LA Weight Loss - Whey Protein Powder, for or against?

Hello, I just started Turbo Jam and these Beachbody people keep hitting me with the whey protein powder. Do any of you use it or another brand of whey protein powder? I've never used anything like that, and because their statements about how well it works are, "not evaluated by the FDA" I have never used any. If it helps as well as they say then I'm thinking about purchasing some. So if you do/did use some do you think it works? Do you use theirs or someone elses? I also posted this on the Turbo Jam Support Thread in case this looks familiar, but I thought a wider group might know as well. Thanks!

I don't use protein powder a lot, but I think it is a convenient (and oftimes very tastey) way to add some protein to something like a fruit smoothie. If I'm getting a smoothie or something, I usually do request a bit of protein powder -- I love blueberries, milk, vanilla yogurt and vanilla protein powder mixed together.

I agree with Karen. I like to make smoothies-shakes, whatever-at home in a blender with skim milk, plain, fat-free yogurt, banana, frozen berries, and a scoop of whey protein powder. Blend it with ice and it's yummy and filling. There are some good smoothie recipes here:
http://www.easy-weightloss-tips.com/weight-loss-shake-recipes.html

I love my whey protein powder. It's all natural and really high quality. I normally wouldn't mix it with fruit because of the sugar/calories, but I after a workout its fine to do that. It does support lean body mass and I do believe it is great when trying to lose weight. I don't use that particular brand; the one I use is made by Solgar and its only only 70 cals per scoop, 1 gram carb, 16 grams protein, and less than 1 gram of fat. I usually mix it with fat free soy milk... though occasionally I'll mix it with low fat peanut butter, ff yogurt, and half a banana.

definitely for protein powder in fact im following an experiment that was laid out recently in womans world&i think its working! but im against those liquid fasts

Like other posters I like it as an add in to a smoothie. The protein makes the shake stick w/me longer. I don't do shakes often (higher cals) but for a quick b-fast when I'm in a pinch . . .

I usually just buy the GNC brand, vanilla flavor. Pretty tasty.

Hey Andreaphilip3, what's that experiment you mentioned? What'd WW find?

hey gtech how ya doin?

i'll tell ya but just know i dont work for them or anything im just a subscriber:)

ok, the experiment was to give a group of overweight people 2 scoops of whey protein every day for 6 months. the resulyt was that those who had it lost more weight&fat than the the group who didnt. they found that those who did lost as much as a size a week. i cant stand powder so i bought ultimate nutritions whey 2000 capsules and take those instead. i was just on my way to update my thread i started on this b/c though im not srtarting ww til monday ive already lost 1 short size&1 bras size in a few days w/o changing anything.

Well I took the plunge. I purchased some Vanilla Whey Protein Powder today. I don't know how much difference there is between them, but I decided to buy just a 13 buck container instead of opting for the $29 + container. I plan on starting to make a protein smoothie for breakfast or snack everyday for awhile to see how it helps.

there's different kinds of protein. common two are Whey & Casein.

whey is the faster acting protein..and it peaks around 40 mins.

casein takes 3-4 hours to peak.

whey has 3 different common forms. Concentrate, isolate and hydroisolate.

Whey protein isolate is the most pure and concentrated form of whey protein available. It contains 90% or more protein and very little fat and lactose.

Whey protein concentrate has anywhere between 29% and 89% protein depending upon the product. As the protein level in whey protein concentrate decreases the amounts of fat and/or lactose usually increase.

when to take it:
whey: breakfast and after workouts when you need protein instantly.
casein: best time is before bed, and as meal replacements.

i use this stuff religiously so i can recommend you some brands.

some major companies in the bodybuilding world are:
Optimum, BSN, Cytosport, Champion Nutrition, Xtreme Formulations.

Cytosport Muscle Milk is an excellent Casien blend.

remember, you get what you pay for..

and also note the scoop size/grams on these protein containers. quality proteins, you can get around 20-24g of protein with a scoop size of 30-32grams.

post the nutrition facts and ingredients of your whey and i will tell you if it's decent.

Thanks a LOT for the detailed info, ndnguy...I was JUST looking for info on this topic and having a hard time because google searches turn up a lot of ads/commercial sites.

OH, and btw...all we have at home (raided brother's stash) is an EAS "premium protein" blend of Casein, Soy, and Whey Protein....150 cals and 27 g of protein in 2 scoops (35 g). Thoughts? Are these blends just crap with fancy packaging?

post the nutrition facts and ingredients of your whey and i will tell you if it's decent.

here are the ingredients:
Ion-Exchange Whey Protein Isolates, Cross Flow Ultra Filtration Whey Protein Concentrate(Providing Di-Peptides, Tri-Peptides, Oligo-Peptides, And Poly-Peptides), Whey Peptides, Natural And Artificial Flavors, Acesulfame Potassium

1 Scoop per serving 31g
114 Cals
1.5g Fat
2g Carb
24g Protein
18% Calcium
2% Iron

Thanks :)
EDIT: Oh yeah and do you go through a week where you can lose weight with it, but not lose bodyfat and then the next week drop bodyfat?

One more thing (sorry for double post)....according to this study: http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/5/1/8

dieters who took whey protein didn't lose significantly more weight but lost significantly more **fat** than the control group (apparently, the ratio of fat lost:lean mass lost was 3 x higher in the whey group).

Thanks a LOT for the detailed info, ndnguy...I was JUST looking for info on this topic and having a hard time because google searches turn up a lot of ads/commercial sites.

OH, and btw...all we have at home (raided brother's stash) is an EAS "premium protein" blend of Casein, Soy, and Whey Protein....150 cals and 27 g of protein in 2 scoops (35 g). Thoughts? Are these blends just crap with fancy packaging?

ehh.. did he happen to get this from sams/costco? usually they have this protein for 30 bucks/6lbs.

i mean it's decent but not some high quality protein.

here are the ingredients:
Ion-Exchange Whey Protein Isolates, Cross Flow Ultra Filtration Whey Protein Concentrate(Providing Di-Peptides, Tri-Peptides, Oligo-Peptides, And Poly-Peptides), Whey Peptides, Natural And Artificial Flavors, Acesulfame Potassium

1 Scoop per serving 31g
114 Cals
1.5g Fat
2g Carb
24g Protein
18% Calcium
2% Iron

Thanks :)
EDIT: Oh yeah and do you go through a week where you can lose weight with it, but not lose bodyfat and then the next week drop bodyfat?

that's a good profile. a blend of isolates and concentrate with very low fat and carbs..and good scoop size.

i am not going to say whey helps me to lose more fat or anything like that. the reason i take it is to preserve muscle mass that i already have.

in summer of 04, i didnt know anything about protein or what kind of foods to eat. i just decided one day i was going to do endless amount cardio, no weight lifting (didnt know wat to do) and just eat lean cusine and lean pocket etc. i probably ate around 1500 calories. i would guess my protein intake was probably like 50g.

i ended up looking horrible. i lost 15lbs but not much fat. i got weaker and overall just looked like someone who was on bedrest for the past 3 months. luckily i was able to gain that muscle back.

today i supplement with protein. i average around 180g of protein daily and i get around 100-120 of it from food (chicken, eggs, fish).

so I take some in the morning, after workout, and sometimes either before bed or between meals.

i lift weights now and i haven't lost much muscle at all. i can tell because i am still able to lift the same weights and i am the closest i have ever been to visible six pack.

you can't go by these RDA recommendations because they are made for average joes.

how much do you guys want to spend? what kind of flavors do you guys like?

chocolate - easy to find..a lot of companies get this right
vanilla and strawberry - harder to find a good tasting one

there's other flavors like mocachino, cookies and cream etc.

ndnguy I think he got it for free (from some kid in his dorm who was moving out). It's in a ridiculously massive bag so that's probably what it is.

Chocolate or vanilla is fine, I don't care about having some really exotic flavor. Pricewise, I dunno? No more than $10-15 per (normal-sized) container maybe? If something is significantly better I'd be willing to pay a little more. What do you recommend?

whey protein is usually around $20-22 for a 2lb container. has around 30 servings / 22g of protein each.

casein will be a couple more dollars..not anything big.

since you already have that protein with you..why don't you try it out? mix with the recommendation stuff and ounces and what not..

ndnguy85

mine I ended up buying at Wal-Mart. I'm sure it's not the best, but I live in the boonies with no other stores nearby. It is Body Fortress Super Advanced Whey Protein-Vanilla. It was $14 for 2 lb. 52 grams of protein per 2 scoops. Two scoops(66g) is supposed to be 210 calories, 35 from fat. Ingredients-Whey Protein Blend(WP concentrate, WP Isolate), Super Recovery Blend (Creatine Monohydrate, Taurine, L-Glutamine, Leucine, Isoleucine, Valine), Soy Lecithin, Acesulfame Potassium, & Sucralose.

It says for adults to take 1 scoop daily.

I was interested in buying Beachbody.com's whey protein powder. It's about 39 bucks, but the Turbo Jam I bought from them recommends their powder, (how unusual lol). They say it is superior to others, but as I am new to all this I really have no idea.

ndnguy85

mine I ended up buying at Wal-Mart. I'm sure it's not the best, but I live in the boonies with no other stores nearby. It is Body Fortress Super Advanced Whey Protein-Vanilla. It was $14 for 2 lb. 52 grams of protein per 2 scoops. Two scoops(66g) is supposed to be 210 calories, 35 from fat. Ingredients-Whey Protein Blend(WP concentrate, WP Isolate), Super Recovery Blend (Creatine Monohydrate, Taurine, L-Glutamine, Leucine, Isoleucine, Valine), Soy Lecithin, Acesulfame Potassium, & Sucralose.

It says for adults to take 1 scoop daily.

I was interested in buying Beachbody.com's whey protein powder. It's about 39 bucks, but the Turbo Jam I bought from them recommends their powder, (how unusual lol). They say it is superior to others, but as I am new to all this I really have no idea.

it's decent. gives you some protein. better than nothing u know?

you don't have to follow the directions they say in terms of how many scoops..because that depends on how much protein you are going for in a day. i think rule of thumb if you do weight training is 1g/lb of bodyweight daily (from food, whey..watever)

i would try to do at least 0.75 per lb. then use the remaing calories you have for carbs/fats. for example i am 140. i take in 1700. so if i do 0.75 per lb i need 105g (420 calories) protein. that leaves me with 1280 calories out of my 1700 for carbs and fat. i want to do no more than 30% fat, so after all the math it would be 105g protein - 223g carbs - 43 fat.



another way to go about it is looking at the overall ratio.

lets say you want to take in around 2000 calories. we know you can have up to 30% fat daily.

that leaves us with 70% to work with for protein and carbs. you can easily split it 30% protein and 40% carbs.

that would be 150g of protein and 200g of carbs.

you can lower your protein intake and up ur carbs also. do 25/45.

total would be:
125g protein (lean mean, whey etc.)
225g carbs (good complex carbs from whole grain sources)
67g fat (good fat!)

for someone doing ~1500 calories:
95g protein
170g carbs
50g fat

for someone doing ~1200 calories:
75g protein
135g carbs
40g fat

and i hope no one's doing anything too far below 1200.

hope that helps.

Thanks for all the info. I was going to try some today, but I might wait. I had never even thougt of using a protein powder, but the last time I was working out this hard/often was during school. Thanks again. I might go to GNC sometime and see what they have.

whatever you do..don't go to gnc.

a. they will try to sell you their gnc brand crap
b. overcharge you for other stuff.

compare the top selling product on bodybuilding.com
http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/opt/whey.html

5 Lbs. - $42 + (6 bucks shipping but i have a 10% coupon you can use) = $43.80

gnc price: $55
http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2134050&cp=2665513.2108294&parentPage=family

Thanks for the warning!

Thanks for all the advice ndnguy!

no problem!

please ask if you have any questions.

ndnguy85, I'm using the same whey powder as Stacy (Body Fitness, 26g protein, 110 calories per scoop) and am finding that I get noticeable heartburn about an hour after I have it. I'm using half a scoop in a fruit smoothie for breakfast after working out. Do you think a different powder would be better? I know that this one is one of the cheaper ones... I remember that you said you get what you pay for...

what's the ingredients of your smoothie?

it's very rare for whey itself to cause heart burn..in fact i never heard of it with talking to lots of people.

and also try taking the whey by itself one time and see what happens. my guess is you have an ingredient like banana or something that's not agreeing with the whey.

I've been pretty happy with the EAS vanilla whey protein. It's 120 cals per scoop and 26 g of protein.

I tend to put a scoop in my morning yogurt and then have a protein smoothie of some kind after working out or as dessert (if I don't workout that day).

My goal is to hit 1 g of protein per lb of bodyweight, but I've never actually hit that (I currently weigh 161#). I usually manage about 120-130 g of protein per day, with the 2 scoops.

.

ndnguy85, I do have banana in with the smoothie - typically strawberry, blueberry, banana, FF yogurt and a little skim milk. Didn't think about the fruit not mixing well with the whey, I'll try it alone and see what happens...

I did find that the one I had was flavored with Splenda, which I have a lot of trouble with (headaches, nausea), so I bought Optimum Nutrition brand and have used it for two days now, the heartburn is much better, still a little but just barely. I may try sans the banana this week, too, to see how that works...

PhotoChick - I can't imagine 1 g of protein per pound of bodyweight - is that recommended for weight lifting? I'm going to start some strength training and weights in the next two weeks and don't get more than 60ish grams right now I believe... Do I need to up that?

Thanks!

1 gram is recommended in the bodybuilding world but i think that's a little too much for you girls. i would recommend 0.75/lb.

you have to do juggling with some math to get a number that you are comfortable with. because if you go just by 1g/lb it might be hard to get that much depending on how much you weigh/how many calories you are taking.

for example. say someone weighs 200lbs. lets say they take in total of 1400 calories.
200g*4 = 800calories from protein.

that's 57% from protein!!!!

how many calories do you take in daily shannon? then we can figure out a good number.

1 g per lb of bodyweight is the conventional wisdom on the bodybuilding boards and sites. Like ndnguy says, that's actually hard to do for most women, I'd suspect. I use it as a general goal, but I know that it isn't something that I'll hit most of the time at my current weight.

However, keep in mind that once I reach my goal weight of 130, my maintenance calories will be somewhere around 1800 cals per day. If I take in 130 g of protein, that's ~540 cals, which would be only around 30% to 35% from protein. That's right at what my macro goal is - currently 40/35/25

.

ndnguy -
I'm currently doing 1200-1300 calories per day. Like PhotoChick above, once I reach my goal weight my calories to maintain weight are closer to 1800-1900.

So, right now if I say
130*4 = 520 calories, that is 43% if I were doing 1 gram per pound at 1200?

But, 130*.75 = 97.5
97.5*4 = 390, that is only 32%. That seems more doable.
Am I doing that right? 4 calories per gram of protein?

It stands to reason after the goal weight is achieved that the 1 gram per pound would feel more realistic to me, it would be the 28% or so if my weight was 127 with a calorie intake of 1800-1900... Ideally, I'm only a few weeks away from that maintenance weight...

I have really felt a lot better this week, not as hungry, less munchy cravings during the day. I have to think that has come from the small amount of protein I've increased this week (added 15g per day). In looking, I think my earlier guess that I was consuming 60 g before might have been a little high, I imagine some days I came closer to 35-40.

DH is going to get back into weight lifting starting in the next week or so as part of his dieting and exercise plan - we have bought some products for working out at home. He weighs 232 - I don't think there is any way he will be able to get in that much protein and lose any weight, he may have to wait to build that up until he is closer to his target weight...

Thanks guys!

Wow... Reading with great interest. I had never even considered trying something like this.

I'm worried about the taste and how to use the protein powder. I'm not a smoothie kinda girl yet. Do I need to be to use the powder? I'm struggling to enjoy yogurt, so I'm even a little worried about that. Is there anything else you can do to get the powder down?

Here are some other options for the powder. I've yet to find an unsweetened or unflavored protein powder (bummer), so in general it has to stick close to something that can be sweet. I have only tried the vanilla, since it has the fewest artificial flavors in it (I try to avoid as much artificial stuff as I can).

I put a scoop in my oatmeal in the morning
I mix a scoop in with my morning yogurt and top with frozen blueberries
After the gym I actually add a scoop to 8 oz of orange juice. It has a tad more calories, but it tastes just like an Orange Julius from the mall. :)
I put a scoop in 8 oz of water and guzzle it (it's very watery tasting, but I can chug 8oz in less than a min)
I add it to a bowl of soup - especially a cream based soup where a tiny bit of vanilla sweetness isn't bad. I make butternut squash soup about once a week and it works well in that.

.

Here are some other options for the powder. I've yet to find an unsweetened or unflavored protein powder (bummer), so in general it has to stick close to something that can be sweet. I have only tried the vanilla, since it has the fewest artificial flavors in it (I try to avoid as much artificial stuff as I can).

I put a scoop in my oatmeal in the morning
I mix a scoop in with my morning yogurt and top with frozen blueberries
After the gym I actually add a scoop to 8 oz of orange juice. It has a tad more calories, but it tastes just like an Orange Julius from the mall. :)
I put a scoop in 8 oz of water and guzzle it (it's very watery tasting, but I can chug 8oz in less than a min)
I add it to a bowl of soup - especially a cream based soup where a tiny bit of vanilla sweetness isn't bad. I make butternut squash soup about once a week and it works well in that.

.

i will reply to the other posts tomorrow..but here's the "natural" version of optimum whey.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/opt/natwhey.html

with no artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners to give you more of what you want (pure, unadulterated whey protein) with less of what you don't (fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, lactose, and other carbohydrates) with every serving

Protein Blend (Whey Protein Isolate, Whey Protein Concentrate, Whey Peptides)
Cocoa (Processed With Alkali)
Fructose
Lecithin
Natural Flavor

ndnguy -
I'm currently doing 1200-1300 calories per day. Like PhotoChick above, once I reach my goal weight my calories to maintain weight are closer to 1800-1900.

So, right now if I say
130*4 = 520 calories, that is 43% if I were doing 1 gram per pound at 1200?

But, 130*.75 = 97.5
97.5*4 = 390, that is only 32%. That seems more doable.
Am I doing that right? 4 calories per gram of protein?

It stands to reason after the goal weight is achieved that the 1 gram per pound would feel more realistic to me, it would be the 28% or so if my weight was 127 with a calorie intake of 1800-1900... Ideally, I'm only a few weeks away from that maintenance weight...

I have really felt a lot better this week, not as hungry, less munchy cravings during the day. I have to think that has come from the small amount of protein I've increased this week (added 15g per day). In looking, I think my earlier guess that I was consuming 60 g before might have been a little high, I imagine some days I came closer to 35-40.


MINIMUM RDA is 50grams. i think that's why we have a lot of weight problems. we consume wayy too much carbs and majority of it from sugar.

even 60ish is kinda low. that's only 20% from protein on a 1200 cal diet, add 30% fat and you have like 50% of your diet from carbs. way too much in my opinion.

30pro, 40carbs, 30fat..is very good for you. that will put you right at ~0.7g/lb for protein (around 90 grams), which i think is all you need.

you can keep the ratio the same once you get to your maintenance level because that will just bump up your protein to 1g/lb..

or you can increase your carbs a lil more. do 25p-45c-30f. that will get you about 112g of protein or 0.88g/lb. sounds plenty to me.

healthy fat and protein will definitely keep you full longer. i don't know why more people dont realize this.

one thing i want to mention is the quality of your protein sources. i dont mean whey itself. like don't put too much emphasis on the proteins you get from bread, bagels, etc. those couple of grams here and there are not going to be that useful. most of the time they are incomplete.

majority of your 90 grams should come from lean quality sources. eggs, fish, chicken, steak, tuna, milk, cottage cheese.

when you build your meals, pick out the macronutrient choice yourself. what i mean is ..pick your meat and say ok that's my protein source, then vegetable as your carb source..then some almonds as your healthy fat..etc.

hope that helps

I use it! Not too often, but when I work the concession at the local drag strip, I do NOT have time to eat, there are times that I work non-stop for like 6-10 hours. I ALWAYS take my choc protein shake. I can gulp that down as I work and it saves me from crashing (which has happened).
I also use it in an emergency for my son--who is SO picky and it suddenly gets late and he has no choice of food but greasy fried.

Anyway, I enjoy it, and also use it (vanilla) for smoothies.
Diane

Thanks for all the advice ndnguy! I'm going to start working in more protein this week and see what happens.

I really don't like eggs, so I'll have to find other sources. I do eat a lot of different fish, chicken, turkey, eat steak occassionally, etc. I've been doing okay with the milk, might add more of it as well.

I figured that the misc gram of protein here and there from breads and such was not really the best quality. Same with the protein listed in fruit - there is was too little of it for it to really count for anything.

Thanks again! :)

ndnguy - you rock. thank you so much for the link to the natural whey protein! :) it's still sweet, but at least I dont' have to worry about artificial stuff.

.

Hey ndnguy85,

What's your read on the stuff I currently take ($25/2.05 pounds), Dymatize Nutrition, Elite Whey Protein Isolate
114 Calories
15 from fat
< 1 gram saturated fat
15 gram cholesterol
50 mg sodium
24 grams protein

I'm also looking at Bally Total Fitness Proformance Whey Protein Vanilla (locally, $20/2 pounds)
Supplement Facts
Serving Size: 1 Scoop
Servings per Container: 35
Amount Per Serving % Daily Value
Calories 100
Calories from Fat 15
Total Fat 1.5 grams 2%
Saturated Fat 1 gram 5%
Cholesterol 40 mg 13%
Total Carbohydrates 2 gram 1%
Sugars 1 gram *
Protein 19 gm 38%
Thiamin (as Thiamin Mononitrate) 0.4 mg 28%
Riboflavin 0.6 mg 35%
Vitamin B6 (as Pyridoxine Hydrochloride) 0.7 mg 35%
Vitamin B 12 (as cyanocobalamin) 2 mcg 33%
Pantothenic Acid (as d-Calcium Pantothenate) 3.5 mg 35%
Calcium 100 mg 10%
Phosphorus 80 mg 8%
Magnesium 10 mg 3%
Sodium 40 mg 2%
Potassium 150 mg 4%
L-Glutamine 150 mg *
Taurine 150 mg *