Protein Bars - Worthwhile ?

Supercell

Anyone tried the MEGA PRO-50 bars , was thinking of using these as part of my weight training diet.

Any pros/cons I should consider?, seems a heck of a lot of protein in one bar tbh!

Chucky the tree

your supposed to get about 200g of protein a day or i think. So that isnt alot. I have never tried them. But i am sure they are useful. If say in work you cant eat a meal one of those bars would be a handy meal replacement, similiar to a shake.

trotter_inc

They're pretty expensive arent they - GBP£2 a bar!

AARRRGH

Have you ever tasted a protein bar? Sweet jesus they're awful!

kasintahan

50g's of protein in a bar seems useful.

I was considering baking my own only yesterday.
Now I think I'll deffo try.

Supercell

I can get them for £28 sterling per box of 21 through a reseller which is a nice saving and makes it a decent enough price ..given the cost/amount of steak i'd need to consume to get that much protein !!

trotter_inc

Longfield wrote:

I can get them for £28 sterling per box of 21 through a reseller which is a nice saving and makes it a decent enough price ..given the cost/amount of steak i'd need to consume to get that much protein !!

Have you ever tried the shakes? Some brands have over 30 grams of protein in them - would be cheaper and prob just as effective.

monkeyman

Just make your own.

They are lovely and take about 5 mins to make. I make them in batches of 10 for the week or so


Low Carb Protein Bar

INGREDIENTS:

5 tbsp natural peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
1/2 cup dry oat meal or whole grain hot cereal (uncooked)
1/2 cup oat flour (double the dry oats if you do not have oat flour)
6 scoops chocolate whey protein (approximately 132 grams worth of low-carb protein powder)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons flax seeds (optional)
1 cup non-fat dry milk
1/2 cup water (depending on what type of protein you use, you may need to add more)
Modifications: Use vanilla protein and replace ~1/4 cup of the oatflour with a variety of nuts, seeds, or dried berries.
PREPARATION:

Spray an 8x8 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Combine dry ingredients in a medium size bowl and mix well. Add peanut butter and mix - the mixture will be crumbly and dry. Add water & vanilla.

Using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, everything until a dough forms. The dough will be sticky. Spread dough into pan using a clean wooden spoon or spatula that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Refrigerate a few hours (or freeze for an hour) and cut into 9 squares. Wrap bars individually (use sandwich bags or plastic wrap) or store in covered container between sheets of wax

Magic Monkey

monkeyman wrote:

1/2 cup dry oat meal or whole grain hot cereal (uncooked)

The recipe sounds good, but what is a cup in grams?

monkeyman

Magic Monkey wrote:

The recipe sounds good, but what is a cup in grams?

No need for exact measurements,
I just grap a large handful of oats and half a handfull of the bran stuff. Just mix and match. I'm not a big fan of Peanut Butter so I use less.

The girlfriend is hooked on them as well. Have to start hidin them.

Transform

Great recipe mate and a heck of a lot better than those god awful protein bars taht are stacked full of sweeteners and sugar.
And once again who says you NEED 200g of protein per day??

pwd

monkeyman wrote:

Just make your own.

They are lovely and take about 5 mins to make. I make them in batches of 10 for the week or so


Low Carb Protein Bar

INGREDIENTS:

5 tbsp natural peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
1/2 cup dry oat meal or whole grain hot cereal (uncooked)
1/2 cup oat flour (double the dry oats if you do not have oat flour)
6 scoops chocolate whey protein (approximately 132 grams worth of low-carb protein powder)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons flax seeds (optional)
1 cup non-fat dry milk
1/2 cup water (depending on what type of protein you use, you may need to add more)
Modifications: Use vanilla protein and replace ~1/4 cup of the oatflour with a variety of nuts, seeds, or dried berries.
PREPARATION:

Spray an 8x8 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Combine dry ingredients in a medium size bowl and mix well. Add peanut butter and mix - the mixture will be crumbly and dry. Add water & vanilla.

Using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, everything until a dough forms. The dough will be sticky. Spread dough into pan using a clean wooden spoon or spatula that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Refrigerate a few hours (or freeze for an hour) and cut into 9 squares. Wrap bars individually (use sandwich bags or plastic wrap) or store in covered container between sheets of wax

you don't cook them at all?
Sound nice.
200g of protein a day is far too much for most people. The highest recommended daily protein intake I have come across from a credible source has been 1.5g/kg bodyweight.
This is still quite a lot

Chucky the tree

Transform wrote:

And once again who says you NEED 200g of protein per day??

ok you mightnt NEED it, but surely it will give you better results?

Supercell

Anyone that thinks they don't need it..probably doesnt or doesnt care imho. I do and I do

Supercell

Thanks for the recipie monkeyman , unfortunately with a nut intolerance thats not an option for me, good to see others are interested though.

monkeyman

Longfield wrote:

Thanks for the recipie monkeyman , unfortunately with a nut intolerance thats not an option for me, good to see others are interested though.

Just swap the nuts for seeds and berries etc or more raisins. I'd say it would work without the peanut butter. Just use a little more water.

monkeyman

pwd wrote:

you don't cook them at all?
Sound nice.
200g of protein a day is far too much for most people. The highest recommended daily protein intake I have come across from a credible source has been 1.5g/kg bodyweight.
This is still quite a lot

Thats right, no cooking needed. Just stick in the fridge for 2-3 hours

I keep about 4 out for a few days and freeze the rest. They only take 20-30mins to thaw out anyway.

Flex

200g of protein a day is far too much for most people. The highest recommended daily protein intake I have come across from a credible source has been 1.5g/kg bodyweight.

Yeah I went with this amount for ages and noticed no gains in size or even "leanness".Then I upped it to 1.75 grams per pound of bodyweight (so its about 305grms a day now) and gained lots of weight.It wasnt just a result of extra calories either because I reduced my carb intake.My bf% has also stayed around the same level(dropped a bit in fact!).I spaced it out so im getting 40-50grams protein every 3 hours.

trotter_inc

monkeyman wrote:

Just make your own.

They are lovely and take about 5 mins to make. I make them in batches of 10 for the week or so


Low Carb Protein Bar

INGREDIENTS:

5 tbsp natural peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
1/2 cup dry oat meal or whole grain hot cereal (uncooked)
1/2 cup oat flour (double the dry oats if you do not have oat flour)
6 scoops chocolate whey protein (approximately 132 grams worth of low-carb protein powder)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons flax seeds (optional)
1 cup non-fat dry milk
1/2 cup water (depending on what type of protein you use, you may need to add more)
Modifications: Use vanilla protein and replace ~1/4 cup of the oatflour with a variety of nuts, seeds, or dried berries.
PREPARATION:

Spray an 8x8 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Combine dry ingredients in a medium size bowl and mix well. Add peanut butter and mix - the mixture will be crumbly and dry. Add water & vanilla.

Using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, everything until a dough forms. The dough will be sticky. Spread dough into pan using a clean wooden spoon or spatula that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Refrigerate a few hours (or freeze for an hour) and cut into 9 squares. Wrap bars individually (use sandwich bags or plastic wrap) or store in covered container between sheets of wax

How much fat would be in each bar?

AlienGav

This sounds yummy!

Where does one aquire 6 scoops chocolate whey protein?

Could i use 1lb of sausage meet instead?

Jak

pwd wrote:

200g of protein a day is far too much for most people. The highest recommended daily protein intake I have come across from a credible source has been 1.5g/kg bodyweight.
This is still quite a lot

1.5g per pound of bodyweight is the most frequently suggested level I have come across. 1.5g per kilo is not 'quite a lot' whatsoever.

One issue is people need to consider their total protein intake from all sources, not just supplemented values.

JAK.

pwd

http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=%2B%22recommended+protein+intake%22+%2B%22weight+training%22+site%3A.edu&meta=


Jak: Could you give some non-commercial sources recommending that high an intake please?

Jak

.8g per kilo is the RDA. RDA fits next to nothing in my training. Now this is a bulletin board and simply enough I can't tell how intensively a person is training or whether they are full of ****. But I work off the basis that people are training relatively seriously and based on this they need 'athlete' level supplementation. The original poster did mention weight training I believe.

I'm not going to go hunting for references for an old debate, but a little bit of research into the protein requirements of athletes should yield results from non-commercial but certainly more intensive training related sources. Or you can stick with "Goaskalice".

Now, I'm not trying to be short with you, but these sort of debates will not be resolved as we have fundamental differences in our beliefs and what information to trust. Over the years I have experimented with wide variations of supplement dosages and based on this I learned which information to trust for my training. Simply enough, the dosage needs to be tailored to the individual and one man's hardcore training may be anothers off week.

JAK

RonanC

No offence pwd, but I had to laugh at the "Go Ask Alice" link. Jak's post is spot on.

Here is some information I saved on daily protein intake for athletes:

It's important to note that our knowledge of protein requirements for bodybuilders is based on a severely limited pool of research. The number of studies done on recreational bodybuilders is scarce, and the reseach done on competitive bodybuilders is even more so, and research on protein needs for competitive bodybuilders on ergogenic compounds (pick one, any one, legal or not) is yet to be conducted and published. for the time being, we are left to combine educated extrapolations from data done on other types of athletes with our personal experience, & even reliable anecdotes.

In our tumultuous world of bodybuilding advice, the most popular method of figuring protein needs is to blanketly prescribe anywhere from as low as 0.7g per pound of bodyweight all the way to 2.0g per pound of bodyweight. well, which point on the continuum is the right place to start? the correct approach in answering this is to base it on objective, measurable factors. without further ado.. let's dive in.


the super-meticulous method:

your protein need depends on 3 main factors: 1) your activity level; 2) your TARGETED lean body mass (LBM) as opposed to your current one - unless of course your goal is maintenance; 3) your energy balance - whether it's at equilibrium, hypercaloric, or hypocaloric.. there certainly are other factors to consider, such as protein type & biologic availability, but for this discussion, let's assume we're talking about high-quality protein sources, as opposed to incomplete & substandard ones.

finding out your goal LBM, aka your goal fat-free mass, will require some calculation: decide what you realistically want to achieve in terms of total bodyweight and bodyfat %. after calculating how many pounds of fat you aim to carry, subtract this number from your goal bodyweight. the remaining number is an estimate of your target LBM. for example, if you wanted to weigh 190 lbs at 7% bodyfat, multiply 190 by .07, which is 13.3. this is your projected bodyfat in pounds. subtract this from 190, which gets you 176.7 lbs of targeted LBM.

if you're in a hypocaloric state (ie, in an energy deficit for fat loss), your protein needs are increased just as they would be for gaining mass, because you need an additional amount to buffer catabolism. maintenance protein needs are lower. refer to the following chart i developed for my RD students. this data is based on a combination of my own private practice experience and research by preeminent eggheads such as lemon, tarnopolsky, krieder, evans, antonio, stout, and others:

activity Levels:

1) Sedentary - no exercise beyond typical daily tasks
2) Light - appx. 2-3hrs/wk of light resistance & cardiorespiratory work
3) Moderate - appx. 4-6hrs/wk of moderate resistance & cardiorespiratory work
4) High - appx. 7-9hrs/wk of moderate to high intensity resistance & cardiorespiratory work
5) Very High - appx. 10 or more hrs/wk of moderate to high intensity resistance & cardiorespiratory work

requirements in pounds & kilograms for maintenance, and then fat loss/muscle gain according to activity level, respectively:

1) 0.5g/lb LBM; 1.1g/kg LBM , 0.6g/lb LBM; 1.3g/kg LBM
2) 0.7g/lb LBM; 1.5g/kg LBM , 0.8g/lb LBM; 1.8g/kg LBM
3) 0.9g/lb LBM; 1.8g/kg LBM , 1.1g/lb LBM; 2.4g/kg LBM
4) 1.0g/lb LBM; 2.2g/kg LBM , 1.2g/lb LBM; 2.6g/kg LBM
5) 1.2g/lb LBM; 2.6g/kg LBM , 1.4g/lb LBM; 3.0g/kg LBM

if an athlete is on anabolics and/or androgenics, add 20% to the above numbers.


the simple (but still methodical) way:

keep in mind, the previous is an extremely meticulous way to figure protein needs. if you wanted to go the easier route while still taking target body composition & thermodynamic factors into account, employ the following method which i actually prefer for its simplicity:

1) set a bodyweight goal, assuming that this weight is comprised of your desired bodyfat level. the number of your goal weight in pounds is your approximate protein gram requirement. if you're shooting for maintenance, stick with this number to keep it simple. but also bear in mind that you can probably get away with 0.6-0.8g/lb for maintenance purposes; the now classic 1.0g/lb ballpark figure imparts a certain degree of surplus, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

2) if you need to be in an energy deficit to get there, in other words, if you need to lose total bodyweight to hit your goal - which requires at least a temporary hypocaloric condition - multiply that goal weight by 1.25 to get your protein grams.

3) do the same as directly above in step 2 if you need to gain weight to get there. as stated previously, these scenarios require more protein than maintenance needs due to adaptive shifts in subtrate use. in practice, i tend to round off this number to 1.3g/lb target bodyweight, and often need to kick it up to 1.5g/lb during a hypercatabolic precontest ravaging. on rare occasion, bodybuilding competitors need as much as 2.0g/lb in order to fight to maintain muscle in the endstages of the precontest phase.

Magic Monkey

Hey monkeyman, I took your recipe and came up with these. Handy to have as a snack.

200g Porridge Oats
150g TMOF Vanilla Whey
40g Linseed
50g Dry Skimmed Milk Powder
50g Almonds
Pinch of Cinnamon
50g Almond Nut Butter
250ml Milk

Mix dry ingredients together, then wet.

2570 kcals
194g protein
191g carbohydrates
114g fat

DonkeyKong

if you check up on the various sites you'jj see that the recommended dosage of protein is 1 - 1.5 g / lb body weight, i myself am 13.75 stone (about 200lbs) so i take about 200g a day, more when i feel i need it and less on days off from gym

monkeyman

Magic Monkey wrote:

Hey monkeyman, I took your recipe and came up with these. Handy to have as a snack.

200g Porridge Oats
150g TMOF Vanilla Whey
40g Linseed
50g Dry Skimmed Milk Powder
50g Almonds
Pinch of Cinnamon
50g Almond Nut Butter
250ml Milk

Mix dry ingredients together, then wet.

2570 kcals
194g protein
191g carbohydrates
114g fat

I must try the almond nut butter. I'm not too gone on the peanut butter. I found that using Panda or a brand name peanut butter made them taste a bit too peanuty for me, so I'm using Tesco Crunchy Peanut butter now. Much better, not as strong.