Best protein powders for muscle gain?

Sam Roberts said:Forget protein—just eat chocolate cereal.

Alright, I might sound pretty ridiculous right now—but chocolate cereal? I know it’s basically kid stuff, but could it actually help someone in their twenties? Just curious...

What’s the logic there? So, cereal, chocolate, and milk make kids gain weight, but they're fine for adults? I could down an entire tub of whey protein and wouldn't even put on three pounds... barely any calories in it.

Choco Krispies was just a suggestion. Just eat healthy, honey 😁 but go easy on the portions

darkpilot19 said:Hey there!
I've got a few questions for anyone who might be able to help me out. I've been struggling with being underweight for quite a while now. I'm about 5'4" and only weigh around 103 lbs... I've been trying to put on a little weight for ages, but nothing seems to work. Anyway, someone suggested I try protein shakes, but I don't really do any sports or anything, so I'm just not sure if that would even do anything for me or how much I'd need. It's not really my upper body that bothers me; my biggest issue is my legs, which always look super skinny, even when I manage to gain a tiny bit of weight. I also don't want to just end up gaining everything in my stomach area, you know? If anyone knows more about this stuff, I'd love some advice because I'm totally lost here. Thanks so much! 😉

Protein might help.
Exercise would definitely help.
Hitting the gym—especially focusing on those specific areas you mentioned—would probably make the biggest difference.
It would also be super helpful if you could list what you ate yesterday and today (including portions)

The main thing is pretty simple, really... you're just not eating enough.

-Steve

briskjackal5 said:More protein would help.
Working out would help, too.
Hitting the gym—specifically targeting the areas you want to change—would make a huge difference.
It would also help if you listed exactly what you ate (and how much) yesterday and today.
The bottom line is simple: you aren't eating enough.

I think I need to focus most on my legs and glutes—compared to the rest of me, my lower body always feels skinny, especially my legs. My arms are pretty thin, too. My upper body—chest and stomach—is okay, though I’d love to lose a little bit of belly fat that popped up from sitting at a desk all day xD...
Honestly, I just really want to tone my legs so they look more developed and shapely—which I assume would help my glutes and my core, too...
Could anyone suggest some home workouts? As much as I'd love to join a gym, I just can't afford it right now, unfortunately.😢
...So, I definitely overindulged during my two-week vacation, but I haven't eaten that much yesterday or today.
Yesterday, I had a massive breakfast—🙂 biscuits and gravy :P If you like it, great; personally, I absolutely love it! ^^ hahaha... later on, I had a sandwich, and since I was traveling last night, I got home so late and exhausted that I just crashed without eating anything else. Today, I had soup, a cutlet, and rice, then a sandwich and yogurt later. I snacked on some chocolate in between, and for dinner, I had pasta :/ maybe I'm not exactly eating the healthiest...
I've also noticed that protein is getting pretty expensive, so between that and the cost of a gym membership, there's just no way—I'll have to stick to working out at home.

darkpilot19 said:I feel like I really need to focus on my legs and glutes because compared to everything else, my lower body is always super skinny. My legs especially, though my arms are pretty thin too. My upper body—like my chest and stomach—is actually okay, although there’s a little bit of fat on my belly that I’d love to get rid of, probably because I spend way too much time sitting around at my desk lol xD..
I guess what I really want is to even out my legs so they build up and shape a bit, and then I assume that would help my glute shape and my stomach too..
Maybe you guys could recommend some exercises I can do at home? As much as I’d love to hit up a gym or something, I just don't have the extra cash right now, unfortunately 😢

Honestly, there are like a million different ways to do squats and lunges.

..so yeah, I've been eating quite a bit during these two weeks off, but yesterday and today I haven't eaten that much..
Yesterday I had a huge breakfast 🙂 consisting of biscuits and some hearty chili :P if you like that stuff, go for it! I know I absolutely love it ^^ hahaha... later on I had a sandwich, and since I was traveling last night and got back late, I was just exhausted and crashed, so I didn't eat anything else... Today I had soup, a cutlet, and rice, then a sandwich and yogurt later on.. I snacked on some chocolate in between, and had pasta for dinner :/ maybe I'm not exactly eating healthy...
I've also noticed that protein is getting pretty expensive, so combined with the cost of a gym membership, I just don't have enough money to do more than workout at home.

That's not exactly an ideal lineup when it comes to food choices... you want to gain weight, but you don't want to gain it in places where you'll just have to lose it later.
You might want to browse through the other threads here to see which foods people recommend, and then you can slowly start swapping out what you're eating for the stuff you find.

Consistency and your daily habits are really what will determine how successful you are. For example, a day where you just eat biscuits, chili, and a sandwich as your whole diet obviously doesn't really fit with your goals.

Whether you actually gain weight or not depends on your daily intake, and your intake depends on your habits. Whether that intake comes from protein powder or actual food doesn't matter much (and honestly, you won't notice much difference in price). What matters is that you need to gradually increase it. That shouldn't be too hard to do if you're currently skipping meals.

-Steve

briskjackal5 said:There are a million ways to do squats and lunges.
That’s not really the issue when it comes to picking what you eat... you want to pack on some muscle, but you definitely don't want to gain weight in places you aren't looking to carry extra baggage.
Whether you actually gain weight or not depends entirely on your daily calorie intake—and that all comes down to your habits. The goal is to scale up your intake gradually. Honestly, if you're currently skipping meals, you shouldn't have much trouble ramping things up.

Fair enough, then I guess I should hunt for some squat and lunge tutorials on YouTube. 🙂
I really need to do my homework on nutrition—I don't want to just get "bigger" if that means putting on fat in all the wrong spots. I'm aiming for a solid build, not just becoming soft. ://

I just picked up some Gold Standard Whey.
How much should I actually scoop out using that big plastic scoop from the tub? Am I looking at a half scoop (like where there's a little line marked) or just filling the whole thing up?

the whole scoop

Richard Rivera5 said:I just picked up some Gold Standard Whey.
How much should I actually be scooping out per serving using that big scoop inside the tub? Like, should I go halfway to where that little line is, or just fill it up completely?

And just so you know, when I fill the whole scoop, the powder isn't overflowing or anything, it sits perfectly level right with the top rim of the scoop.

Dear everyone, I was wondering if anyone here might know whether MuscleTech has recently changed the granulation of their 100% isolate product... It seems to me that the powder in my last container had a much finer, more powdery consistency, whereas this current batch feels somewhat coarser to the touch...

Hey... need some help picking a protein. I'm 183 cm and weigh about 163 lbs. Looking to pack on some mass and strength.
I'm torn between getting MuscleTech ( http://www.building-body.com/shop/pr...omax_-_1320_g/ ) or MuscleTech ( http://www.building-body.com/shop/pr...000_g_naran_a/ )...
Thanks in advance

darkcanyon14 said:Hey guys... I could really use some help picking out a protein powder. I'm sitting at about 163 lbs right now and I'm 6 feet tall. My main goal is to pack on some serious mass and get stronger.
I'm torn between grabbing some MuscleTech ( http://www.building-body.com/shop/pr...omax_-_1320_g/ ) or going with the MuscleTech ( http://www.building-body.com/shop/pr...000_g_naran_a/ )...
Thanks in advance!

Honestly, if I were you, I'd just go with Weider Gold, it's an absolutely killer protein.

Personally, I’d suggest you avoid Scitec Nutrition because they use aspartame; even though I used to use their stuff back in the day and I know a ton of people swear by them, I just can't get behind it.

Honestly, I don't think aspartame even matters when you're picking out a protein powder.

-briskjackal5

I’d definitely vouch for Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard or Dymatize. Avoid Multipower at all costs...

I found that Multipower had a pretty nasty taste, and honestly, it was a struggle just to get it to dissolve properly.
On the other hand, Gold Standard Whey tastes amazing—I went with strawberry—and it mixes up perfectly with just a little bit of shaking.

I’ve been sticking with the Hydrowhey from Optimum Nutrition. Honestly, the strawberry flavor is top-tier 😍
plus it doesn't have any sugar or cholesterol. It's easily in a league of its own.

Dymatize ISO100 tastes absolutely fantastic, and honestly, when you look at the value you're getting, the price point feels just right.

Richard Rivera5 said:I personally found that Multipower tasted pretty nasty and was kind of a nightmare to mix out.
Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard tastes amazing (especially the strawberry one), and it dissolves super easily with just a little bit of shaking in your shaker bottle.

Honestly, Weider Gold is top-tier stuff, but I’d also say you should definitely check out Prolab because those guys have been crushing the Whey protein game since the early 90s and they've always stayed right at the top when it comes to quality.

At the end of the day, brands like Weider and Prolab have managed to stay staples on the market for ages, whereas some other brands seem to be constantly pulling products or switching things up all the time, which really tells you everything you need to know about their consistency.

As for the newer options, Dymatize has really proven itself to be high-quality too.

briskjackal5 said:Honestly, aspartame shouldn't even be on your radar when you're picking out a protein powder.

-Steve

I mean, yeah, technically true, but it's still a massive deal if you're looking at your overall health.

wiredowl69 said:That’s true, but I guess it’s still a pretty big factor when it comes to health.

Well, I mean, just like pretty much anything else we eat or drink, it all really comes down to the dosage, right?

As far as aspartame goes—just like most other things—I don't think you're consuming enough of it for it to actually be a real issue.

-briskjackal5