How often should you drink protein shakes?

Content:

• Effectively meet protein needs through protein shakes
• Achieving training goals through protein shakes
• How do protein shakes help with training?
• For whom are protein shakes helpful?
• How often should you drink protein shakes?
• Calculate your own protein needs
• Determine additional protein powder needs
• Does protein powder affect how often you should drink protein shakes?
• Conclusion: Use protein shakes effectively

Effectively meet protein needs with protein shakes

Proteins are important nutrients that are essential for many processes in the body and especially for muscle building. For this reason, many athletes turn toprotein shakes to increase their protein intake . But from a protein shake every few months, the muscles do not suddenly grow to the desired size - this requires a regular intake and the appropriate training. If you deal with the topic of protein shakes, the question quickly arises how often you should drink protein shakes to support the implementation of the desired training goal. We'll give you the answer to how often and when drinking protein sh akes is healthy and sensible.

Achieve training goals through protein shakes

Before you get into how often to drink protein shakes a day or a week, it's useful to understand what effect protein shakes can have during workout phases. How often you should take protein powder also depends on the person. Therefore, it is also important to know for whom taking protein shakes can be helpful.

How do protein shakes help during workouts?

Protein shakes contain a large amount of proteins and amino acids that help maintain and increase muscle mass. At the same time, protein shakes are often lower in fat and calories than snacks or certain meals. As a result, protein shakes canhelp reduce body weight as well as build muscle .

Protein shakes for muscle building help meet protein needs. This is because muscles are largely made up of proteins, which is why they are the basic building block for muscle growth. The proteins themselves consist of 21 amino acids, which are divided into essential and non-essential amino acids. The essential amino acids cannot be produced by the body itself, which is why they must be taken in through animal or vegetable protein in the diet.

Regardless of how often you drink protein shakes, the supply of protein provides the body with amino acids, oxygen and other important nutrients for the muscles. The intake of protein through the diet influences the increase and duration of muscle protein synthesis - the process of building muscle mass.[¹] Additional training can further increase this effect.[²] This means that the proteins you consume through protein shakes, in combination with strength training , can have a positive effect on your muscle building.[³] Protein shakes can support muscle growth and regeneration even more optimally through certain compositions. Our ESN Designer Whey Protein contains an effective combination of Whey Concentrate and Whey Isolate and is therefore not only easily digestible, but also a fast and persistent supplier of active peptides and amino acids.

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Athletes and nutrition-conscious people who are dieting or losing weight must also be prepared for the loss of muscle mass. Protein shakes can counteract this muscle loss due to their high protein content.[⁴] How often you should take protein powder to counteract the breakdown depends on your diet. Protein is also a useful nutrient for weight loss itself. If you use whey protein shakes for weight loss, you can benefit from a higher feeling of satiety than with meals with less protein.[⁵] Protein powders like the ESN IsoWhey Hardcore contain only very small amounts of fat and carbohydrates, but a very high protein content. This makes this protein shake with Whey Isolat perfect for muscle building, fat loss or during diets.

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Who are protein shakes helpful for?

Protein shakes mainly help to cover the required protein intake and should be seen as a supplement alongside meals. If you as an athlete do not manage to cover your daily protein needs through your diet, protein shakes with their high content of protein facilitate the supply.

To prevent the body from breaking down muscle mass and converting it into energy, active athletes need more protein than less active individuals who only just need to meet their requirements for bodily functions.[⁶] Meeting increased protein needs through diet alone can therefore be difficult. Protein shakes are an easy and quick solution to take in extra protein for your body and especially muscles. Protein shakes like ESN Ve gan Designer Protein are also a great way for nutrition-conscious vegans to provide their bodies with additional plant-based protein.

Protein powders have many benefits and, depending on the product, also provide other nutrients such as carbohydrates. Nevertheless, the shakes shouldnot be used as a substitute for a full meal. For both muscle building and weight loss, a healthy and balanced diet should provide the foundation. Because through balanced meals you also provide your body with other essential nutrients such as vitamins or secondary plant substances.

How often should I drink protein shakes?

How often you should drink protein shakes per day depends on various factors. To meet the protein needs of an active athlete and achieve optimal results, we recommend a daily intake of one to three shakes. When determining exactly how often you should drink a protein shake, consider the following aspects:

• Physical activity and your own protein needs
• Protein coverage through the diet
• Protein content of the protein powder
• Body weight

If you can already sufficiently cover your protein needs through your diet, protein shakes are not absolutely necessary. If you take more protein through the shakes than your body and the growth of your muscles need, this has no positive effect and you will not reach your goal faster. However, a larger amount of protein does not harm a healthy person.[⁷]

Even on days when there is no training, protein needs must be met. So if you drink protein shakes to meet the need, you should do so even on non-training days. The muscle does not grow during training, but during the subsequent regeneration and therefore needs protein even on rest days.

Of course, you can decide for yourself how often you want to drink protein shakes. Nevertheless, you should pay attention to a healthy measure and keep in mind that protein shakes also containfat and carbohydrates - although usually in small amounts. If you drink many protein shakes in addition to your normal dietwithout exercising, this can lead to an increase in body weight.

So that you can individually answer the question of how often you should drink a protein shake, we show you what daily protein requirement is recommended for you and how you can thereby conclude a sensible amount of protein powder or shakes.

Calculate your own protein requirement

How much protein a person needs is always individual. In addition to factors such as body weight and the intensity of physical activity, the fitness goal, age, gender, state of health and dietary peculiarities such as a diet also influence the need for protein. Therefore, it is not so easy to calculate the individual protein requirement.

Certain guideline values for theprotein requirement oriented to the physical activity help to determine the own requirement approximately.[⁸]:

• Minimum requirement to prevent malnutrition:
• 0.8 - 1.0 grams / kilogram of body weight.
• Requirement for little and much sedentary activity:
• 1.2 - 1.8 grams / kilogram body weight
• Recommended intake for muscle maintenance and an active lifestyle:
• 1.4 - 2.0 grams / kilogram body weight
• Requirement when building muscle and losing body fat:
• 1.6 - 2.4 grams / kilogram body weight

If you know your training goal and can estimate your physical activity, these recommended values can also be used to determine your protein requirement. If you weigh about 80 kilograms and want to build up your muscles through active strength training, you should rather choose the higher guideline value. Your calculation is then as follows:

2,4 grams x 80 kilogram body weight = 192 grams of protein

Your recommended protein intake is approximately 192 grams of protein per day.

Determine additional protein powder requirements

In order to calculate how often or how much protein powder you should take per day, you not only need to know your protein needs, but also how much protein you alreadyconsume in your diet . To find out how protein-rich your meals are, it makes sense to document exactly which foods you eat and their protein content over several days or weeks. This way you can get an overview of your protein intake through your diet. If the protein requirement is not covered by the meals, the deficit can becompensated by protein shakes .

To calculate how much protein you still lack, subtract the protein intake of your diet from your protein needs and get the amount of protein that you can compensate with protein shakes. How often you should drink a protein shake per day or per week depends on the protein content of your protein powder and the recommended dosage. How much powder is needed for a shake, you can see from the packaging of the product. For a shake of ESN with 500 ml of water or milk, we recommend 30 grams of protein powder. One serving of our ESN ISOCLEAR Whey Isolate contains about 25.2 grams of protein. Due to the high protein content of the powder, two shakes a day can already cover about 26% of the daily requirement of an athlete with 80 kilograms body weight and a protein requirement of 192 grams.

Does protein powder affect how often you should drink protein shakes?

Protein powders are available in many different variations. Not only the flavors differ, but also the protein contained differs - some powders contain vegan protein sources and others Whey protein or casein. Whey and casein are protein sources that come from milk and are byproducts of cheese making. The difference lies partly in the extraction or production of the protein powder and partly in its properties for the body. The effect of Whey protein for muscle building is particularly high, because the amino acid profile of Whey is very similar to that of human protein and contains all essential amino acids.[⁹] In addition, Whey is absorbed very quickly from the intestine and thus provides thebody with proteins quickly, for example, after training or after getting up.[¹⁰] Powders with casein such as ESN Micellar Casein are particularly suitable for Protein shakes In the evening, because it isabsorbed more slowly by the body and thus provides themuscles with proteinlonger.

While protein sources are absorbed differently by the body, making them different in effect, there is little difference in the protein content of protein shakes containing Whey, casein, or even plant-based protein sources. Therefore, the protein powder in protein shakes does not affect how often, but when to drink it , as the different protein sources provide the body with proteins faster or more long-term.

Conclusion: Use protein shakes effectively

In principle, it is up to you when and how often you want to consume protein shakes. For an effective use of protein powder, however, your own protein needs, the protein intake from your diet and the protein content in the powder should be taken into account. Even on rest days, muscles need to be supplied with protein so that repair and growth can begin. Protein shakes should therefore be drunk just as often on non-training days . Which protein shake you choose is irrelevant to the question of how often you should drink protein shakes. The shake should be tailored to your goals. Protein shakes offer many benefits, but should only be used as a supplement and do not replace a healthy and balanced diet.

More articles on the topic of protein shakes:

• Protein shakes for weight loss
• Protein Shakes for gaining weight
• Drink protein shakes before or after a workout?

Sources:

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19057190/

[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19057190/

[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25169440/

[4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25644344/

[5] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18187437/

[6] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18187437/

[7] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12639078/

[8] https://examine.com/guides/protein-intake/#ref2

[9] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3905294/

[10] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9405716/