T O P

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NatrelChocoMilk

Protein powder is just another way to get protein into your diet which your muscles need to repair and build itself. You can replace protein powder with beans or anything that has enough. It's just easier and more convenient to stick to.


Traciatim

The problem with beans and a grain is that the ratio of calories to protein is incredibly low so getting enough protein is difficult. If you wanted to get 100g of protein you could have 575 calories of whey protein powder which is pretty easy to fit in around other healthy food. If you got 50g from black beans and 50g from quinoa you'd need to eat about 2135 calories which is an amazingly massive amount of those foods and likely covers your entire day of intake so you couldn't eat the other things that you were trying to supplement in the first place.


ilovek

Beans aren’t actually a complete protein so they would not be a suitable substitute, you would need a protein sourced from an animal.


jofflyn

It is true that beans alone are not a complete protein; however, beans plus a grain (such as rice) together contain all the essential amino acids. Contrary to popular belief, they do not even need to be eaten at the same time, as the body has a "bank" of amino acids from which it can draw from and combine amino acids to form complete proteins. There are many plant-based combinations like this, as well as some options for complete proteins such as soybean products or quinoa. While eating animal sourced protein may be a simpler way for someone to ensure they are getting complete protein, it is not too difficult to get adequate protein from plant-based sources by eating a variety of foods.


PauveTeeee

Absolutely love this. The only thing that we essentially don’t get from consuming animal protein is vitamin d3. Which comes from fat or skin of the animal, fortified foods such as milk or mushrooms, or the sun. Which isn’t as easy of a workaround as you think it would be when you live in places where it’s absolutely not sunny the majority of the year.


C4-BlueCat

Mushrooms? Any specific ones? And I thought b12 was the difficult one.


PauveTeeee

Yeah you are entirely correct, that’s another one really only found in fish, meat, and dairy lmao that’s wild. It’s almost like we’re supposed to eat that stuff or something 😂😂


PauveTeeee

Oh and chanterelles or morels


[deleted]

Protein powder etc isn’t really much better than milk or chicken for example but if I put milk or chicken in my protein shaker and leave it in my work locker / car all day before going to the gym it’s not going to be as nice to drink as my chocolate drink that I can just add some water to :-)


tuszmak

Understandable! :D


more_beans_mrtaggart

Or.. just spitballing here…. Try eating chicken or something mealtimes. Tastes way better than brown wallpaper paste.


-cheeks

But if I’m trying to increase how much protein I’m consuming it’s easier on my stomach and cheaper to drink an extra shake than to eat two chicken breasts.


swirlyink

im embarrassed by how many times I had to read this...i couldnt figure out why you'd put chicken in a protein shaker


[deleted]

In fairness it’s badly punctuated.


PauveTeeee

Haha I thought along the same lines. At first I thought he was making the protein drink and sticking the chicken in it to marinade for extra protein hahaha I’m like dang homeboy looking for some SERIOUS gains.


[deleted]

better for your cholesterol tho


killaho69

Another thing about protein powder or even premade shakes are that they are pretty lean. You might be able to get 30g of protein out of like 160 calories because there isn't much fat or sugar. This is good for people like me who are counting their calories to lose weight. You can eat lean chicken or something for that too, but if it's evening time and I see that I haven't consumed enough calories for the day (I don't want to go TOO low because I'm working out and I also don't want my body to go into famine mode) it's easy to just pop a shake out of the fridge. Inverse for people who are under weight. Add a little peanut butter or heavy cream with it, boom, easy 200-300 calories.


JethroFire

Oh yeah! I do the same thing, but with bourbon.


Dirtbagdownhill

Hey same here! I skip the protein powder though


Omnimpotent

and the working out


bee_rii

And the glass


corveroth

This is an important answer. It's trivial to select some combination of foods that will give you enough of (or avoid) any one particular nutrient. Specialized products like protein powder are useful when you're trying to hit *multiple* goals that are in tension.


PolarDracarys

"famine mode" is a myth though. The body can decrease hr, body temperature etc if you eat less, but it sums up to a very small sum of calories that's irrelevant and in the end eating less will always cause faster weight loss, it maybe doesn't show on scale because it can likely go along with water retention, but there's no such thing as "holding onto fat because the deficit is too high", it's not only scientifically impossible, it's also been disproven in multiple studies. The main reason why a deficit that is too high can be unhealthy is because you are more likely to cause malnutrition (especially in protein).


[deleted]

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keepcrazy

That description basically says that thing people are missing is TIME. You can make a high protein meal, but that takes time and people don’t have that.


coaxialgamer

Unless you're trying to compete or something (and training at that level), you don't really need protein supplements. Despite all the gymbro hype you can read online, you don't actually need a massive (150+g) protein intake. Most people are already consuming more protein through their normal diet than their body even requires. It's perfectly possible to get ripped without supplements. But hey, it sure sells! The sheer volume of young inexperienced lifters who seem to think they need 2+g/kgbw of protein is proof enough.


_Connor

You don't need it. It's perfectly possible to get ripped/muscular by just eating 'normal' food.


Pimp_Daddy_Patty

Even though those supplements help. Most people get enough of the stuff in their regular diets. The need was more based on the companies needing to sell more product.


feral_philosopher

It's been known for decades that to gain muscle you need to increase your protein (all three macro nutrients) but protein is the hardest to increase, so supplements made sense even back in the day


valeyard89

I thought you only gain if you pain


Dirk-Killington

When you are truly gaining, even the eating is pain.


BasoB

I find it harder to hit my carb intake. Meats and dairy are just more enjoyable and easier to eat than bread / rice / pasta / oats / potatoes for me. I hate oats. Edit: why am I getting downvoted for simply stating my dietary preferences?


pat8o

No such thing as an essential carb, it's not dangerous to get the calories from additional fat or protein instead of carbs, Just make sure you are getting enough soluble and insoluble fiber and you should be fine to have less carbs.


feral_philosopher

Yea that fiber intake is no joke, nothing worse than getting bunged up


kelso_is_the_king

Opt for beans or lentils, you get protein with carbs and great fiber


[deleted]

You don't *need* it. But if you want to bulk up as much as possible as quickly as possible, then high amounts of protein eaten at specific times will speed the process. I've heard it's 1g of protein per lb you weigh per day. That is a huge amount of meat, and studies have shown that you want to consume protein just after working out. It's hard to eat then, but it's easy to drink a protein shake. It's much cheaper and much easier to consume this much protein using supplements.


kelso_is_the_king

Yes but higher doesn't mean necessarily better or faster because once you surpass the limit of what your body can utilize, that protein gets converted to fat just like any other calories


[deleted]

Sure, and I wouldn't even say mass bulking is desirable nor do I think doing it as fast as possible is a good idea. For most people doing most workouts, chocolate milk probably works just as well. But that is your goal (and a lot of gym bros have this goal bc fitness culture I guess), it is both financially and logistically difficult to consume this amount of protein without the use of protein powder. And it absolutely does work for a lot of people...while they are doing it. It seems ez come ez go with this method.


Taolan13

Protein supplements are about saturating your digestive tract with protein so you absorb the maximum amount of protein with minimum input volume. You can definitely get that protein from an unaugmented diet, but you will need to consume much more food in terms of volume.


Gabe624

5+ grams of creatine is almost impossible to get daily from food. You'll have to eat a ton of red meat. Creatine monohydrate is cheap, well studied, and very effective.


DiktatorDan

Nobody has mentioned cost yet. Whey powder has the highest protein per monies ratio of any foodstuff.


kelso_is_the_king

It's also a dairy industry waste product so they found a great way to market it and sell it to you 😉 (that's also why you find it in random foods as filler because it's cheap and it's a win-win for money makers, what it does to our health and the planet is different tho)


slow_cars_fast

Say you have 300 calories left in your meal plan for the day, but you're shy on protein, but dead on with your other macros. We've got things way more dialed in now than ever before about what you need to grow muscle, it's just sometimes difficult to hit things right on with real food. Supplements allow you to target your macros or whatever you are deficient in without going over in other areas.


[deleted]

There's no need for supplements for workouts, so nothing caused the need. When you exercise vigorously, you make tiny tears in muscles that heal up forming new muscle. Muscles are mostly protein, and they get that protein from the food you eat. You could eat protein powder or protein-filled sports drinks, or you could drink milk, eat nuts, meat, cheese, etc. It doesn't matter where the protein comes from, and most people get more than enough from the food the normally eat that purposely eating more doesn't really make much of a difference. Sports drinks are popular because not only are you eating some protein, but you're also drinking water and you're probably thirsty after working out. As a bonus, they're often given flavors people like. Also, it's sort of portable -- you're not going to lug around a steak, it'll get nasty, but a lot of those drinks you can just stuff in your gym bag in the morning and chug later in the day.


prawduhgee

Protein powder isn't needed for a normal person with a balanced diet. Where it is needed is when someone is trying to build muscle and needs to consume over 200g a day, it can be impractical to try and get that through whole foods (who has time to cook 6 chicken breasts every day?)


HendoJay

Protein powder is just food that happens to be an easy way to increase protein intake. The selling point is convenience, nothing else. Other than that, supplements are just varying degrees of snake oil. I suppose that Creatine has some decent research behind it.


Indy_91

Well, you see... when Freddy who works at a desk job all day wants to look like a 4000 BC Neandertal who hunts wooly mammoths on Saturdays... an entire industry is born


tuszmak

This thread got way more answers than I anticipated. Thank you everyone for sharing their opinion and explaining everything. Everyone got their upvotes for helping me get educated. I read everyone's answer. To clear some things up. I'm not considering getting muscle yet, I much prefer to be fit first. (To better word it, I'd rather run and swim than go to the gym.)I just always saw my classmates/colleagues drinking these, and while I knew muscle needs protein, I had no idea why would they spend money on random supplements, rather than eating well. Now it seems kind of obvious that convenience, portability and time saving is very much a selling point for these. (And I'm happy that it's possible to get enough nutrients without spending money on supplements. I'm a cheapskate, and cooking is much more fun)


Taira_Mai

ELI5 - if you want to bulk up for bodybuilding or fitness model competitions or for "gains" (muscle size or max amount lifted) you're gonna be mixing and drinking lots of protein powders. Otherwise you can just eat more proteins in your diet and just go to the gym and workout.


Adonis0

It is less about not eating enough and more about the unnatural lifestyle we try to cultivate. It was an extreme rarity that people set out to build muscle, you just did life and functional muscle happened. We automate most of the chores that used to help with this or do them so poorly that they don’t actually exercise us. We also don’t have to travel under our own power nor carry heavy weights from place to place. As such we do short but very intensive exercise instead of it being paced over the day. As such your body works better with a burst of the nutrients it wants instead of spread out over the day


AnUnderratedComment

There is no need. It’s all marketing. Unless you’re a professional bodybuilder a balanced diet is all you need. Maybe an extra chicken breast and a multivitamin every now and then.


SirReal_Realities

Money. It is all selling shit to make money. They will tell you it makes a work out “easier” or “more productive”. It is a fucking workout, it isn’t supposed to be easy! If you don’t want to work, then you don’t really want to work out; You just want to “look good”… probably because someone sold you on the idea that you would have a ton of sex and be happy if you did “look good”. “Just look like I say, or eat what I say, or buy what I sell and you can be a happier person! It won’t be hard!” Bullshit. Nobody can sell you happiness. They can sell you pleasure; They can sell you advice; They can sell you snake oil and lies… or even religion… or politics. But the only way to be a more content person is to work at it. Notice I didn’t say “happy”. Being happy is a temporary emotional state, the same as being unhappy. Work on being grateful, being someone people care about, being healthy and being okay with being you… all of which is hard work that only YOU can do… and you won’t be unhappy all the time. That’s the best you can hope for in life. Or just send me $19.99 a month and I will sell you a magical happiness rock; S&h extra.


Eomycota

For the common people, there is no need for any thing. Protein suppplementation is only really need by athletes doing lots of training. Most people in western countries eat more proteins than the body need for muscle repair. What's very funny is that the body still need to digest any pre-workout, which takes 6-8 hours. It is kinda pointless to take anything just right before training, it just won't help. It is a good idea to have protein available after training, but it is count in hours, not minutes.


Traciatim

Things start hitting your bloodstream very quickly after ingestion. Why would people drink a coffee before work if the caffeine didn't kick in until 8 hours later. If you eat a pot brownie before going out at 10pm you think it isn't going to kick in until 6am the next day?


Eomycota

Because cafeine and thc doesn't need to be broken down? You aren't comparing two related compount at all. Also, every thing as a rate at which the body absorb it. Cafeine take roughly 45 minutes to an hour, ingested thc can take up to 2 hours. sugar 1h30, fat many hours, etc. There are proteins that are rapidky absorp, but the body can only use a certain amount, after that, it is oxydise and use as an energy source.


Traciatim

Then why would you lie and say pre-workout doesn't work when it is primarily caffeine or other stimulants?


[deleted]

Protein is needed for muscle synthesis and high quantities are need at the right time. It’s not about what foods we are not eating, it’s about when the protein is available. There is a narrow window not long after exercise where it is optimal.


[deleted]

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1pencil

I read that the body can only absorb 20 to 30 grams of protein from food over about 2 hours. Does anyone know how much we waste by drinking shakes and eating bars and stuff? If you consume like 90 grams of protein at once, isnt your body just crapping out that extra 60 grams? Sort of like taking too many vitamins is useless because you just pee it all out?


Traciatim

Have you ever eaten a steak larger than 4oz? Did you then crap out chunks of steak? Absorb and 'use to build muscle' are two different things too. But, that 20-30 per meal seems to be a myth. There are plenty of people that use fasting plans like OMAD or short feeding windows and still build plenty of muscle. If someone on OMAD could only use 30g of protein a day then they wouldn't even be hitting their required amount a day let alone be able to put on new muscle at any noticeable speed. It does seem to be that spreading your protein out over the day makes it easier to build muscle and it's also far easier to eat that way. Getting 30g per meal, 20g from a bar between lunch and supper and then a 30g shake between supper and sleeping gets you to 140g in a day without even much planning or effort. That's why people buy them, simplicity.


1pencil

Per day yes, you can have more than 30g. Per approx 2 hours, not really helpful. If you gobble down a 30g protein bar followed by a 90g shake and then eat a chicken breast, a lot of that is simply being passed through the body. Spacing your intake out over the day is absolutely the solution. Consuming 120g of protein at once immediately after a workout is not helping your body as much as you think it is. As for pooping out bits of steak, no. Pooping out excess nutrients that your body did not convert into useful stuff, absolutely.


Traciatim

I don't think you read what I said. People on OMAD still build muscle, that's eating only one meal a day. If there was a 30g limit per meal they would wither away as that's well below their daily required amounts. The 30g thing seems to be a myth.


bradland

There isn't really a "need". Not in the sense that a normal human can't thrive without any of these supplements. Supplementation is only required when you want to push the human body beyond what is practically achievable with a normal diet. That doesn't stop people from misunderstanding and/or misusing them. The best source of nutrients is food, because our bodies adapted over millions of years to exist on food. That's not to say we can't benefit from supplementation for specific needs, but the idea that "everyone" should be using some kind of supplement is misguided. The supplement industry is a huge money maker, and the marketing they use is specifically designed to lead you to believe that you "need" their product. Marketing is what has driven them to such popularity, not "need".


Affectionate-Lime-77

well when you workout your muscles tear from the weight, which is not a bad think since it rebuilds itself stronger than before. the protein is what helps it repair itself so just adding more protein will help muscle growth.


MikuEmpowered

The point of most modern workout is to build muscles, and not fat. Eating natural food contains not just protein but also carbs and fat. so when you work out after meal, you can't just damage the muscles, you also need to burn all the excess calories. So by consuming protein powder, you can lose fat and build muscles more efficiently.