Protein Supplements

[JulieBabes_K]

Hi there everyone

 

I am a female, age 24, height 154cm, weight 69kg.

I am on the process of losing weight and am weight training. I wait train early morning before even having breakfast.

 

I live in South Africa. Food is expensive so getting my right amount of protein from food alone is just so expensive!

 

If there is anyone with knowledge on protein supplements I would like some advice please?

I am considering supplements to help. I already use 100%whey post workout of 23g protein (I was advised this is the best way to drink it).

 

I did some research and would like to find out if it would also be beneficial to drink casein protein of 32g protein pre-workout as well as the whey post workout? (This is what I found in research but I would like some straight advice considering that I am also trying to lose weight and not just build muscles. Also I obviously don't want to be bulky). 

 

If my diet makes any difference, I basically only eat meat and vegetables and only 1 - 2 eggs with some cottage cheese (maybe a Tbsp) every morning for breakfast.

 

Please share advice if you are knowledgeable on this?

 

Thanks

[zeroh13]

First off, don't worry about getting bulky. That's something you'd have to work really, really hard to get (or use steroids). There are plenty of examples of women who lift heavy and aren't bulky. 

 

I don't know much about whey and casein. But with protein in general, it doesn't really matter too much when you have it or where it comes from. The important thing is how much protein total you're getting throughout the day. Which is where diet does make a difference. 

 

In my opinion, the best thing to do, if you are eating a balanced diet high in protein, is to determine how much protein you need, add up all of the protein you normally get in a day, and then make up the difference with protein supplements. If you already get enough protein, don't add extra. If your diet still needs work, focus first on increasing the protein in your food as much as you can. I get a lot of my protein from beans, which are considerably cheaper than meat and dairy, so it might be worthwhile to look into that.

 

 

[Juni0r83]

@zeroh13 pretty much nailed the protein supplementation thing. Unless you're working on getting the last fraction of a percentage gain to be competitive with top level athletes, meal timing/frequency is more about personal preference/adherence than about optimizing body composition. The primary concern is whether you are eating the right amount of food (surplus or deficit based on your goals) and that you're providing your body with enough protein to properly recover from your training stimulus. That is all. And the actual amount of protein you NEED is quite a bit lower than the fitness industry would lead you to believe. Plenty of male vegan athletes between 180-200lbs recover just fine on around 100g of protein per day. If your recovery starts to suffer however, adding in more protein wouldn't hurt.

[Jamiee123]

I'm a vegetarian bodybuilder, so I rely heavily on protein powder to meet my daily protein intake. Do you have access to carton or frozen egg whites? I personally find this is a cheap and easy way to increase my protein intake. I usually do 200g egg whites with 2 whole eggs for breakfast

As for protein powders, whey is relatively cheap but I usually stick to pea/rice protein blends as they don't bloat me. https://blog.dukesgym.com.au/blog/should-you-be-drinking-protein-shakes/  This article goes into a bit more detail about supplementing with protein powders.

[JulieBabes_K]

Thanks everyone for the awesome advice!

I totally appreciate it!

You have helped me make a more educated decision.