Do you drink protein shakes? ...how many a day

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

Take this for what it's worth. We have a strength and conditioning coach who was the national trainer for the Dominican team.

He has a degree in nutrition and he tells me that unless you have some deficiency to your ability to absorb certain nutrients, you don't really need all this stuff.

You don't need much protein a day to do what you want it to do. It should be taken 30 minutes after a workout to help the body recoup and rebuild the damage you have done during an intense workout.

I don't take anything, I eat a high protein, low fat diet and I'm in great shape. Eat about 6 times per day, small meals, good healthy fats like nuts, avocados and all natural peanut butter and I'm good.

Oh and also Greek Yogurt is an excellent source of protein. One serving has like 13 grams of protein.

[alohaxchange]

I use to drink 3 or 4 a day until I went to the doc for bloodwork which i get done annually, and my bad liver values were pretty high. too much powder protein can be an issue when breaking down, so now I only have one after training for recovery, and drink a glass of water with it!

[Dr Rumack]

No experts recommend .7 to .8 grams protein per pound to BUILD new muscle. to maintain you need even less

Yep. The research shows that the upper limit, in terms of providing actual benefits to the body, is 0.82g per lb. You don't need anymore than that for the purpose of maintaining or building muscle. And honestly that's probably even a little extreme.

This is a really useful and straightforward slides show that sums up the evidence -

This is not to say that protein powder is a waste of money btw, if it helps you get enough protein then there's nothing wrong with using it at all.

There's a slight complication in all this though, and that's the apparent difference in the impact of excess calories that come from protein and excess calories that come from carbs. As a general rule of thumb, calories in vs calories out is one that should be taught to everybody. But based on some recent research there might be some merit in the notion that calorie surpluses in a protein rich diet are less likely to be metabolised as fat than calorie surpluses in a carb rich diet.