Protein powders recommendation

miss choc

I started herbalife mid November and I know what people think about it I found it did help me to eat properly and look at food in a different way as I have lost 1.5 stone and nearly at target. Thing is I don't want to stay on HL for life cos the main thing is money.
I have only a few weeks to go for target then I'm going to take a HL break. Thing is I want to stay on the protein shakes as I exercise 5 days a weeks (2 cardio and 3 weight training days) I'm not a big breakfast person so the shakes suit me on the go. I didnt know anything about shakes pre HL and to be honest I love their shakes but at 39 per cannister and 40+ for the protein mix it will slim my wallet as well as my waist.

So basically I'm looking to see if there are any reputable good branded protein powders out there. Soy or whey? goals are fat burn and lean defined muscle and hopefully a nice tasting non gritty powder the HL ones are lovely so a bit spoiled with them but bit expensive for me know. Would love to know good brands out there.

Yep go o bulkpowders or my protein, their protein powders are good

miss choc

Yeah at least the healthfood shop/online are cheaper I do like HL shakes but the cannister of protein mix alone is 46 then to add a flavour to it is 39. €85 a bit steep. I might try the vanilla to start off then I can add stuff to it and use as a topping.

BurnUp78

Bulk Powders are the cheapest I've seen. They do 30% off every month and i buy a 5kg bag for around 60 euro after the reduction, quality is great too.

Alf Veedersane

miss choc wrote: »

I started herbalife mid November and I know what people think about it I found it did help me to eat properly and look at food in a different way as I have lost 1.5 stone and nearly at target. Thing is I don't want to stay on HL for life cos the main thing is money.
I have only a few weeks to go for target then I'm going to take a HL break. Thing is I want to stay on the protein shakes as I exercise 5 days a weeks (2 cardio and 3 weight training days) I'm not a big breakfast person so the shakes suit me on the go. I didnt know anything about shakes pre HL and to be honest I love their shakes but at 39 per cannister and 40+ for the protein mix it will slim my wallet as well as my waist.

So basically I'm looking to see if there are any reputable good branded protein powders out there. Soy or whey? goals are fat burn and lean defined muscle and hopefully a nice tasting non gritty powder the HL ones are lovely so a bit spoiled with them but bit expensive for me know. Would love to know good brands out there.

I would also look at how you are going to get back into eating properly, i.e. actual food, once you reach your target.

Protein shakes are fine but they should only be used to supplement your protein intake from food.

And Herbalife is meal replacements so consider how you're going to bring food back in to replace the meal replacement shakes.

Otherwise you'll just bounce back up, go back on Herbalife, lose weight, take a break and go back up. Repeat ad infinitum.

miss choc

Yeah I would stick with HL but it's just costing me a lot at the moment what with membership and buying shakes, powders and bars I stopped the bars and buy the carb killers now but I think I will look into getting the other non HL protein powders.
My nutrition is good since I started it I found it very good at teaching me about the science of food and I like their good carb/high protein low sugar ethos. I made a lot of changes since I started last November like eating more eggs and meat low sugar fruit, removing sweeteners and fizzy drinks, processed frozen food and eating more greek yoghurt, oatcakes, nuts and seeds they concentrate on the aloe vera juice, tea and shake for breakfast then you have two snacks and a lunch during the course of the day with a shake/pudding at night and I've gone from drinking hardly any water to 2.5l I have to start looking for flavoured aloe vera juice too as theirs is quite dear.

Alf Veedersane

miss choc wrote: »

Yeah I would stick with HL but it's just costing me a lot at the moment what with membership and buying shakes, powders and bars I stopped the bars and buy the carb killers now but I think I will look into getting the other non HL protein powders.
My nutrition is good since I started it I found it very good at teaching me about the science of food and I like their good carb/high protein low sugar ethos. I made a lot of changes since I started last November like eating more eggs and meat low sugar fruit, removing sweeteners and fizzy drinks, processed frozen food and eating more greek yoghurt, oatcakes, nuts and seeds they concentrate on the aloe vera juice, tea and shake for breakfast then you have two snacks and a lunch during the course of the day with a shake/pudding at night and I've gone from drinking hardly any water to 2.5l I have to start looking for flavoured aloe vera juice too as theirs is quite dear.

It's great that you've made improvements but it sounds like this is a short term break from buying their shakes etc.

You need to be looking at normal, whole foods to replace Herbalife products. Not the other way around.

Great if I've picked that up incorrectly and you intend to stay away from the Herbalife stuff.

Cake Man

miss choc wrote: »

Yeah I would stick with HL but it's just costing me a lot at the moment what with membership and buying shakes, powders and bars I stopped the bars and buy the carb killers now but I think I will look into getting the other non HL protein powders.
My nutrition is good since I started it I found it very good at teaching me about the science of food and I like their good carb/high protein low sugar ethos. I made a lot of changes since I started last November like eating more eggs and meat low sugar fruit, removing sweeteners and fizzy drinks, processed frozen food and eating more greek yoghurt, oatcakes, nuts and seeds they concentrate on the aloe vera juice, tea and shake for breakfast then you have two snacks and a lunch during the course of the day with a shake/pudding at night and I've gone from drinking hardly any water to 2.5l I have to start looking for flavoured aloe vera juice too as theirs is quite dear.

Hmmm...

njs030

Who do you want flavoured aloe Vera juice? You could drink water or tea or coffee or herbal tea all for less calories.

If you want something sweet have fruit or vegetable juice. Aloe Vera juice is very expensive.

miss choc

Theres lots of sugar in fruit juice and I like to take it with my breakfast before I work out like the way some people take hot water with lemon. I do want to steer away from HL I did well with them as I needed to learn a lot about food and nutrition but now I want to take my own path keep up the healthy foods and other cheaper shakes. I would only eat meat 3 days a week and thats only chicken and beef I don't eat other meats or fish unfortunately, so I need to get protein from other sources as well as eggs, cheese I use pulses, nuts and quorn.

njs030

miss choc wrote: »

Theres lots of sugar in fruit juice and I like to take it with my breakfast before I work out like the way some people take hot water with lemon.

There's lots of sugar in aloe Vera juice too and no proven benefits, at least fruit and vegetable juices have vitamins etc.
I just checked and there's 22 grams of sugar in one serving of aloe King which is the most common aloe Vera juice here, a glass of orange juice has 21 so its roughly the same. If you enjoy it that's fine but don't be thinking it's a healthier option and spending a fortune on it!

I never drank aloe vera but I'm surprised there's that much sugar in it, that's mad
Veggie smoothie probs would work better all right

miss choc

True I didn't either I've seen the Aloe King stuff in Spars and Asian cafes in the chilled cabinets with the coke/fanta it wouldn't be the one I would go for I was thinking of a good pure brand where you take a capful in 500ml of water I just drank it cos I heard about benefits of immune system, lowers blood sugar and good for digestive problems I can vouch for that after a heavy Chinese meal one night I felt awful I had no meds in the house so too a big glass of Aloe Vera and it did help. But then again maybe hot lemon/water is just as good with so much marketing around what/what not to eat/drink it can get confusing I think everyones different and you just have to exercise and eat right and the additional supplements like shakes and juices are a little help out if you need them.

njs030

miss choc wrote: »

True I didn't either I've seen the Aloe King stuff in Spars and Asian cafes in the chilled cabinets with the coke/fanta it wouldn't be the one I would go for I was thinking of a good pure brand where you take a capful in 500ml of water

I looked up the Holland and barrett one of these for you, it's still 20g of sugar per 200ml of water!

If you enjoy it then it's OK to have it as long as you count the calories but be aware of the nutritional content of food not just what you think is healthy is all I'm saying

miss choc

Thanks, all the healthfood sites and google do bombard you with what is supposed to be good for you Aloe Vera was the new fad good source ofvit/min, good for hair, skin, nails immune system and digestive. Then it was Apple Cider I tried that for a month and couldn't hack it. At the end of the day it's 3 simple things good food, exercise and water and the rest like supplements and shakes are just extras depending on your lifestyle. My friend takes probiotics and swears by them I dont bother as I used to just find the aloe good in the morning with breakfast I dont really like having a shelf load of multivits and other tablets cos I try to get it in food. Guess we will always have diet fads in our life always low carb, low sugar, paelo, macro, vegan gluten free it can be confusing what is best, but everything in moderation I try not to cut stuff out completly.

njs030

miss choc wrote: »

Thanks, all the healthfood sites and google do bombard you with what is supposed to be good for you Aloe Vera was the new fad good source ofvit/min, good for hair, skin, nails immune system and digestive. Then it was Apple Cider I tried that for a month and couldn't hack it. At the end of the day it's 3 simple things good food, exercise and water and the rest like supplements and shakes are just extras depending on your lifestyle. My friend takes probiotics and swears by them I dont bother as I used to just find the aloe good in the morning with breakfast I dont really like having a shelf load of multivits and other tablets cos I try to get it in food. Guess we will always have diet fads in our life always low carb, low sugar, paelo, macro, vegan gluten free it can be confusing what is best, but everything in moderation I try not to cut stuff out completly.

Personally I think if it's an advert then someone is making money and gaining from selling it so I ignore them.
Healthy food sites are confusing and you're right about multivitamins, they should be coming from food! Unless a doctor tells you to take a supplement its not needed and your body expels what you don't need!

The best foods imo are the least processed, lean meat, eggs, cheese, vegetables, fruits and water. Tea and coffee without sugar is fine (and if you take sugar count it into your calories) and there's nothing wrong with the odd treat!
Find out your calorie goal and use my fitness pal to stick to it and you'll soon learn what you can and can't fit in.

The people on this forum are great so keep an eye on it and you'll pick up loads!

miss choc

Well did a weigh in today 700g to target then I can ease off on the Herbalife and take my own shakes, the guy who does our weights/trx classes uses Kinetica but I been looking at good reviews for Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard both at half the price of herbalife. I will head into some of the nutrition shops and see what is better for my lifestyle and pocket

Alf Veedersane

You'll pay a premium for those brands when My Protein and Bulk Powders are just as good.

miss choc

I went down to Bodyfirst today and picked up 3 30g sachets of the ON gold standard in vanilla, double choc and birthday cake to try them out first

Carney97

Has anybody heard of LDNM (London Muscle) seems like a good company. They offer the usual fitness products (e,g protein, bars, ready made meals)

Have not tried it personally but I am curious to see if anyone here has.

Thanks for your time.

miss choc

Haven't even see that one in the shops interesting I'm dying to try out ON and they are Irish too. I bought the barebells protein bar just for a change will check them out

Alf Veedersane

miss choc wrote: »

Haven't even see that one in the shops interesting I'm dying to try out ON and they are Irish too.

Minor note: ON are not Irish. They are supplied by Glanbia though. As are/were MyProtein

miss choc

Great to see that though, the founders are Costello brothers wonder have they Irish origins.

caviardreams

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Minor note: ON are not Irish. They are supplied by Glanbia though. As are/were MyProtein

ON are now owned by Glanbia too - however you will pay a big premium compared with MyProtein & Bulkpowders and the quality is the same like Alf says. Personally I prefer bulkpowders of the two, but MP is excellent also and both are similar enough price wise.

miss choc

I'm looking for a whey protein for lean muscle don't really want to bulk up so not sure bulkpowders would be for me. I might check out MyProtein too

Alf Veedersane

miss choc wrote: »

I'm looking for a whey protein for lean muscle don't really want to bulk up so not sure bulkpowders would be for me. I might check out MyProtein too

The name doesn't mean they only supply supplements for bulking. They supply probably more than ON.

What you're looking for is whey protein.

And to brush up on what it is you're looking for

caviardreams

I think the bulk in the name comes from the idea of "buying in bulk" anyway, or so I have always assumed anyway!

miss choc

Ahh get ya the bulking word confused me I just want lean muscle and more protein in diet as I don't eat lots of protein in diet I'm trying to now. I work out 5 times twice zumba and 3 times weights/trx and boxing the 3 strength and conditioning classes would be more intensive that the zumba so I usually have a shake just before or after the classes for muscle recovery. I need to burn bit more fat and build up lean muscle but not bulk body building type muscle if you get what I mean.

miss choc

miss choc wrote: »

Ahh get ya the bulking word confused me I just want lean muscle and more protein in diet as I don't eat lots of protein in diet I'm trying to now. I work out 5 times twice zumba and 3 times weights/trx and boxing the 3 strength and conditioning classes would be more intensive that the zumba so I usually have a shake just before or after the classes for muscle recovery. I need to burn bit more fat and build up lean muscle but not bulk body building type muscle if you get what I mean.

yeah don't mind the name it's the same as the rest except better value

Alf Veedersane

miss choc wrote: »

Ahh get ya the bulking word confused me I just want lean muscle and more protein in diet as I don't eat lots of protein in diet I'm trying to now. I work out 5 times twice zumba and 3 times weights/trx and boxing the 3 strength and conditioning classes would be more intensive that the zumba so I usually have a shake just before or after the classes for muscle recovery. I need to burn bit more fat and build up lean muscle but not bulk body building type muscle if you get what I mean.

I wouldn't worry. You won't bulk up by accident. I've been trying for years and still haven't

miss choc

So I got 3 30g sachets of the ON powder a bit underwhelmed but I did mix with water, flavour was ok and they mixed well but in the beaker didnt get much of a shake for 200ml water/30g powder it's quite bland I would have to use milk. I'll admit the herbalife ones are great you add in 300ml water and put in the mix and you get a thick shake you can add up to 400ml and it's still thick and it fills to the top of the beaker. It's probably cos the shake mix in HL is one scoop protein and two scoops of flavour mix so it thickens it up. So question is if I put two scoops of the ON in with 200ml will it bulk up as the sachet literally didnt even fill half the beaker I like to get a whole shake I kinda want to stick with water or even half milk/half water but I'm looking for ideas of getting a full beaker of shake without having to use half a carton of rice milk every day on it just to fill it up.

Alf Veedersane

One 30g scoop with 750mls of water is usually fine for me. The herbalife was supposed to be more like a meal replacement. Most protein shakes are just protein supplements

miss choc

I get you I'll admit the HL market as protein shakes so I presume all shakes would be like that but they are tbh more like a meal replacement I take one at 9 and full for hours. The protein shakes in the shops are just for protein replacement and muscle building/repair. I guess to bulk up the amount of the protein would need to add in more milk or put oatmeal/linseed in it 30g of ON is watery enough with 200g liquid so might need to put some milk in it I want to have a shake that fills the beaker probably wouldnt be a good idea putting two scoops of ON when they recommend just one

caviardreams

I would normally use 30g with 250ml of water (I use bulk powders) and to be honest, would find it very thin if I added any more water - thickening with oats is probably a good option if you are looking for more of a meal replacement option, but food also works well for that ;-)

Alf Veedersane

miss choc wrote: »

I get you I'll admit the HL market as protein shakes so I presume all shakes would be like that but they are tbh more like a meal replacement I take one at 9 and full for hours. The protein shakes in the shops are just for protein replacement and muscle building/repair. I guess to bulk up the amount of the protein would need to add in more milk or put oatmeal/linseed in it 30g of ON is watery enough with 200g liquid so might need to put some milk in it I want to have a shake that fills the beaker probably wouldnt be a good idea putting two scoops of ON when they recommend just one

Two scoops just means it's 250-260 calories in the shake vs 125-130. That's not a problem in and of itself.

miss choc

Thanks for all the feedback more informed about shakes now I've lost 1.5 stone since mid November just have another half stone to go so going to ease off on the HL for a bit for financial reasons and buy the health store whey. One question I'm going for a week to London in March I wont be working out so guess no need to pack them but was going to bring some protein bars in bag just for a snack with coffee instead of the tempting lure of the cakes and pastries.