Protein Powder is a Waste of Money (DUMB!)

Protein powder is the most popular bodybuilding supplement on the market, but is it worth the money? In this video, I’m going to show you whether or not spending money on protein powders is worth it or if you would be better off getting your daily protein intake through whole foods and skipping the supplements.

There is no doubt that the complaint about protein supplement pricing is a common one. Some swear that not only is it not worth it but it is much easier to get everything your body needs with real food and you don’t need any supplements at all. That argument should start however with a revelation of how much protein your body needs to meet your specific goals.

There is plenty of research out there that says that the bare minimum amount of protein that needs to be consumed every day is about .3g per pound of bodyweight. This means that a 150lb person would require 50 grams of protein each day to remain healthy. That said, if building muscle is your goal then you are going to need a lot more than that.

Once training enters the equation the protein requirements jump up significantly to anywhere from .7g to 1.2g per pound of bodyweight. This is because weightlifting breaks down muscle tissue. It is only through the repair of the muscle through good nutrition that the muscles have a chance to grow back bigger and stronger. This is where protein becomes a vitally important part of your diet.

Opinions vary on the exact amount needed but it will fall within this given range and can be influenced by the amount of muscle you have already, your training experience and whether you are attempting to lean down or go through an unnecessary bulk. Where you get your protein from matters less than the fact that you actually get it each day.

Those that think that purchasing protein supplements is too expensive, will point to the value of whole foods. Perhaps now more than ever, the value just simply isn’t there. If you look at any of the common protein staples (whether they be meat or vegan friendly sources), the expense is just not much different than the cost of the protein obtained through protein supplements. Add in the fact that the convenience of the powders is often times much higher and therefore likely to be a more consistent way to ingest your protein, and you realize just how much value is in this alternative source.

In order to figure out the value of a protein source you want to use a simple math equation.

Take the price of the protein that you’re buying and divide it by the number of servings times the number of grams of protein in each serving. This will give you a more universal value of the price per gram of protein. When you apply this to things like chicken, ground beef, learn sirloin, salmon, peanut butter, tofu and lentils you see that all are within a few cents per gram of each other.

Add in the fact that not all of the non-meat choices are complete proteins. This means that eaten alone, they are not supplying all of the essential amino acids that your body needs and therefore require that you seek out other sources.

When it comes to whey protein, you also get another major bonus that many overlook. That is, with just 29 grams of whey protein powder you are going to get 3 grams of leucine. That is important. Science has shown that three grams is the amount of leucine that you need to stimulate the MTOR pathway that triggers muscle protein synthesis. Without this, the degree of muscle size you can build will be limited. Not only does whey trigger the threshold but it does so at a very calorie efficient cost.

Many other protein food sources provide just too many extra calories with it in the pursuit of meeting the 3g leucine threshold.

I realize that there are a lot of protein powder sources on the market. Be sure that you are getting one that not only has a good cost per gram but also doesn’t rely on cheap proteins to improve their numbers. Check the label and make sure that the leading source of protein is not whey protein concentrate. This is a quick indicator of a protein powder that doesn’t contain enough high quality protein and should therefore be avoided.

For more vides on supplements and protein powders be sure to watch the supplement timeline video I have as well as the others on this channel by remembering to subscribe and turn on your notifications so you never miss a new video when it’s published.

[athleanx]

*THE GIVEAWAY IS BACK* - I’m giving away my brand new complete 90 Day Beaxst PPL program to 40 lucky clickers within the first hour this video is published! Remember, this is NOT THE FIRST 40, but those randomly selected within the first hour the video is published. Click the link to see if you’ve won. No strings attached! Clicking twice does nothing. Only one entry per video. Remember to watch to the end for more workouts.

If you don’t win, no worries, you’re not going away empty handed. Just be sure you have your notifications turned on so you can get to my next video quickly and try again. Good luck and thanks for being a loyal subscriber…

[randokku]

Next month: How Protein Powder can INCREASE your GAINS

[spencercox]

Jeff made an unbelievably important point here. If you are short on cash as many of us are right now (at least from time-to-time), a lower-quality protein powder is still better than insufficient protein intake.

[vanadrian]

I would never reach the grams of protein I want without powder. 200 grams. I wouldn't be able to eat all that food otherwise.

[maurodriguesxr]

Let 's face it: this is an ad. But a very good one! And very informative as well.

[NewGuy]

Sooo basically a 5 min commercial for Jeff's protein powder lol

[thecyclingguitarist]

What makes it a supplement is the fact that it's an isolated blend, not a whole food.

[alcazar]

It’s also worth mentioning that some blend very well and some glob up. Usually the more expensive ones blend really well and to me it’s worth a few extra dollars to get a powder that actually is drinkable vs one that creates sludge balls.

[itzmenik]

The only thing I would add to consider Jeff, is something called bioavailability. Basically, it's the amount of protein that your body actually absorbs after metabolising it. Although eggs cost a bit higher, from a nutritional standpoint it has 100 % or near 100% absorption, which is why it is set as a standard. You can take 25g of protein powder or equivalent serving of chicken, but you might end up having lesser amount actually absorbed. Food for thought 😊

[Roysphotos]

I dont use my protien in a shake. I take it and stir it into sugar free greek yogurt. I extra protien. And i think it taste better like that

[andylovesconcerts]

Aim for a 50/50 left/right hand scoop split to avoid imbalances.

[jjohnsonnccc]

The gold standard protien at Costco is 25 grams of protein per serving, $64 dollars for a 80 serving bag. Which equals about 3.2 cents per gram, or 80 cents a serving. That’s one of the best deals I’ve seen so far

[banditkade]

I always mix my shakes with almond milk, peanut butter powder, and greek yogurt. Makes it feel like a thick shake, hits a 50g protein benchmark, and the chocolate whey with peanut butter powder is a godly combo!

[Stijn]

Whey protein isolate and concentrate are the same, except with isolate the concentration of protein can be a little bit higher, meaning that you consume slightly less calories for the same amount of protein. That being said, the only reason to pick the significantly more expensive isolate is when you are on a VERY strict cut and you want to spare all your calories. In any other case just go for the concentrate that is half the price of isolate but comes with 30 extra calories per serving.

[rbarmadillo]

Hi Jeff, following you channel for a long time. Your lower back workouts have helped me a lot. Idk if you take video requests, but one thing I'd request you to make is a full detailed video on golfers elbow. It is a common gym injury, and I've faced it sometimes, and it'd be great to have your take on fixing it. You made one video on this some years back, but it'd be great to have something more detailed on this. I'm sure it'd help many of your other viewers as well.

[ericfleet]

Dry beans. A bag at my grocer store costs $2 and depending on the variety gives you 90-100g of protein. While I would not recommend eating the whole bag, you are getting protein at 2 cents per gram. Hard to beat that. Edit: Black eyed peas are going for $1.49 right now.

[victorycall]

Cheap sardines are a better cost per gram protein value than any other food evaluated in this video, and cheaper than all the protein powders except the two "questionably cheap" ones. Besides the protein, you get your omega 3s, lots of vitamins and minerals, and very low mercury compared to other fish. If you enjoy them, there's every reason to eat them often.

[rodneyhughes]

Hi Jeff, love your content! Your weight training tips have helped me tremendously. I do have a couple of questions... Why do you not have an unflavored, unsweetened version? Some of us are looking to stay away from artificial sweeteners like sucralose. Also, why not just use the isolate and stay away from the concentrate? Thanks and looking forward to the next videos.

[simonwilkinson]

A key issue not covered in the video is protein efficiency ratio / digestibility. Proteins from different sources are not equivalent, so looking at uncorrected numbers won’t give you an accurate picture.

Dairy or egg proteins can be utilised more efficiently for muscle building because they have some of the best amino acid profiles. Of meat, fish is significantly better than beef or chicken.

A lot of plant proteins (eg. lentils) are incomplete and may come in less digestible forms, and have to be blended with other protein sources to balance the amino acid profile.

[brunops]

It's interesting how, in the US, they mess with measure systems using g/lb. (grams per pounds) instead of the correct correspondence g/kg (grams per kilograms).