Best protein powders?

www.scitec-hr.com

Check out the catalog! They have an incredible variety of products—this is one of the leading nutritional centers in the world, and we're lucky enough to have them here in the States too.😉

Which protein you should pick? Honestly, there isn't a simple answer to that. You really need to consult with a specialist regarding what your specific goals are and how you plan to use the supplements. That way, they can give you a tailored recommendation on both the type and the dosage.
Generally speaking, if you're hitting the gym hard, aim for about 2g of protein per kg of muscle mass. If you have a more sedentary lifestyle, you should still look at a minimum of 0.5g per kg of muscle mass. Also, don't overlook multivitamins and minerals. They act as catalysts! If you're even slightly deficient in one, it’s going to directly impact how well your body absorbs that protein.
Bottom line: without the details, I can't give you solid advice!

Look, man, just eat some chocolate cereal, drink cocoa, and grab some yogurt! I managed to pack on quite a bit of muscle just by pairing those with my workouts. Seriously, it works!

That said, whole foods are king. I’m not knocking all those protein shakes or powders, but there's always some kind of chemical process involved to isolate the protein from the whey or other dairy products. It’s not strictly "natural" anymore. I'm not saying they're bad, just that real food is the superior way to go!

I even used to drink that leftover liquid you get when making fresh farmhouse cheese. It tastes pretty gross, honestly, but it’s pure, natural protein!

William Collins6 said:I’ve got some... what specifically are you looking for?

It’s got carbs and pure protein (count the amino acids).
The real question is what you need it for and what your actual plan is.
But I'm guessing you're hitting the gym...

Fine, here's my recommendation since you're asking.

Grab an isolate—100% whey—or something like Anabolic whey, and you'll definitely pack on weight.

Check out the bodybuilding forums.

It’s got carbs, proteins, and fats. Proteins build muscle and enzymes, etc. Protein isn't just some supplement; it's a requirement in your diet. You'll probably gain less fat from protein than anything else you could put in your mouth.

Where can I find the most protein—what kind of foods should I be looking at?

Low-fat cottage cheese, chicken breasts, pretty much any kind of meat you can find.
Dairy products, eggs, fish—tuna works great, even the canned stuff.
Oatmeal or whatever oats you have on hand.

So, let me see if I’ve got this math right. If I’m weighing in at around 155 lbs and I only hit the gym once in a while—nothing too crazy, just staying somewhat active—would I need roughly 70 x 0.75, which comes out to about 52g of protein per day? Also, does anyone happen to know the protein count in a standard 4-ounce serving of chicken breast?

Keith Watson10 said:Low-fat cheese, chicken breast, pretty much any meat works.
Dairy, eggs, fish (tuna is fine, even canned)
Oats (depending on how they're processed)

Oat protein doesn't have a complete amino acid profile, so its biological value is basically zero. Legumes have plenty of protein too, but if you're a guy, watch out with the soy. Vegetarians obviously need to mix different plant sources to get all the essential amino acids through protein breakdown. As for hiddensailor60, 100g of chicken breast has about 21 grams of protein—some sources say 16, so let's just call it 18 or 19 to be safe. Your actual protein needs depend on your age and activity level, so you really need to be more specific. What do you actually do? How old are you? What are your fitness goals?

hiddensailor60 said:So, if I’m weighing in at about 155 pounds and I hit the gym once in a while—nothing crazy, just staying somewhat active—does that mean I only need 155 x (let's say 0.75 for my metabolism) = 52g of protein a day? Also, does anyone happen to know how much protein is actually in a decent serving of chicken breast?

Nutrition Facts:

http://web.archive.org/web/200601110...m/pt/index.htm

Just a heads-up, those nutrition databases don't seem to play nice with Firefox; you'll probably have to fire up Internet Explorer to get them to load properly.

Can I actually overdo it on the protein and end up gaining weight from it?

Lisa Nelson96 said:But wait, can I actually overdo it on the protein and end up gaining weight from that?

Honestly, it’s almost impossible to hit those levels in real life, even if you really tried to force it.

-briskjackal5

Honestly, he’s not going to put on any weight if he isn't actually eating much to begin with. It’s pretty simple—you need the gym plus a serious commitment to high-quality nutrition (we're talking roughly 6 meals a day) supplemented by some protein powder. If your goal is to pack on muscle mass at around 150 lbs, you should be aiming for about 150–200g of protein total from all your food sources... along with plenty of low-GI carbs and a bit of healthy fat from things like flaxseed oil, olive oil, or fish oil.

When it comes to protein shakes, take them right after your workout mixed with water—don't use milk, because that slows down the digestion process—and add some glucose (just match the grams of glucose to your body weight in pounds). It’s also a great idea to have some in the morning with oatmeal. Also, make sure you drink up to 2 liters of water over the next hour or two after training to help those proteins digest as efficiently as possible...

So, yeah, that's the blueprint for bulking up. But, if you're just looking to maintain your current muscle mass, then you really only need about 1g of protein per pound of body weight...

I suppose I’d love to get some muscle on my frame, though I don't necessarily want to end up looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger; I guess I just want to be strong without being all overly bulky and pumped up with mass like that.

LOL

Trust me on this one, you’d probably have to grind for at least twenty years just to be a shadow of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Building that kind of muscle requires a massive amount of calories and relentless training. Honestly, you should head over to Bodybuilding.com; there's way more useful information available there than I could ever hope to squeeze into a single post.

@briskjackal5 - from what I understand, the body can actually convert excess protein into glucose, which then gets stored away as fat...

Christian Williams4 said:Look, man, just eat some chocolate, drink cocoa, and grab some yogurt! That’s what I did alongside my workouts to pack on muscle. Trust me, it actually works.

Still, sticking to whole foods is the way to go. I'm not saying protein shakes and powders are useless—they have their place—but there's always some industrial processing involved to isolate those proteins from whey or other sources. It's not "purely" natural. I'm not calling them bad, just saying real food is better.

I remember once drinking the leftover liquid from making fresh farmhouse cheese. Tasted pretty rough, honestly, but it's pure, unadulterated protein.

🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏
We've already got everything we need in the fridge.

jadetiger962 said:LOL

Trust me, you’d probably need like 20 years of grinding just to be a shadow of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Building muscle means eating a ton and training even harder. Honestly, maybe head over to some bodybuilding subreddit or a fitness forum—you'll find way more useful info there than I could ever squeeze into a single post.

@briskjackal5 - from what I understand, the body can actually convert excess protein into glucose, which then might turn into fat...

But honestly? That’s mostly just theory, and we're talking about tiny, negligible percentages here.
Those 30 or 40 grams of protein someone gets in their daily steak dinner aren't even going to make it to that stage because they're being used for so many other things... the stuff that actually hits the glucose stage is those 150 grams of carbs from that meal, plus all those hundreds of grams from everything else you eat throughout the day.

And we haven't even gotten to the fat conversion part yet! 😁

-briskjackal5

copperwolf112 said:They've got plenty of protein too, but if you're a guy, I'd stay away from soy.

There’s actually zero evidence showing that phytoestrogens mess with your hormone balance. None. You won't find a single relevant study backing that up. Now, there is plenty of research on xenoestrogens, but soy doesn't contain those. Look, I'm not out here defending soy—it's actually pretty bad for other reasons—but it isn't because of the phytoestrogens. Even flax contains them.

briskjackal5 said:In the real world, you just can't pull that off perfectly, even if you try.

-briskjackal5

That sounds too good to be true!
So, what you're saying is that eating extra protein—even more than I actually need (and honestly, I have no clue what my daily target even is!)—won't make me gain weight!?
Are we really just getting soft from all that UG??! Like, are we just becoming a bunch of couch potatoes...?😕

Lisa Nelson96 said:That sounds absolutely incredible to me! I mean, wow!
So, wait... are you telling me that eating more protein than I actually need—which, let's be honest, I have absolutely no clue what my actual daily target even is! I mean, I have zero idea when I've finally hit my goal for the day!—won't actually make me gain weight?? Is that really how it works?!
So, I was just sitting here thinking... what is it that actually makes us gain all this weight from UG??! Like, seriously, are we all just turning into total couch potatoes or something...? I mean, maybe it’s just me, but it feels like we're getting a little soft around the edges lately, don't you think? I guess it's hard to tell exactly what's doing it, but man, it's definitely happening!😕

Yeah, I mean, Redom just isn't going to happen, right? Yeah, definitely.

Every single nutrient out there has its own specific job to do, you know? It's like a little ecosystem. But protein? Man, protein has like ten different roles all on its own! I guess you could say it's the real MVP of the food pyramid.
I mean, look, the idea that protein can actually be used as an energy source? Honestly, that’s like a total afterthought for the body. It’s such a secondary thing, and I guess it only happens in really extreme cases, maybe? Like, super rarely!

So, like, does eating a ton of carbs actually make you gain the most weight? I mean, probably, right? Unless, obviously, you’re just absolutely crushing it with all the fats and grease. In that case, it wouldn't really be the carbs doing the heavy lifting—it would definitely just be the fat. I guess! 😁

briskjackal5

briskjackal5 said:Order? Yeah, right. Not gonna happen.

Every nutrient has its own specific job to do—and protein actually has ten different roles.
Using protein as an energy source is basically a backup plan—it happens, but it's super rare.

Are you gaining weight mostly from carbs? Probably—unless you're also slamming fats. In that case, it’s the fat, not the carbs, doing the heavy lifting. 😁

-briskjackal5

I cut way back on carbs (like, a lot!)—and whatever I do eat, I stick to the morning or maybe lunch if there's rice or potatoes involved. I only have whole wheat bread for a quick snack—maybe half a roll—and that's my entire bread intake for the day! It worked, too; I dropped 5 pounds in about 3 or 4 weeks. And now, I haven't seen the scale budge at all for 3 weeks...
In the mornings, I go for a thirty-minute walk, and in the evenings, I do some exercises (specifically for my back)...

Lisa Nelson96 said:I’ve really cut back on processed junk (like, a ton—I mostly just have it in the morning or maybe for lunch if there’s rice or potatoes involved); and I only eat whole grain bread for lunch (just half a roll), so that's literally all the bread I touch all day! And hey, I actually dropped 2.5 lbs in about 3 or 4 weeks from that. Now, I haven't seen the scale budge at all for 3 weeks...
In the mornings, I go for a thirty-minute walk, and then in the evenings, I do my exercises (you know, for my back)...

Honestly, that’s just what happens when you start cutting out all that stuff people call "junk food" on those specialized fitness forums. 😁

One thing that might help you think a bit more clearly is to stop obsessing over the number on the scale, because, honestly, it doesn't really matter.
For some women, their body type just works better at certain weights. There is no such thing as an "ideal" weight, not even as a concept. Not only are the numbers misleading, but the whole idea itself is kind of a myth. They can be, I guess, little benchmarks, but they aren't nearly as important as how you actually feel and look.
Like, you could lose 1 lb of fat, lose 1 lb of water, and gain 1 lb of muscle—and you'd definitely notice the change even though it's "only 1 lb." On the flip side, you could lose 3 lbs of water, and it wouldn't mean much, except maybe you'll end up looking a bit washed out or unhealthy.

The real truth is what you see in the mirror. So, just ignore all those random comments you hear flying around. 😁
And the real truth is also the healthy habits you're building along the way.

-Stipe