Which protein powder is right for you?

These days there is a protein powder for everyone, whether your goal is to build lean muscle mass, gain weight and muscle, lose weight/fat, replace meals, or simply increase your protein intake. Let’s look at your options by objective.

Build lean muscle mass

There are 3 types of protein that will be beneficial for this goal. These include a whey protein blend (protein concentrates, isolates, and perhaps casein), whey protein isolate or hydrolyzate, and casein.

However, most people are on a budget and cannot afford to buy all three types of protein powder. In this case, the protein blend would be the most suitable because it will provide a sustained release of protein for up to 4 hours. This makes it useful for maintaining high protein levels throughout the day, while also containing some rapid-release protein isolates to fuel muscles immediately before exercise.

If a second protein is purchased, it should be a whey protein isolate powder to ensure pre- and post-workout nutrition is optimized and muscles are saturated with nutrients for muscle building and repair. Casein, while very helpful in reducing muscle breakdown during sleep and, for some, a “must have,” should be your third consideration for protein powders.

Weight and muscle gain

In dealing with supplements for quite some time, I always find it amusing how many skinny people tell me that they “want to build muscle but don’t want to get too big.” It is said as if it could happen by accident, but I can assure you that it does not. If you currently don’t have an undesirable level of excess fat, exercise three or more times per week, and want to build muscle in any capacity, you’ll probably benefit from taking a bulking protein and not converting it to muscle soon. Hulk or get fat, end of story. However, if you consistently eat every 3 hours throughout the day, you may not need the carbs in a mass-gaining protein. Mass gainers typically have a reasonably broad spectrum of protein with a few different carbs, as well as being high in calories. The protein ensures that muscle recovery and rebuilding is maximized, while the carbohydrates and calories ensure a calorie surplus that is critical for muscle building.

Since bulking proteins are typically made from whey protein concentrate and carbohydrates, you’ll also benefit from having a whey protein isolate powder. However, if you just want to get a mass gainer and not an isolate too, make sure the carb to protein ratio is close to 1:1 or you may find that the serving sizes are too large to get enough protein post-workout. training. Of course, again, casein could be very helpful for overnight recovery.

lose weight/fat

The best single protein for this goal would be a fat burning protein. This is simply a protein with added ingredients commonly found in fat burning products. Typically, you will find that these proteins will only contain about 1/3 of the active fat burning ingredients of a specialized fat burning product. Therefore, you can expect much better results if you supplement a regular protein mix with a suitable fat burning product. Protein powders are important in the fat burning process because:

• Recovery speed after training
• Increases muscular endurance
• Minimizes muscle breakdown during weight loss.

Therefore, you will be able to train more regularly because the protein powder will minimize the crushing effects of motivation on sore muscles. Also for cardio, increased muscular endurance means you can train harder for longer and burn more fat during exercise. Plus, typically, the ultimate goal of burning fat is a lean, defined appearance. A common mistake among people trying to achieve this is an overemphasis on cardiovascular exercise while neglecting proper weight training and nutrition to maintain muscle mass (for men and women!). The end result is to continually lose weight (muscle and fat) and never achieve that “cut look.”

meal replacement

As discussed in other articles, protein shake diets should always include a reasonable amount of carbohydrates and fat. This means finding a protein with lean fat and around 30g of carbs. However, individual meals can be substituted with low-carb, low-fat shakes. When doing this, it’s best to use a protein blend consisting mostly of whey protein concentrate and some isolates for sustained protein release of up to 4 hours.