When it comes to building sleek, curvy muscle or ditching excess body fat, it all comes down to your diet. You can work out for hours and hours in the gym, but if your eating plan isn’t up to scratch, you’ll never achieve that sexy, athletic look you’re pushing so hard to achieve.

In this detailed guide we lift the lid on the most popular supplement you probably don’t even need – what is whey protein? Do you need it in your life?

We find out.

Summary:

What is whey protein?

Protein isn’t about building huge muscles; it’s about health, vitality and wellness that supports optimal physique development.

Protein is an essential nutrient used by the body to preserve muscle tissue and repair day-to-day damage.

It’s key for any muscle building or fat loss diet because it supports healthy lean mass.

Along with carbs and fat, protein provides your body with energy. Providing important building blocks of tissue called amino acids, protein supports numerous roles:

If you were to take some protein and look at it under a microscope, you’d see that it was made up of individual cells called amino acids.

These acids are strung together into chains by bonds called peptides. They kind of look like a necklace you’d wear for an important date or night out on the town.

Some of these amino acids are essential as your body can’t make them. It’s important that you get these from your diet, or you’ll struggle to optimize muscle gains, recovery and overall health.

These are called complete proteins.

Foods that contain all the essential amino acids include:

Whey protein is more of a food than a supplement

As a complete protein source, whey protein is made from the liquid part of dairy food. It’s essentially a by-product of cheese making.

If you’ve ever noticed that murky-looking liquid that forms on top of your favorite yogurt, you’ll have seen whey in all its glory.

Milk for example contains 80% casein protein and 20% whey.

Whey is more of a food than a supplement because it derives directly from dairy.

On its own, whey protein tastes awful. The idea of ‘cheese juice’ doesn’t exactly leave you licking your lips, girl, right?

That’s why you find it flavored with artificial sweeteners. The most popular flavors are vanilla, strawberry and chocolate, but you can pretty much get any flavor you’d imagine these days… even orange, cinnamon and mint!

There are many different types of whey protein product:

• Hydrolyzed: Absorbs fast due to tiny protein fragments that can be broken down at an accelerated rate. It’s expensive though.
• Isolate: Has an extremely high protein content and minimal carbs/fillers. It can also be expensive dependant on where you get it.
• Concentrate: Contains only 70% protein but much more lactose than other types, therefore is more likely to cause stomach upset and bloating.

Whey protein is made from the liquid of dairy foods. It provides complete proteins and a full profile of amino acids, but can be high in lactose.

Is whey protein good for you?

Many women use whey protein to support their muscle building or fat loss goals.

When combined with exercise, this animal-based supplemental food improves lean mass and promotes recovery.

Using a whey protein supplement to support your goals isn’t mandatory – ultimately, it’s just another way to obtain your daily protein needs.

Most people can use whey protein and suffer no ill effects. After all, it’s a food and comes from all-natural products.

Numerous studies have found whey protein to be safe.

Whey has also been found to be effective for muscle building, bone health, weight loss, sarcopenia and a whole range of other performance and health-related conditions.

Experts no longer consider high-protein diets to have a negative effect on healthy kidneys.

So, if you’re a healthy adult looking to train hard, look good and feel great, a whey protein supplement can help to support your journey.

Whey protein isn’t safe for everyone

It’s worth noting that whey protein might not be safe or effective for everyone.

In large amounts it can cause nausea, bloating, stomach cramping and pain – especially if you’re lactose intolerant and can’t process dairy protein properly.

And with 65% of the population suffering from lactose malabsorption, chances are whey might not be for you.

Some people are even allergic to whey protein.

It’s important that you speak to your health advisor if you think you might suffer from severe digestive issues, kidney disease or cystic acne.

Toxicity risks…

Some cheaper whey protein products are very likely to contain cheap filler ingredients, artificial chemicals and even toxic components.

Recently, the Clean Label Project found serious toxicity issues with some whey protein supplements on the market.

In their research, the CLP screened nearly 140 products. Worryingly, some were found to contain:

• Lead
• Mercury
• Arsenic
• Cadmium
• BPA (used to make plastic)[/tie_list]

Not all of the products tested contained contaminants. But these toxins were thought to be part of the manufacturing process, therefore you’d never know if they were in your shake or not.

It’s a risky business.

Whey protein is safe for most people but won’t suit everyone – especially those with dairy intolerances or bloating issues.

Do you really need a whey protein supplement?

Protein from foods provide several benefits to your physique. But whey protein is just another source of the nutrient.

You could eat meat, eggs, fish or soy and still get the same effect. It’s just that some women find it easier to grab a shake every now and then.

The bottom line is that whey protein is a tool, just not the only tool in your war on the perfect figure.

If your diet is high in protein and contains all the essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients needed to boost health and performance, you really don’t need them.

But if you’re a busy woman on the go and need something fast and easy, a shake could be a reliable alternative to some of your high-protein recipes.

How much protein do you need to support your goals?

When it comes to optimal body composition, protein is the number one nutrient you need to focus on. Yes, carbs give you energy to train hard in the gym and fats help to support hormone balance… but it’s protein that boosts metabolism and shreds excess body fat.

Most research suggest that as an active woman that lifts weights and trains hard, you should get around 1.3-1.8 grams of protein per kg of body weight each day.

If you’re a 155 lb female that’s only 93-126 g of protein.

Less if you’re not as active.

It’d be quite easy to get that from food alone, without relying on whey shakes.

Again, it’s important to realize that this is a generic recommendation. You might find that you need more than this to kick your results up a notch. Or lower amounts so you don’t feel sluggish and bloated.

It’s important that you use the science and combine it with your own fierce individuality.

You can reach your daily protein goals without whey protein; it’s just another tool to help you get there.

When to take whey protein

Back in the day, bodybuilders used to rave about the ‘anabolic window of opportunity’.

They’d claim that by chugging a protein shake within 20 minutes of your workout, you’d somehow trick your muscles into responding better.

That’s been found to be completely wrong.

Every minute of every day your body fights a war over protein turnover. In order to maintain muscle mass, your tissue has two components:

• Muscle protein synthesis (MPS) – the building of new muscle cells
• Muscle protein degradation (MPD) – the removal of muscle cells

If you can push your body into a state of MPS you’ll not only boost lean muscle levels but raise your metabolic rate too.

So, how do you optimize MPS?

The first rule is that you reach your overall daily goals and split the amount evenly throughout the day. Experts call this ‘intermittent dosing’.

Studies have found that ingesting around ~20g of protein every 2-4 hours helps men and women maintain a higher rate of MPS.

We’ve already mentioned that you can achieve this with food alone, and that you don’t need to rely on shakes to trigger your protein response.

So, there’s no real best time to take your protein – it’s all about what suits you. If you prefer to chug a shake after a workout, that’s fine. If you’d rather have one for breakfast or last thing at night, you go girl.

It makes no real difference.

There’s no rule about when to take your whey protein shake. Some take it after a workout, others when they want a quick boost or snack.

Snack on protein to help with weight loss

Although timing of protein intake isn’t important for muscle building, using a shake to reduce cravings might help you lose weight

Research shows that when women eat a high-protein snack between meals, they’re calorie intake decreases at dinner – and they were less likely to binge on sweet treats and high-fat foods too.

Protein supports healthy weight loss in two ways:

1. Boosts metabolism
2. Reduces hunger

As a macronutrient, protein curbs your appetite by reducing levels of a hormone called ghrelin. It’s this chemical messenger that tells your brain you’re feeling hungry. It also regulates other hormones involved in the hunger response such as GLP-1, CCK, PYY and leptin as well.

Keep these in check and you’ll sail to your weight goals in no time at all.

Check out our fantastically-flavorful high-protein snack recipes and keep your body happy on the go.

The bottom line

Protein is an essential nutrient that supports healthy weight loss, muscle building and overall health.

You don’t need a whey protein shake in your diet. You just need to get enough protein from wholesome food sources.

But it does provide an alternative, safe option if you prefer.

But here’s the problem; you can read wrong information and set foot down the wrong track.

And one big thing many people focus too much on is protein.

Without the right advice, it’s very hard to achieve your dream bikini beach body. For this reason, we’ve made it our goal to provide you with the tools to succeed below.

Check it out:

Optimal Protein Intake For Females

Alright, so let’s begin with how much protein females need per day – there’s been a lot of different answers online, so we’re here to set the record straight.

Studies show that between 0.8g-1g is the optimal protein intake for an active female. This means, if you weigh 143lbs (65kg), then you’ll need 114g protein daily.

You consume more protein than you think

You’re probably thinking to yourself “over 100g protein!?”. But it’s really not that hard to achieve.

When people calculate their protein intake, they usually only count their lean protein sources (such as chicken, lean beef etc). However, many often forget that carb sources often contain high amounts of protein too.

For example, there’s around 7g protein in a large potato, and 13g protein in 100g quinoa – every little helps, so remember to take them into consideration.

Higher protein diets promote fat loss

Alright, so when we say ‘high protein diet’, we mean the amount we just talked about above (not some crazy 200g per day kind of gimmick).

Anyway, this is really only for those that don’t consume many protein sources (if you do, then continue doing it!).

Simply put, your body works harder to digest protein – burning more calories in the process.

So, if you haven’t been eating a protein-rich diet, then you’ll benefit from this raise in metabolism.

But as we said, this doesn’t mean you need to consume more than 0.8g-1g protein per pound of bodyweight.

See The Highest Rated Fat Burners For Women Here

Calories In v Calories Out

This is the most important factor in weight loss. Calories.

There’s people out there that don’t believe calories don’t matter. But they’ve been completely fooled by gimmicky diet plans (which is why many people work their as*ses off without seeing results.

Basically, if you eat less calories than your body needs to maintain itself, then you WILL lose weight – this is a scientific fact that you can’t argue with.

How to calculate your maintenance calorie limit 

Right, so we will forgive you for not knowing your maintenance calorie limit; this is pretty normal, and we still use a special calculator for it.

You can find the online calculator that we use here. That same article is actually quite useful in teaching you about calories for fat loss, so you’ll come back here knowing everything.

Anyway, you should have calculated your maintance calories by now – so just make sure to eat under that limit, and you’ll lose body fat.

Conclusion: Calories Are More Important Than Protein

There you have it. Now you know the truth, you won’t need to waste your money on ‘low carb’ or ‘keto’ diets anymore.

As you can see from the title of our conclusion, it doesn’t take E. L. James to determine what the climax is going to be here.

Protein can be important, but the chances are, you’re already consuming a protein filled diet anyway (remember that carb sources can be packed with protein too).

As a result, the most important factor in weight loss is calories. As we mentioned, if you eat less than your maintenance calorie limit (which you can calculate on this page) – you WILL lose weight. This is scientifically proven.

However, you can’t determine how fast your body will lose the weight. This is why we prefer using fat burner supplements – they’re not a complete necessity, but you’re not patient like us, you’ll want to see results after 2-3 months – and a quality fat burner will help you get there.

Why? Because they’re told that protein is the most important factor for muscle gain.

While you do need a certain amount of protein per day to acheive your fitness goals – it’s not as much as some people think.

If you’re shocked to hear that you don’t need protein powder, then this article is for you.

Check it out:

Do Females Need Protein Powder?

Right, we’ve all been guilty of believing that protein powder was necessary to build muscle.

In fact, before we learned about nutrition, we didn’t think it was possible to achieve your target daily protein intake without drinking protein shakes.

But there’s a number of problems when relying on protein powder – so we’ll take you through each one below…

Don’t Forget Your Diet!

Many girls think that they can be more relaxed about their diet when taking protein shakes.

When aiming to gain weight and pack on muscle, it’s true you need to increase your calorie intake. However, you risk adding more body fat to your figure when forgetting to follow a clean diet.

So remember; it’s not all about protein. In fact, when aiming to build muscle – carbs and healthy fats play an important role in helping you achieve your dream figure.

Protein Powders Add Calories

There are many protein powders that contain more calories than you think.

For example, Optimum Nutrition’s ‘Serious Mass’ protein powder contains 1250kcal per serving.

This is a HUGE amount of calories to consume, and can cause you to add unwanted body fat to your figure if you’re not careful.

Ultimately, some females forget that protein powders add calories to your diet. So remember to factor it in.

You Can Consume Enough Protein From Your Diet

We’ll admit that protein powders are useful for one thing; if you’re in a rush and don’t have time to eat 4-5 meals per day, they can be an easy, quick protein source.

However, it’s possible to consume enough protein from your meals. Think about it; 1 chicken breast contains around 33g protein per 100g (which is 165kcal).

Considering you can get chicken breasts weighing 230g each, that’s alot of protein.

Not Getting Enough Fibre

When consuming protein shakes and only focusing on protein intake, it’s easy to forget about your fiber intake.

Simply put, if you don’t consume enough fiber per day, you can suffer from conditions such as gastrointestinal distress.

This links back to the first point – don’t forget your diet. Remember that a well-balanced diet is essential for health and muscle growth, so focus on consuming vegetables too as much as drinking protein shakes.

Your Protein Target Is Lower Than You Think

This is the biggest point of this article. Many people believe the more protein they consume, the better.

But here’s the truth; your body only needs a certain amount to build muscle – anything over this is simply adding calories to your diet.

So how much protein do females need to gain muscle? Answer: around 1g protein per lb bodyweight.

As a result, a women weighing 75kg (145lbs) would only need to consume 2.5 chicken breasts per day to reach this target – which is less than 1 chicken breast per meal.

We accept that chicken can get boring though, so we’ll list other high-protein food sources below.

High Protein Foods

1. Chicken Breast

Since we’ve already mentioned chicken, we’ll get this over with quickly.

Chicken is probably most bodybuilder’s favorite protein source – and we know that people in the UK love it too (thanks to Nandos).

Protein: 33g per 100g chicken breast

2. Shrimp

We’ll admit that shimps can be more expensive than chicken – if you want to consume the same amount of protein.

However, it’s a great protein source when you want to take a break from your daily chicken meals.

Protein: 24g per 100g shrimp

3. Cod

The second seafood on this list, cod is a great white-fish that you can consume everyday (due to containing a low level of contaminates).

It’s also fairly cheap if you buy frozen cod, so there’s no excuse to add this into your diet.

Protein: 18g per 100g

4. Beef

You shouldn’t eat too much red meat. But beef is a great addition to any diet, once or twice per week.

As ground beef is usually the cheapest form, we’ll provide the info for this below.

Protein: 26g per 100g

5. Tofu

Just in case you’re a vegetarian reading this article, we’ve included tofu here. But this is also a great protein source for meat-eaters too!

What is tofu? Answer: it’s a soy-based protein source that’s shown to lower bad cholesterol and is low in fat.

You do need to eat more tofu than meats to consume the equivalent protein. But as it’s cheaper than meat, this shouldn’t be a problem.

Protein: 8g per 100g.

Summary

Although protein powder can be useful when you’re rushing during the day, you may not need it.

Why? Answer: Because it’s possible to consume your target protein intake through a well-planned diet (which everyone should be following anyway).

The average female only needs 2.5 chicken breasts per day. But remember that vegetables such as brocolli also contain good amounts of protein = so chances are, you’ll only require 2 chicken breasts per day to consume enough protein for weight gain.

In fact, relying solely on protein powder will lead to you not consuming enough fiber (which is essential for digestive health).

Bottom Line: You should be getting enough protein from a well-planned diet, instead of relying on protein powders.

On average, individuals consume 2-3 scoops of protein a day and tend to rely on a lot of protein in every meal. And personally saying, if I don’t eat protein every 3-5 hours, I feel like my muscles are withering away.

Your body can only absorb 30-40 gram of protein per meal and anything over that would be converted into glucose and burned. But at the same time we read that you need 300-400 grams of protein per day.

Confused…?

Take a Break From Protein

Well, a new study suggests that you need to take a break from protein as it influences serum myostatin which influences the growth of new muscle mass. Not to mention that myostatin is also known as a negative muscle growth modulator. So, the less myostatin you have, the more muscle you’ll build and vice versa.

However, according to this new study, the scientist focused on the process of satellite cells activation via the dietary protein.

These satellite cells are known to be the precursors to the skeletal muscle cells. In simple, they play a crucial role in your body’s adaptive response to the training stimulus.

In this study, there were 21 participants used, most of which were healthy males and were randomly divided into two groups.

The first group was given 1.2g of protein per 1kg of body weight while the other one only 0.1g. Also, both these groups were given a training program to follow. Moreover, the researchers also took a muscle biopsy from their legs and their recovery rate post-workout.

As a result of this, they found that the myostatin levels and satellite cells should a significant drop right after they completed the training session. Much interesting, after 48 to 72 hours, the satellite cells and myostatin levels got back to baseline values in the group that ate more protein while it remained quite low for a long time in the group eating only 0.1g.

Furthermore, after 72 hours, researchers also found that the myostatin levels significantly increased in the more protein eating group while it decreased in the second group.

It’s important to mention here that the study in no way tells how eating protein directly impact the increase of satellite cells post-workout but it definitely tells the concentration of dietary protein and its direct impact on post-workout myostatin levels.

So, as a general conclusion, a diet with low-to-moderate amounts of protein tend to decrease myostatin levels and increases muscle mass. In simple, having low myostatin levels in the body were caused by working out triggered the differentiation and activation of satellite cells.

It was also found that eating protein right after your workout inhibits myostatin expression but it had a significant increase one hour after the workout session in the placebo group but not in the one that consumed whey protein.

The question here is, is it necessary or optimal to consume excessive amounts of protein after 48 to 72 hours if you don’t feel like eating.

Well, if you consume a moderate amount of protein at regular intervals, it triggers low-level chronic metabolic acidosis and studies tell that it is much better to skip eating protein once in awhile to allow your body to recalibrate and the best way to do is via structured periods of fasting.

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