What Are The Benefits of Protein Powder?
Hey everyone! Welcome back to another Full Affect Fitness article! Today, we will be answering the question, what are the benefits of protein powder?
Protein powder is one of, if not the most common supplement on the market when it comes to fitness. Unlike the majority of supplements, it is actually quite beneficial! This is for a variety of reasons that we will be discussing!
To give you an idea of what this article will entail, here are the 3 primary benefits of this supplement:
- Ensuring You Hit Your Total Daily Protein Intake
- The Convenience of a Highly Quality Protein Source
- Calorie to Protein Ratio
Let’s discuss this in further detail!
Hitting Your Total Daily Protein:
Next to total daily calories, protein is quite possibly the most important nutrition aspect for the average healthy individual when it comes to achieving their fitness goals. This is for a variety of reasons, primarily ensuring you retain the muscle you have and or building muscle.
For those who are quite active and have the goal of fat loss or muscle growth, protein guidelines may be higher than you think. Typically, one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight is a good place to start. However, there are guidelines for this.
To help get a more specific number, the leaner you are, the higher protein to bodyweight ratio you likely need. On the other hand, the more body fat you have, the lower the protein to bodyweight ratio you likely need. There are other factors that go into this, such as the amount of calories you are consuming and how active you are. The lower the calories, the more protein. The higher the activity, the more protein. Of course, it is vice versa for the other side of things.
Generally, protein intakes range between 0.8 grams per pound of bodyweight and 1.2 when using this model. These are some rough guidelines, not specific actions to take.
Let’s take the higher end of this model. If there is an individual who is 200 pounds and their protein consumption should be 1.2 grams per pound of bodyweight, then they would be looking at consuming 240 grams of protein per day. Depending on what one’s diet consists of, this may be a pretty lofty goal to hit.
A scoop of protein powder contains 30 grams of protein on average. As you can tell, taking 1-2 scoops of this would be a very effective way to chip away at your protein target. You could use it as a snack for an extra protein feeding, or add them on top of a meal that already has a decent amount of protein.
Think about if you had 30 grams of protein in the morning with eggs and milk and a protein shake on top of that. You’re already at 60 grams of protein, just one meal in. An individual with this protein goal would likely be looking at 4-5 meals per day. As you can tell, 60 grams in one meal would significantly help them reach their protein target!
The Convenience:
This next point piggybacks off the previous point. When we are trying to achieve a fair amount of protein intake during the day, it can be difficult to get in enough feedings. This is especially true if we have a busy schedule. However, being able to drink a protein shake with 30 to 60 grams is a great way to get in a quick and efficient protein feeding to help stay on track during the day.
Many people may be working a 9 to 5 job and are busy afterwards and simply do not have the time/do not desire to make and consume a full meal at times throughout the day. Therefore, having a protein shake at their disposal is an awesome way to help stay on track!
Not much more to this point. Protein shakes are great so you have a quality, complete source of protein at your disposal when you need it!
Calorie to Protein Ratio:
This next point is directed at those who have the goal of fat loss. We know that with this goal, we are eating in a calorie deficit. However, protein intake is also super important! Seeing as protein shakes are almost only protein, they provide a hefty amount of this macronutrient for a very low-calorie cost.
Compare this to the opposite end of the spectrum, we could eat a tablespoon of peanut butter for 100 calories and only receive 7 grams of protein for it. Whereas with protein powder, we can count on at least 25 grams of complete protein, typically for no more than 120 calories if we are consuming a quality powder.
Protein powder is a great way to get the best of both worlds when it comes to conduciveness towards your calorie deficit while striving to hit your total daily protein goal!
Wrapping Up:
Well everyone, that’s the article! One thing to clarify, I am not saying that protein powder should be your primary source of protein.
Whole foods should lay the foundation of your nutrition as they are typically higher in micronutrients and can be more filling from a volume side of things and the time it takes to eat them. Lean cuts of meat such as lean ground beef, chicken breast and ground turkey are all examples of whole foods that have some of these aspects within them! Supplements should be used exactly as their name suggests, to SUPPLEMENT!
Did you enjoy this article? Be sure to let me know by leaving a comment below! I would be super happy to interact with you! Thanks everyone!
Here are some other articles that may be beneficial for your knowledge!
Weight Loss and Nutrition Myths
Until Next Time,
Kohl Johnson
Please refer to my liability disclaimer to ensure you know who is responsible for use of this information after reading.
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