protein and food myth

Ive always been told getting most of your protein through food is alot better to holding onto to your size and muscle rather than shakes.any views on this??

I really cant see why it would matter personally, although I have heard this numerous times myself.

As long as you are getting X amount cals from protein/carbs/fats, then it should make no difference where you're getting them from - food or shakes -
Having said that, in the long term, you also need to make sure that you're getting enough fruit and veg which you would obviously not get from just shakes, and shakes do not tend to make you feel very full, as eating something would.

If you had a perfect diet then I am sure you would have no need of shakes. However for ease of use as a PWO they cannot be beaten. They also allow you  take more protein on in a resoanbly cheap manner rather than buying steak/chicken or whatever

yeaaa thanks for replies,also ive just been reading this article about bulking and it says unless on juice there is no point doing it as your body can only build muscle at a certain rate/time,over stuffing your face will not make your body build it any faster and only result in fat gain even still if your eating clean high protein foods, it says to work out exactly wht u need for steadily muscle growth,saying people seem to think more protein=more muscle but once youve exceeded your nutrients for optimal muscle building the rest will be stored as fat regardless what it is.this made me a bit paranoid cause ive been on a clean bulk and this made me think of dropping fat, then building muscle steadilyy.

that squirrel is henchhhhh lol

For most ppl, protein shakes would be part of their perfect diet.
If you work full time then eating a meal every 2 -3 hours just isnt feasible, so protein shakes have an important place IMO.

joey D


yeaaa thanks for replies,also ive just been reading this article about bulking and it says unless on juice there is no point doing it as your body can only build muscle at a certain rate/time,over stuffing your face will not make your body build it any faster and only result in fat gain even still if your eating clean high protein foods, it says to work out exactly wht u need for steadily muscle growth,saying people seem to think more protein=more muscle but once youve exceeded your nutrients for optimal muscle building the rest will be stored as fat regardless what it is.this made me a bit paranoid cause ive been on a clean bulk and this made me think of dropping fat, then building muscle steadilyy.

Of course you still bulk naturally, but you are right that if you want a lean bulk, you need to workout around how many cals you need to maintain body weight, and then increase by say 300 cals.
This is also true when taking steroids though, as fat gain is still gonna happen when bulking naturally or not.
 
What you need to do is work out how many cals your protein shakes make up per day as well, and include those cals in your overall daily cals.
 
 

joey D


that squirrel is henchhhhh lol

lol, he's been on big protien nuts.

yeaaa thanks alot interesting stuff. just a bit disheartning i thought i knew a little about dieting,cutting and bulking is way to get big and look good,but not so simple.also a hate counting cals have no problems sticking to cleannn diets just counting all the things specially like eggs or a potato and stuff drives me mad.

Yeah I know what you mean, I dont like calorie counting either TBH, but the good thing is, once you've done it, you will have a much better idea of how many cals are in which foods, and how many cals you personally need to maintain/cut/bulk, so in time, you will pretty much know without counting.

The reason for saying food first is that nutrition is about more than macro nutrients:
and food comes with more than macronutrients :)
Protein shakes are an aid to protein intake, bought at the right place they are a cheap and effective means of making sure you get enough. Also for those who have problems, for whatever reason, getting protein in - they are a massive help.

A lot of trainers really dont need them, but they are useful and have their place.

To add, experience teaches us that bodybuilder who eat food for protein do better than those that rely on shakes; it happens that way - and there are a lot of possible mechanisms - but given the crappy funding of studies I dont think anyone is going to investigate it in a hurry.

And as skullcrusher says - after a while you do it mostly by eye. And remember counting is only ever an estimate :)

micro?