFirmer

Darth Homer wrote: »

If your trying to gain weight you want to be getting upto 2grams of protein for every pound of body weight ( i think) per day.

You should be getting this from whole food sources and your protein shakes. I usually have one before the gym , another after with carbs and then another before bed.

Im trying to hit 300grams a day and i get about 75 from the shakes.

300g a day is way too much....You really shouldn't be taking that much if you're not even sure!

Hanley

HavoK wrote: »

300g a day is way too much....You really shouldn't be taking that much if you're not even sure!

Why is 300 too much?

DeletedPencil

Too much protein can give you digestive problems, and protein shakes can be a big waste of time and money too. Hardcore bodybuilders may use them occasionally to supplement a carefully planned diet, or when they are away from their normal routine and need to top up.

There's only so much protein your body can absorb, and they only way your body will be crying out for it is if you are punishing huge amounts of muscle tissue 5 to 6 days a week. Counting calories is far more important. I went to my GP about 5 years ago and asked him about protein shakes (he knows a lot about sports nutrition) and he was completely dismissive. Of course, different doctors will have slightly varying opinions, but for the most part, I'd say the protein shakes are marketed in much the same way as homoeopathic medicines.

Unless bodybuilding is your occupation, then I'd say you can get all the protein you need from proper diet, otherwise you could quite literally be pissing away your money!

I'd say the protein shakes are marketed in much the same way as homoeopathic medicines.

I completely disagree. Homeopathy has little or no basis in either science or reason. The notion of division increasing potency (on a linear basis) goes against most even intuitively proven natural laws.

A protein shake (I use a blend now rather than whey) offers an alternative to whole foods rather than a superior option. If I had to choose from a protein shake or a nice organic chicken breast then I know which one I'd choose. I love the taste of meat.

However when you work long hours and train long hours there isn't always time to prepare food for the day. Often the only option of meat is a Spar chicken fillet sandwich. In terms of buying your own chicken breasts that can be really really expensive assuming your going for the highest quality (as in best treated) meat.

Obviously taking protein shakes can be a much cheaper, much quicker, much more convenient and much more ethically sound whey (sorry) of supplementing your diet. Personally I'd love to have enough money and time to go and buy nice free range well treated chicken and eat it all day long. Unfortunately for all of the reasons mentioned above protein shakes are an incredibly viable option.

For some professional athletes on mega bucks personally I imagine they'd be able to afford to have someone cook them great meat at will. In that case I'd rarely bother with shakes. I'd just have some guy with a giant portable 'chicken on a spit' following me around all day handing me chicken and other tasty meats...

crotalus667

PROTEIN MYTHS
Lies, fabrications and outright fiction everywhere you turn — you might think a political convention is in town.

No, it’s just a general discussion about protein in an ordinary gym. At its core, protein is a simple nutrient. The amino acids from dietary protein represent the bricks that lay the foundation a body uses to create new muscle tissue; if you fall short of the appropriate protein intake, you won’t grow. Simple, see?

That’s why protein has withstood the test of time among bodybuilders. It’s vital for growth, and greats from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Ronnie Coleman have made it the cornerstone of their mass-building plans.

Still, there’s quite a bit of misinformation passed around at gyms and on the Web regarding everything from how much protein is needed, to how much can be digested, to what form is better for bodybuilding. Here, we sort through the fact and fiction for you, tackling the seven most common misconceptions and setting the record straight.

#1 Powders are better than food. Protein powders are easy to absorb, and absorption is an important part of the mass-building process. However, whole-food animal sources of protein, such as eggs, dairy, fowl, red meat and fish, have complete, though somewhat different, amino-acid profiles. Some are higher in certain amino acids than others, and this may be a reason why bodybuilders like Jay Cutler claim that serious mass can’t be built without red meat. Cutler tells FLEX, “When I exclude red meat, I can’t add the mass and grow like I do when I eat it daily and sometimes twice daily.” Is it the iron, B vitamins or creatine in the meat? Maybe. It’s also likely that the unique amino-acid combinations allow greater protein synthesis.

For optimal mass gains, don’t succumb to living mainly on powders. Choose a wide variety of foods and include powders before and after workouts, and at times when convenience is essential. The variable amino-acid concentrations among different foods may exert unique effects on you that result in better growth, as opposed to sticking with one or two protein foods or a couple of foods and a protein powder.

#2 Protein needs are static. Bodybuilders trying to gain mass tend to stick to the same protein intake day in and day out. For example, a 200-pounder may eat as many as 300 grams of protein a day, with plenty of calories coming from carbohydrates in order to create a caloric surplus. Of course, protein and calories are the basics of muscle building. However, you can stimulate your body by mixing things up: one or two days out of every 10 or so, consume up to 400, 450 or 500 g of protein. Ideally, do this on training days to better stimulate growth. Changing levels — specifically, instigating a surplus of amino acids in the blood — can cause an increase in protein synthesis, the buildup of muscle mass in the body. Remaining faithful to the same protein intake day in and day out is OK, but varying protein intake with an occasional day or two of a very high consumption can lead to greater gains.

#3 Everyone needs a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. Although the typical recommendation of a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight is as close to a rule of thumb as there is — which is why we often tout it in the pages of FLEX — it’s not etched in stone. For true hardgainers who bust their butts in the gym, that number should be increased by 50%, to 1.5 g per pound of bodyweight. Keep in mind that you won’t grow — regardless of how much protein you consume — if you are slacking in the gym or training like a wuss.

The key is to match your protein intake with your training. If you’re a beginner, you probably don’t train as hard as someone with a lot of experience — and you probably shouldn’t anyway — so you may be able to get by on slightly less than a gram per pound of bodyweight. If you are a hardgainer or train with intensity on par with your favorite pro, start with 1 g per pound per day, but don’t hesitate to move it up from there if you fail to make significant visible gains.

#4 You can digest only a certain amount of protein per meal.Somewhere along the way, the idea that a body can handle no more than 30 g of protein per sitting wedged its way into nutrition circles. That’s an old wives’ tale. Do you think Arnold Schwarzenegger grew on 30 g of protein every three hours, the equivalent of eating only four or five ounces of chicken at each meal? Think again. Protein digestibility and the amount your body can handle per meal is tied to how much you weigh and how hard you train. The more you weigh, the more you need; the harder you train, the more you need. In turn, the more you need, the more you’ll be able to digest, absorb and assimilate. A 200-pound male will, in general, need more protein than a 160-pounder and should be able to digest more per meal. Digestibility is also linked to the amount of protein you consume on a regular basis. The more protein you eat regularly, the better your body becomes at digesting large protein meals.

#5 Dairy-based proteins promote fat gains. This myth just won’t go away. The idea that dairy-based proteins — low-fat or nonfat milk, cheese and yogurt — lead to gains in fat or added water retention is, well, wrong. Dairy is perfectly fine. It’s a great source of protein, and some research even shows that dairy, when combined with a low-calorie intake, could possibly coax fat loss.

The dairy misconception could be connected to the fact that most cheeses, including nonfat cottage cheese and nonfat sliced cheese, contain excessive sodium, which has the potential to initiate water retention. However, even that’s overblown, because bodybuilders need more sodium.

It drives glycogen storage and indirectly supports growth by interacting with potassium to turn on pumping mechanisms within cells that govern the exchange of nutrients that lead to muscle repair. Plus, sodium is not the culprit many mistake it to be. If you suddenly change your sodium intake, abruptly increasing it, water retention is likely to be the result. However, if you consume dairy on a regular basis and maintain a relatively consistent sodium intake, you will adapt and probably avoid noticeable fluid retention.

#6 Protein can’t be used as an energy source. This misconception relates to dieting bodybuilders. Some trainers advise against cutting way back on carbohydrates, insisting that a lack of carbs causes a loss of muscle tissue. However, by increasing protein intake while dieting, you offer your body alternatives to muscle tissue for use as fuel. Where a low-calorie or low-carb diet can cause muscle tissue to be broken down, an increase in protein consumption “attracts” the body to use dietary amino acids found in protein as a substitute for those in muscle tissue. It does so by burning some amino acids directly and by a process known as gluconeogenesis, in which amino acids are converted into glucose. The myth breaker: increase protein when carbs go down, and you’ll protect against muscle loss.

#7 Complementary proteins promote growth. A cup of cooked oatmeal yields 6 g of protein, a medium bagel provides 11 g and two cups of cooked spaghetti supplies about 16 g. That may be a fact, but the type of protein derived from nonanimal sources might not be the best at creating or supporting protein synthesis. That’s because they are not complete proteins; they don’t contain all the essential amino acids the body needs to build mass.

The entire spectrum of amino acids, including all of the essential amino acids, can be found only in foods that are animal based. Fowl, fish, red meat, milk and eggs are best because they are complete proteins; they contain all of the amino acids the body needs to grow. The proteins found in nonanimal sources are called complementary, or “junk,” proteins; they lack sufficient essential and required amino acids that are ideal for creating anabolic and recovery environments within the body. To order Chris Aceto’s training and nutrition books, including Championship Bodybuilding and Everything You Need to Know about Fat Loss, visit www.nutramedia.com.

Now is everything clear ???

TerrorFirmer

Hanley wrote: »

Why is 300 too much?

Almost 4x his weight (sorry that sounds really awful, obviously I didn't mean 300kg a day, I meant given the normal ratios 2g per 1kg body weight for building muscle ) in protein doesn't strike you as a bit excessive? (he said hes hitting 300g a day at 83kg)