Taking Protien Shakes - JP Fitness Forums

siccmadeloc · 07-03-2004, 11:09 PM

This is probably a stupid question but I was wondering if you're already a little overweight and you need to turn that fat into muscle, do you need or have to take things like Protien shakes and stuff? or do you need to get the muscle first and then start taking shakes so u can build more muscle?

BAck BUster · 07-04-2004, 12:55 AM

well im no expert but in my experience protien shakes have helped alot. I have a very busy scedule and cant cook enough to eat a well balanced meal every 3 hours so i usually drink 2-3 myoplex shakes or optipromeals a day to get my 6 meals in. but everyone is different so i would say it depends on your current diet and your goals. post a sample of your current diet and your goal and that might help get you a better answer.

siccmadeloc · 07-04-2004, 02:42 AM

Well I eat 3 to 4 times a day, cereal in the morning usually, for lunch couple slices of pizza(2-3) , then for dinner i eat somethin like chicken n mashed potatoes, n then sometimes I eat a snack like a bag of chips or a a ham sandwich with cheese at night or somethin like that, so probably 2500 calories a day, and then I Work out for a hour in the middle of the day for an hour or so,workin ot my arms, chest, legs, back, stomach...etc, been doing this routine for bout 1 month now, 4 days a week. So 16 days of workin out so far, I plan to stay on this because im getting used to it and give myself more confidence to do so, I see and feel more muscle than I had a month ago, not A LOT, but little by little because i just started, my goal is to lose the extra fat I have, not that much, but I wanna lose it and gain as much muscle as possible after that, but im aiming at losing weight first, then turning my body into better shape. So any suggestions? Like would u try eating more and working out more? or eating less and working out more? because what i'm doing is workin so far, just curious if you guys have a better idea of doing it....

BAck BUster · 07-04-2004, 04:37 AM

OK..you need work on your diet. #1- i would advise you to eat more frequent meals not just 3 meals a day. this will keep your metabolism going. #2- you need to "eat clean" heres a link to a good explination of eating cleanweb page and heres what i eat in a days time
6:00 - oatmeal 3 eggs
9:00 - myoplex delux
12:00- fish/chicken vegi and brown rice
3:00 - myoplex
6:00 - fish/chiken (some kind of meat) vegi sweet potato
9:00 - protien shake

i hope this helps if you have anymore questions just ask..you will prob get better answers once the more established members get on but i work 3rd shift so i thought i would try to help..

Jean-Paul · 07-04-2004, 08:50 AM

Siccmadeloc,
Welcome to the forum! Glad to have you with us.

First, I would recommend you get your eating in order before you start supplementing. You should just use supps to fill a gap in your day to keep your meals consistent. For a good start to figuring out what to eat, read Adam Campbell's advice on this thread:
http://forums.jpfitness.com/cgi-bin/...;f=11;t=000247

(BTW, Adam is the fitness editor of Men's Fitness Magazine)

As you probably know, there is no such thing as turning fat into muscle. They are completely different cells. You can reduce the size of your fat cells by burning more calories than you consume, and you can increase the size of your muscle cells by training with heavy resistance on free weights.

Lots of good info in here if you don't mind doing a little mining. I will look for some good posts that link to some of our classics and bump it for you or post the link in here. Good luck!

siccmadeloc · 07-04-2004, 11:32 AM

Wow, thanks a lot guys that really helped me out, I just have one question, say I go with a diet, should I still stick to working out 1 hour a day 4 days a week? Or is it required to do more?

siccmadeloc · 07-04-2004, 11:42 AM

^ by a diet I mean somethin like Back Busters diet...

siccmadeloc · 07-04-2004, 11:34 PM

Well I tried to stay on that link you gave me JP, and it felt pretty good, for breakfast I ate 2 eggs, 3 slices of cheese n half of a bratwurst, then for lunch I drank a protien shake,worked out for 1 hour in a half then for dinner I ate about 15 shrimps, a rib-eye steak and a 5 inch piece of salmon all seasoned with spices that have 0% of everything on the nutrition table. does this seem good or should I cutback a little bit, eat more? i'd appreciate any suggestions...Thanks

Anna Kubit · 07-05-2004, 01:24 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by siccmadeloc:
...Should I still stick to working out 1 hour a day 4 days a week? Or is it required to do more?

Siccmadeloc,

Welcome to the forum!

In answer to your question, per my experience, it all depends on what it is you would like to achieve...

If you are looking to burn fat, some type of cardio done often will be of help. For instance, get on a treadmill 3-5 times per week and burn some calories. In my opinion it is best to first work on getting rid of the fat before going to a routine for muscle building, as little/no fat and muscles is the best look in my eyes. So, cut the fat, then while keeping the fat off (by sticking to a super healthy diet and steady workouts) build muscles.

You must also look at how much time you are willing and able to spend towards achieving your fitness goals. Do you have 4 hours a day for working out? Maybe you only have an hour 3 times per week to work out? Let us know so that we can recommend the best fitness program for your consideration...

And as far as losing fat goes, the more you sweat, the more fat you will be burning. For this reason, I prefer to do some type of a workout as often in the week as I can. This means things such as taking the long way around the office, parking far from the store, getting on a treadmill daily, swimming, weights 5x/week, etc.

Overall to accomplish your fitness goals, your nutrition will need to be steady and highly nutritional (veggies, protein from lean meat, etc.). I have noticed a major difference in my look/feel over a period of 2 weeks from switching to a super healthy diet and workouts 6x/week.

Best of luck and please give us more information/specifics as to what you are looking to achieve.

Anna

siccmadeloc · 07-05-2004, 12:55 PM

Ok, I see what you're saying Anna, I thought about losing the weightfirst too, but the workout I do is pretty much to lose weight, ive lost some already, in 2 or 3 months I will start lifiting once I lose my extra weight. Thanks for the Welcomes guys, I appreciate it, anyone else have a comment or opinion...etc?

Rotting Pumpkin · 07-06-2004, 06:08 PM

First of all, let me congratulate you siccmadeloc on going about losing weight properly by supplementing your diet with a weight lifting program. All too often, all people do when they try to lose weight is diet. When the diet doesn't work and they gain all the weight back, they find that they now have less muscle under the fat than they did before they started dieting. Yo-yo dieting can lead to crippling physical injuries because of this.

As far as how much time should you spend lifting weights in any given week, I would say that Anna Kubit's advice pertaining to time management was solid. Keep in mind though that doing ANYTHING is great and it is hugely important that you just do something. When you do lose the weight you may want to increase the amount of time you spend lifting, but until then just keep doing it and establish exercise as a routine that you never break

siccmadeloc · 07-06-2004, 06:27 PM

Thanks for the incouragement Rotting Pumpkin, I have another question if you guys dont mind, would you recomend taking Protien Shakes/Bars while trying to lose weight? Or only when trying to build muscle, and also just for curiosity, do people take Shakes before or after the workout.

Rotting Pumpkin · 07-07-2004, 12:46 PM

As far as I know, the only reason to consume protein shakes/bars is to build or retain muscle. This doesn't mean that you have to be doing a heavy weight lifting routine to justify taking them. You could be doing a mild weight lifting routine or aerobic activities as well. I don't think that you'd gain fat through protein shakes because your body can not store protein. It either uses it to build muscle or it filters its way out of your body via your kidney. Don't confuse protein supplements with weight gainer. Weight gainer contains a lot of carbohydrates which can lead to fat gain if you are inactive.

There are various theories as to when it is best to take protein supplements and how much of them to take. I don't use much myself and I take one shake right after lifting and then another one a few hours later if I'm still awake. A lot of different people will probably tell you a lot of different things on this issue. I honestly don't feel that slight variations in your protein supplement intake make much of an over-all difference. I know someone who doesn't even use them at all and he's huge. So take any supplement advice you get (including mine!) with a grain of salt.

SAMHAIN · 07-07-2004, 01:41 PM

Here's my take on this. Bodybuilders focus on muscle tissue (which is composed of over 50 percent protein), just about every form of tissue in the body contains protein. Including blood hemoglobin, organs, tendons, ligaments, and bone. Many enzymes and hormones are also protein in nature. Anyone engaged in intense physical activity-especially bodybuilding- needs protein for growth and repair. And while biochemists may debate whether athlete's need extra protein, bodybuilders are virtually unanimous in their belief that RDA values for protein must be exceeded to keep the bodys' muscles growing.

Although there are hundreds of different types of protein, all contain one common element-nitrogen. Combined with such other elements as carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, nitrogen gives protein a unique importance in human physiology.

Because protein cannot be stored as protein, it must regularly be consumned in the diet. if an excess is ingested, it will be used for energy, stored as fat, or excreted by the kidneys.

SAMHAIN · 07-07-2004, 01:49 PM

Protein is a nutrient mainly used for tissue synthesis, not energy, it doesn't make much sense to consume it before or during a workout. A large protein meal before a workout can not only give you a bloated feeling, but the extra food in your stomach will divert much blood away from the working skeletal muscle. Further, some research I have read suggests protein synthesis shuts down during exercise, and the body diverts most of its metabolic processes to energy production. The one possible exception to the previous is the intake of amino acids-especially the BCAA;s

For the first 60-90 minutes of exercise, the body primarily uses stored glycogen as its fuel source. if, however, the workout lasts longer than 90 minutes, glycogen supplies run out, forcing the body to start using another fuel source; and sometimes the case the alternative source could be protein-specifically amino acids.

After exercise ceases, the body continues to stockpile aminos, reachinga peak at about 90 minutes after cessation of exercise. Satisfied that high amounts of energy are no longer needed, the body begins to repair muscle damage sustained during the exercise session. It seems logical to consume amino acid post workout session and to limit heavy protein intake to postworkout time periods preferably within the 90 minutes following a workout period.