Protein bars, yay or nay?

MrStuffins

**Please excuse the long post, trying to be as detailed as possible as per the charter**

Ok, so growing up as a small skinny kid meant that when I hit my late teens and became 6'1" and packed on that weight I always appreciated having a few extra lbs on.

I was living abroad up until about 10 months ago and between coming back and about 5 weeks ago I put on a considerable amount of weight so decided to do something about it.

I've been doing it slowly and surely, with the intention of losing 1lb per week by cleaning up my diet and increasing exercise. Rather than making massive changes, my changes are incremental and working very well. Slowly cutting out crap foods, switching to better versions of foods (eg: Low Fat Milk etc). Switching to Brown Bread right now before cutting out bread altogether in the future. I feel 10x better, I feel healthier, look better, am losing about 2lbs a week instead of 1 as I increase my exercise and make changes to my diet each week.............. however, I know for a fact that I am not consuming enough Protein.

I have started a body weight program (Convict Conditioning) to compliment the cardio i'm doing and the protein is needed. I eat some lean meats but i'm not a big meat-eater so there's only so much of it I can eat at the moment (until I get more used to it during the slow process).

I'm wondering whether protein bars are the way to go? Are they an effective way of upping the protein in my diet? I know there are other ways but for the time being should I consider them?

I'm 28, 6'1". ~220lbs.

TommyKnocker

My personal opinion would be to stay away from protein bars tbh as most of the bars I have seen have lots of fillers and binding agents and were also pretty high in carbs.

First and foremost you should try and get as much of your protein requirements as possiblefrom real foods. Lean meats, Fish, Eggs are all good sources. Then if you find that you really need extra protein, I would advise going with one of the proteion shake mixes. Pick one which is low in carbs and fats as your stated goal is to lose weight. Personally I like the Optimum Nutrition (ON) brand, However there are other brands available and a lot of folks here buy online from the likes of My Protein

Gummy Panda

Only decent protein bar I ever found was Quest Bars

bingobars

DIY the Bars (Link)

Much cheaper and tastier

Transform

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Only decent protein bar I ever found was Quest Bars

By a country mile

Mellor

Protein bars are a good alternative to chocolate when you want a treat. But they shouldn't be a used as a source of protein. A single one doesn't even add that much protein to your diet. Not enough to fix any issues

The Guvnor

It depends on the bar.

You could make them yourself - plenty of recipes online.

There are some great bars out there, protein cookies, baked bars etc. biggest issue is price.

I always liked the peak body pro-50 bars they were great and 100% legit!

MrStuffins

Thanks for all of the replies guys, I really appreciate it.

I have another question now. How would taking a suppliment like powdered Whey Protein effect me?

I mean, considering i'm still trying to lose weight, would it hamper this? I would of course be watching the calories in the Whey Protein and factoring them in.

Would it be a suitable suppliment to increase my protein intake whislt simultaniously trying to lose weight?

BigDuffman

Most protein bars have sugar and fats that you don't need in order to make them sweeter tasting as to get a bar into an edible state it takes a lot of work in order for them not to taste like cardboard. So stick to shakes if you can.

But they are great as a quick alternative to a chocolate muffin! I've heard good things about the Oh Yeah bars from H&B has anyone tried them?

Stench Blossoms

BigDuffman wrote: »

Most protein bars have sugar and fats that you don't need in order to make them sweeter tasting as to get a bar into an edible state it takes a lot of work in order for them not to taste like cardboard. So stick to shakes if you can.

But they are great as a quick alternative to a chocolate muffin! I've heard good things about the Oh Yeah bars from H&B has anyone tried them?

I love Oh Yeah bars. They are dam tasty.

Gummy Panda

Got these today