Protein is the most important macronutrient for your body. It helps keep you energized, supports weight management and repairs muscle tissue after a workout. Its also an essential part of a healthy diet that can help prevent disease and slow aging to reduce risk for chronic conditions like diabetes or heart attacks.,
The “how many protein shakes should i drink a day to gain muscle” is one of the most asked questions on the internet. There are a lot of factors that go into how much protein you need, but here is everything you need to know about whey protein shakes.
If you’re serious about working out and lifting weights, you need be serious about your protein intake as well. Protein gives your muscles the amino acids they need to repair and become stronger after a workout. It also makes you feel full, which is beneficial while attempting to reduce weight.
Active people should seek to gain as a general rule. Every day, consume 5 to.8 grams of protein per pound of body weight. If you’re doing a lot of barbell training, you should aim for. Protein intake ranges from 8 to 1 gram per pound of body weight.
It’s now feasible to acquire all of the protein you need by eating entire foods like eggs, poultry, fish, meat, and even certain vegetables, but doing so may necessitate consuming a lot of food, which means spending a lot of time cooking it or paying a lot of money to have it prepared for you.
Whey protein supplements may help you meet your protein objectives on a budget and with little effort. Just a little dedication and decision-making.
I’ll show you how I guzzle my protein in the video below. Perhaps it will inspire you to gulp yours in a different way.
Which Protein Supplement Is Right for You?
On the market, there are a variety of protein powders to pick from, each with its own set of advantages and costs: casein, soy protein, egg albumin, and so on. Using a supplement derived from whey, which originates from milk and is a byproduct of the cheese/yogurt-making process, will give you the biggest bang for your money unless you have a digestive allergy or dietary limitation.
Whey protein, like cattle, eggs, beans, soy, and casein, has a greater biological value (the quality of a protein based on how effectively the body uses it, which corresponds with having a high supply of necessary amino acids) than any other protein source.
Whey is available in two forms: concentrate and isolate, and you’ll want a protein supplement that’s mostly made up of the latter. Whey isolate is processed to include less lactose, carbohydrate, fat, and cholesterol, and provides a greater proportion of pure protein than whey concentrate. Isolate is also more stomach-friendly than whey concentrate.
Whey isolate is little more costly than whey concentrate, but it is still a bargain.
Stick with a supplement that’s predominantly formulated with whey protein isolate (be sure it’s mentioned as the first ingredient on the label) for the most part.
What Whey Protein Brand Should You Use?
So you should take a protein supplement that largely contains whey protein isolate, but which brand should you choose?
My advice is to look for the “cleanest” supplement that is within your budget. Fillers, additives, and artificial flavors, colors, and sweeteners are all included in the protein you can buy off the shelf at Walmart. While I’m not a purist when it comes to avoiding artificial ingredients in my diet, you don’t want to be banging down crap when it comes to whey protein, which you may be ingesting many doses of every day.
That said, it’s ultimately a matter of personal taste and what’s most important to you. There are many various flavors, textures, nutritional profiles, and price ranges of whey protein isolate products on the market.
Here are three of my suggestions, divided into three categories:
Best/Cleanest Taste
For a time, I utilized the Jay Robb brand of whey protein isolate, which is created without any chemical ingredients and obtains its whey from grass-fed cows’ milk. But it wasn’t my favorite: it had too much stevia-based sweetness for my taste, and it was somewhat pricey ($1.80 per serving).
I just converted to the Ascent brand and think it’s my new favorite whey protein supplement. Here’s why I think it’s cool:
- It’s delicious — I tried the Chocolate and Lemon Sorbets and like them both.
- There are no artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners in this recipe (sweetened with monk fruit and stevia)
- Isn’t sludgy or cloying – other brands need 8 ounces of water to lessen the thickness and sweetness; with Ascent, you can use only 4 ounces and it’s still not sludgy or cloying.
- They create their own whey – most whey protein firms get their whey from the same few major suppliers and then doctor it up with their own combination of colors and tastes; Ascent manufactures its protein in-house.
- Instead of being a byproduct of the cheese-making process, they say their whey is “the least processed protein available today” since it is “filtered straight from high-quality milk.”
- It hasn’t been bleached (some companies bleach their whey protein to remove its naturally yellowish color)
Even though this protein powder isn’t made from grass-fed cows, you’ll pay a premium for its overall purity; yet, its pricing — $1.20 per serving (for the 4-pound quantity) — is reasonable for such a high-quality supplement.
Best Price/Cleanest
If Ascent is out of your price range but you still want a high-quality whey protein, try Now Sports Whey Protein Isolate. It’s made entirely of whey isolate (no concentrate), has no artificial flavors or sweeteners (it’s sweetened with xylitol and stevia), and costs only $.80 per serving. The flavor isn’t terrific, but given the price and nutritional profile, it could be worth it.
You can purchase Now Sports’ unflavored whey protein isolate for even less: it just has two ingredients: whey protein isolate and sunflower lecithin, and it’s only $.70 per serving. Naturally, the flavor isn’t very scorching, but some people find it palatable on its own; you can also flavor it with cinnamon or vanilla extract, or just blend it into a smoothie or with a flavored foundation.
Best Value/Best Tasting
If cost and flavor are more important to you than purity, COR-Performance Whey Protein is the way to go. It’s available in large 5-pound jars that last a long time and cost just $.64 per serving! Although COR-Performance contains fillers, artificial flavors, and not one but two artificial sweeteners, it is perhaps the best-tasting whey protein on the market, and it comes in flavors other than vanilla and chocolate. Peanut Butter Marshmallow and Cinnamon Swirl were two of my favorite COR-Performance flavors in the past.
Experiment with various whey proteins (making sure the first component on the label is whey isolate) to find which one best meets your budget, nutrition, and taste preferences. And, honestly, don’t overlook the latter: if you don’t like the flavor of anything, drinking it will be difficult.
How Do I Consume Whey Protein?
Whey protein is all about convenience and quickness for me. I don’t use any fancy protein smoothie recipes with bananas, kale, peanut butter, or berries in them. Then there’s the matter of washing and re-cleaning a blender many times a day. Nobody has the time for that.
For my protein shakes, I just use water as the liquid foundation. That is all there is to it. There isn’t any milk. With simply water, the Ascent protein tastes wonderful. I also mix it in a regular mixer bottle with a shaker ball, which I have many of so I don’t have to wash a single shaker between meals and can simply toss them all in the dishwasher at the end of the day.
While I don’t use my whey protein to create fancy smoothies, I do use it to make quasi-meal replacement drinks. I follow the “If It Fits Your Macros” diet, which requires me to consume a certain quantity of carbohydrates, protein, and fat each day. My shakes help me reach those macros since they’re a supplement.
Between breakfast and lunch, and between lunch and supper, I drink two of these smoothies every day.
To create these, I half-fill a shaker bottle with water and add two scoops of Ascent whey protein powder.
12 cup brown rice flour or oatmeal flour will be added to my carbohydrates. Alternatively, if I need extra fiber in my diet, I’ll combine 14 cup brown rice flour with 14 cup hi-maize resistant starch (which has 18 grams of fiber per 14 cup). Your colon will be grateful. (Or despise you.)
Depending on my fat objectives for the day, I’ll simply throw in a tablespoon or two of olive oil.
I’ll add a scoop of creatine to my shake if I’m drinking it after a workout.
Shake it all up and drink it down.
Is it unpleasant to eat? Not at all. However, since I have the palate of a garbage-eating raccoon, I may not be the ideal person to question about something’s palatability. It does the job, and that’s all that matters to me. My body is a machine to me, and a shake is just fuel. I’m searching for something that will serve me well, not something that would make me happy.
I’ll drink a shake with just water and a scoop of whey if I’ve met my carb and fat macros but am short on protein by 25 grams or so at the end of the day. Boom. Macros have been completed.
Diet Soda + Whey Protein for When You’re Feeling Angry
If you want to try something new with your whey protein but don’t want to use your blender, consider using diet soda as the liquid basis, which is a technique I heard from Matt Reynolds, my Barbell Logic Online Coaching coach.
If you don’t want to use artificial sweeteners, you can use Zevia-brand sodas; however, if you’ve had that sort of soda, you know it’s okay, but not as good as the “mainstream” version.
Here are a few excellent combinations:
- Root beer float with vanilla whey protein and diet root beer
- Dreamsicle = vanilla whey protein + diet orange drink
- Like a key lime pie with vanilla whey protein and Diet Sprite.
- It’s difficult to put into words the combination of chocolate whey protein and diet root beer. But it tastes great!
- I haven’t tried this one yet, but Reynolds recommends it. COR-Performance Cinnamon Swirl + Diet Coke =
After mixing things up with diet soda, be cautious about opening the shaker top. You’ll have a lot of gas built up, and removing the top too quickly can cause a little explosion. Slowly open the door.
Cheers to chugging!
The “whey protein side effects” is a question that many athletes and fitness enthusiasts have asked themselves. This article will answer the question with all of the information you need to know about whey protein shakes.
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