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Protein - How & When

Hi
I have just started to use USN UltraLean Diet Whey Protein after a hard workout.
I was wondering, for this product to be effective should I be taking it every day rather than just after a workout ?
Any advice/Info would be helpful thanks

Claire

Comments

  • HarryDHarryD Posts: 425
    Most people (that includes athletes and weight lifters) have more than enough protein in their diet already.

    Are you really sure you need more? Do you know how much you need & how much you already get in the rest of your diet? Excess is not good for you. Once the body has used what it needs for rebuilding lean tissue the rest is expensive waste. Excess will not make you fitter or stronger. At best it ends up as fat and at worst it can damage the kidneys.

    HarryD
  • When it comes to diet there is a lot of varying advice out there and this includes how much protein you should have in your diet. What I am about to say some people will agree with it some will disagree that is a matter of opinion and there is evidence for a variety of arguments including mine.

    Personally as someone who does around 20hrs a week training on average I go for a diet which is carbohydrate based 65% with about 15% fat leaving 20% to be made up in protein. If I did less training these figures would be more in favour of protein/fat my thinking is once I have the basics in then carbs is the way to go to fuel a lot of lower level endurance work and to profide the catalyst to burn body fat which I still have in excess. I use analysis software and track everything i put into my body to understand its breakdown.

    In the past though i wanted to loose a lot of weight and at first didn't mind loosing muscle mass I reached a point where I needed to maintain muscle in respect to power output and so I make sure I have a minimum level of protein every day in my diet. I try to avoid protein at the start of the day in favour of carbs and include it as the day progresses. If I am down on my daily protein allowance I might supplement it with whey protein and choose to do this sometimes after very intensive efforts. If I had a choice I would have a high quality piece of steak or something similar but use a protein supplement more down to cost than anything else.

    I agree that the gym culture I see of protein shakes in the sauna after very little effort by the majority of ' gym performers' is counterproductive and possibly only adds to continued issues for individuals in loosing weight to get a cut physique. The answer is not to protein shake or not but to take a broader look at your diet, what type of exercise regime are you trying to support, and to monitor carefully what you do and put into your system and get to a balance point.
  • shadowone1shadowone1 Posts: 1,408
    one sentence

    paelo diet for athletes. Makes a very interesting read
  • What I want to do is throw a genuine question in here regarding the Paelo Diet and some other diets out there. Not dismissing it simply want to find out more info.

    From what I understand the diet is 23% carbohydrate based which is low. As an endurance athelete I know I need carbohydrate as a prefared source of energy to top up glycogen stores in my muscles to act as a catalyst to burn fat reserves at lower intensities at the very least.

    Question, whilst i can survive on stores metabolised overnight for example from any food source proteins included for about an hour to an hour and a half of solid exercise, without a good percentage of carbohydrate in my diet and as ongoing slow release fuel how do I provide the esential energy components to go for a five hour bike ride when proteins and fats on the go are hard to take on board?

    If carbs are the best form of nutrition to back up fat burning, do I not want to train this system if i am aiming to race at ironman distance. I can see how other diets such as Paelo might surfice for say Olympic but from my current knowledge can not see how this works for heavy training regimes. Thoughts welcome.
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