Protein Shakes : Yes or No?

Laura.Lee

I have recently started with a personal trainer in my local gym.
I am 4 stone overweight and have been on a healthy eating plan and exercise regime for two months now.
I have lost over a stone.
My personal trainer has recommended two protein shakes a day. One in the morning and one in the evening. The shake is called "Forever Lite" Ultra which I mix with water.
My questions are;
Will this aid my weight-loss?
Will I lose weight quicker if I don't take it?

I'm just afraid I'm being sold a gimmick.

chiloutus

Generally this is used to keep on lean muscle mass while losing fat. Because the extra protein help keep your muscle.*


*I am not a nutritionist so this might not be 100% correct

siochain

had a look at the ingredients and first two are no for me.

Soy Protein Isolate, Fructose,


you have lost a stone, keep going with what your doing and make stick to getting your daily calories from real and nutritious solid foods.


If you want to kick on give some more details and you'll get some good help here:)
How many times are you working out per week? Much weights in the program? Daily diet?

Laura.Lee

Thank you so much for the advice. I really appreciate it.

Breakfast
1/2 scoop porridge/ 1/2 scoop oatbran done in microwave with a little honey.

Lunch
Wholemeal oval pitta bread with either chicken and salad/tuna salad/ ham and egg.

Dinner (at the minute trying to go low carb)
Salmon Steak/Chicken/ Steak with salad.
If I was having Bolognese/Curry/Chilli, I would have 2 tablespoons of wholegrain basmati rice.

150g Glenisk fat free natural yoghurt with honey, mixed seeds and some fruit.

I am drinking a litre of water a day.

I have Sundays off and eat out but have a healthy breakfast.

My personal trainer wants me to have a shake before breakfast and one again 2 hours before dinner. Why are those ingredients bad? I was skeptical about starting them but he raves about them.

I meet my trainer for 1 hour every Monday and Wednesday morning.
He does cardio one day, weights another or sometimes a mix.

I also go for a brisk walk 4 mornings a week for 40 minutes.
To be honest, I am feeling that the weight loss is a bit slow. I know I have lost inches but the scales are moving very slowly.

muffinn

Not really sure why he would recommend you those shakes.

It is a supplement so it should supplement your diet if it's lacking in protein. Why would you want to drink a shake worth of 23g of protein if you can eat 100g of chicken with veggies that would fill you better and keep hunger away for longer.

siochain

Hey Laura,

Adding the shakes into your existing diet is only adding more calories; soy protein has many mixed reviews as to if it’s a healthy protein source, second highest ingredient on the list is fructose, fructose is another name for sugar. With weight lose the majority is down to nutrition and creating a calorie deficit.

My suggestions for changes are in bold below.

Laura.Lee wrote: »

Thank you so much for the advice. I really appreciate it.

Breakfast
1/2 scoop porridge/ 1/2 scoop oatbran done in microwave with a little honey.

Here you have good source’s of carbs and fibre. For all meals I try and build it around a protein source, might be worth reducing the amounts here and include a protein source such as an egg or cook extra meat the evening before and keep some for the next day’s breakfast.

Lunch
Wholemeal oval pitta bread with either chicken and salad/tuna salad/ ham and egg.
I know it’s hard but I would try and phase out bread if you can and bring in more veg. For me the biggest change to my general fitness, energy and recover has been down to not eating any type of bread and the majority of any grain based products. Except for the odd pint of Guinness.

Dinner (at the minute trying to go low carb)
Salmon Steak/Chicken/ Steak with salad.
If I was having Bolognese/Curry/Chilli, I would have 2 tablespoons of wholegrain basmati rice.

Bring in some veg.

150g Glenisk fat free natural yoghurt with honey, mixed seeds and some fruit.

If I remember the last time I read the label for Glenisk fat free natural yoghurt it had a lot of sugar in it. I would sooner go for a full fat Greek style yogurt and drop the honey. Unfortunately most people believe that fat is evil when really its sugar.

I am drinking a litre of water a day.
Good

I have Sundays off and eat out but have a healthy breakfast.

Can be good for motivation and sanity

My personal trainer wants me to have a shake before breakfast and one again 2 hours before dinner. Why are those ingredients bad? I was skeptical about starting them but he raves about them. :0

As above - Second highest ingredient on the list is fructose, fructose is another name for sugar.

I meet my trainer for 1 hour every Monday and Wednesday morning.
He does cardio one day, weights another or sometimes a mix.
I would try and add in another two weight sessions per week this doesn’t need to be with your trainer, get some kit and learn some basic’s.
I also go for a brisk walk 4 mornings a week for 40 minutes.
Great for overall feeling good.

To be honest, I am feeling that the weight loss is a bit slow. I know I have lost inches but the scales are moving very slowly.

Slow and steady is the best way and has a much better chance of keeping it off. Go by how you feel

You’re doing great, keep it going.

Laura.Lee

Thank you for taking the time out to give such a detailed reply. I really appreciate it and will take your advice on board.
Will keep going as I am and hopefully in a few months, I'll reach my target weight.
Thanks to all others who replied too. Going to ditch the shakes.

Cork24

Protein as a diet mix will

1.. keep you more full for longer

2.. Protein in take will burn more Cals. Protein is the hardest thing for the body to part-down so it needs the energy to break it down so it burns Cals

3.. Will Help your Muscles in Recovery Mode Faster,

To Get more of a weight loss in, you could do

For every Min you Spend in the Shower under Hot Water switch over to the Cold, this will burn the Brown Fat Cells,, Those Fat Cells are burned when you are feeling cold which will heat up the body,,

You could have for b-fest. 1/2 Cup full of Berries 1 full Cup of Strawberries 1 banana and use Apple Juice..

Buy the Cherry Mix in the Health Shops, Cherry is great way of breaking down fat cells (so i heard)

& One BIG NOTICE NEVER CUT down on your RECOVERY... And Eat Six Small Meals a day

the scrote

correct me if i'm wrong but would he be looking for 120 euro for that forever lite & for that princely sum you get a shaker,a small measuring tape & i think i tub of powder,the guys that sell that are on commission,you won't buy it in shops.I'd suggest staying away from it

siochain

Cork24 wrote: »

You could have for b-fest. 1/2 Cup full of Berries 1 full Cup of Strawberries 1 banana and use Apple Juice..

Good source of nutrient’s, but there’s lot of sugar there and most people would be very hungry an hour or two after having this on an empty stomach due to sugar (fructose) spike. Most apple juice is pure sugar, I would avoid all packaged fruit juices, no matter how freshly squeezed or organic the label claims it is.

Cork24

siochain wrote: »

Good source of nutrient’s, but there’s lot of sugar there and most people would be very hungry an hour or two after having this on an empty stomach due to sugar (fructose) spike. Most apple juice is pure sugar, I would avoid all packaged fruit juices, no matter how freshly squeezed or organic the label claims it is.

You could Buy Apples and juice them your self..

I dont find my self hungry after this..

but back to the Protein,

Get your self down to H & B their doing Protein Half Price..

At the end of the day Protein is Protein.. What you need to look out for his their BCAAs. Amino Acids in them, you can get Protein Light which will have a High Protein but very Low Carb per scope.

RobAMerc

laura.lee - good stuff and congrats on the weight loss, keep it up !

I would agree with almost all of what siochain has said but add...

1. 1 litre of water is not enough, you need two at least, it's vital
2. Good fats : get some good fats into your diet, Almonds, Olive oil, peanut butter ( good ones only ), avocado etc. Nuts can be a great snack too.
3 Lots and lots of (green leafy preferably) veg. Broccoli actually takes more kcals to burn than it provides, yet is packed full of goodness !

Lastly - the supplement you've been asked to buy is muck, I wouldn't touch it, I also would avoid H&B's stuff it's not good quality and tastes awful. Have a look at site's like Bulkpowders.co.uk,myprotein.ie or look for Optimum Nutrition Gold standard whey, check out their protein levels per scoop versus carbs, sugars etc - way better than H&B and in a different stratosphere to the stuff you've been mentioning.

edit: BUT in reality I wouldn't waste money on a protein supplement at all. Unless you are trying to get huge amounts of protein in for muscle building and struggle to meet that requirement through your ordinary diet, you have no need to supplement your diet with protein powder ( imo ) - much better eat a lean chicken breast, it will make you feel more satisfied and stay off the bicies till lunch etc

Cork24

RobAMerc wrote: »

Lastly - the supplement you've been asked to buy is muck, I wouldn't touch it, I also would avoid H&B's stuff it's not good quality and tastes awful. Have a look at site's like Bulkpowders.co.uk,myprotein.ie or look for Optimum Nutrition Gold standard whey, check out their protein levels per scoop versus carbs, sugars etc - way better than H&B and in a different stratosphere to the stuff you've been mentioning.

I dont understand how you could say H&B protein is not good quality


Protein is Protein ; do you even know why we take Protein or even Amino Acids in our diet ? or if your a body builder you take Creatine ? or the fact how much Gram of protein to Carbs per Kg of body weight a Person needs per day, yes some Proteins taste better then others why is this and why do H&B taste so bad, well for one H&B Protein is Neutral.. you wont find any E favoring in them,, But other Company's do pour a lot of E favoring into theirs E stands for Sugar, Look at the back of any Chocolate, Drink you will see E27, E15 they all stand for different types of Sugars..


H&B protein i found Nothing Wrong with it. from years Mixing and Testing Protein I find H&B one of the Best out their for 24 Euro you cant beat that!

Infact all Protein more our less have the same amount, Some Will have Higher per Serving why is this as your adding in more Scopes per Serving.

at most all give 24grams of Protein per Serving thats not poor quality even Weight Gain Powders have around 24grams of Protein but nearly double the amount of Carbs.


I tried MyProtein, Maximuslce along with their Cyclone, USN, Kinetica also tried their Recovery drink with its hard to drink but really good on the Recovery Side of things..
tried 100% Egg Protein,, I have also tried different types of ZMAs, Amino Acids. Creatine

out of all the Proteins i tried for Taste its Maximuslce hands down, after that its Kinetica, For What you get for your buck H&B, then USN
Say away from Maximuslce overpriced big time..

my friend is a Chief in a Hotel in Cork, i he gives me good Recipes for high Protein Dinners & Breakfast,

He told me that In College where he is Studying they told them that Almonds, peanut Butter and all those Healthy Snack Peanuts have more Salt in them then a Bag of Crips.

If you like your Eggs, try Scrabble eggs get smoked Salmon slice it up and place it into the pot your doing your Scrabble eggs in.

I was Reading in Some Mens Fitness Issue that to get our 10 a Day we would really need to be eating more then 10 a day, Two much Fruit can be bad for a Blood Cells theirs some Acid in the fruit that can attack the Cells and the blood vessels so limit your Fruit intake to around 3 a day,


As for Veg, Dont waste your time with the "SO CALLED FRESH VEG" It's Not the time its picked and on our Dinner Tables takes around 2 weeks thats alot of time for the Veg to break down so your not getting any Vitamins from it, so next time pick up the Frozen Veg, their Frozen within hours of picking so more Vitamins are kept within the Veg plus its Cheaper to buy them Frozen aswell another Plus

siochain

Cork24 wrote: »

my friend is a Chief in a Hotel in Cork, i he gives me good Recipes for high Protein Dinners & Breakfast,

He told me that In College where he is Studying they told them that Almonds, peanut Butter and all those Healthy Snack Peanuts have more Salt in them then a Bag of Crips.

.

easy solution is read the labels, H&B do a KG of crunchy peanut butter with nothing added and myprotein do almond butter with nothing added.

Almond has better fats and is the one to go with. But both are class with slices of apples, way to easy for me to over do it.

Cork24

siochain wrote: »

easy solution is read the labels, H&B do a KG of crunchy peanut butter with nothing added and myprotein do almond butter with nothing added.

Almond has better fats and is the one to go with. But both are class with slices of apples, way to easy for me to over do it.

It would be of the healthy snack company placed the nutrient value of their products on their package

Gummy Panda

Words fail me for some of the advice in this thread.

Cold showers for fat loss lol

OMARS_COMING_

Cold showers,i must try that one.

siochain

Cork24 wrote: »

siochain wrote: »

easy solution is read the labels, H&B do a KG of crunchy peanut butter with nothing added and myprotein do almond butter with nothing added.

Almond has better fats and is the one to go with. But both are class with slices of apples, way to easy for me to over do it.

It would be of the healthy snack company placed the nutrient value of their products on their package

They do

Firegaurd

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Words fail me for some of the advice in this thread.

Cold showers for fat loss lol

Cold showers do increase weight loss and hot showers build muscle, wrinkly skin on fingers is a sign its working *









*May not be true

Cork24

believe it or not cold showers do increase fat loss it also is a key recover tool after a run / cycle, which can draw the acid build up in the muscles to be broken down so no nasty muscle pains the next day.

It would be wise for ppl to pick up fitness books once in a while

Men's fitness / runners weekly etc. have all touch on this topic before,

MrStuffins

Laura.Lee wrote: »

To be honest, I am feeling that the weight loss is a bit slow. I know I have lost inches but the scales are moving very slowly.

Wait, you've lost over a whole stone in 2 months!

This isn't slow at all! It might be slow if you're used to reading about celebrity diets saying "lose 7 stone in 5 minutes by eating choc-Chip Cookies" etc. But, if you really want to lose weight and keep it off, i'd say losing >14lbs in ~8 weeks is a pretty good pace!

It's a marathon, not a sprint!

Hanley

Cork24 wrote: »

believe it or not cold showers do increase fat loss it also is a key recover tool after a run / cycle, which can draw the acid build up in the muscles to be broken down so no nasty muscle pains the next day.

What kind of "acid" are you talking about?

And how much MORE fat loss do cold showers cause if that's the only variable in a program?!

It would be wise for ppl to pick up fitness books once in a while

Men's fitness / runners weekly etc. have all touch on this topic before,

Right...