Gaining significant muscle mass and strength through heavy lifting requires adequate protein intake. It is extremely challenging to build the muscle needed to squat two or three times your body weight without dramatically increasing your protein consumption. Attempting to lift heavy weights without the proper nutritional support can lead to extended recovery times, increased injury risk, and wasted effort.
Whey protein powder can be a cost-effective and high-quality source of protein for those engaged in strength training. For individuals who lift weights regularly, protein powder can be an integral part of their training program and is not simply a gimmick. The notion that protein supplements are “snake oil” because the average person may not need them is flawed logic. The same could be said for weight training equipment, which would also be considered unnecessary for the general population, despite their benefits for those who strength train consistently.
The key is matching your nutritional intake, including protein consumption, to your training goals and needs. Dismissing helpful protein powder as snake oil simply because they may not benefit everyone is an oversimplification. The appropriate use of protein powder can be an important part of an effective strength training regimen for those who lift heavy weights.
I’d like to note in my top level comment I was referring to medically unnecessary vitamin and mineral supplementation. Protein powder is food and is not part of that. It’s 100% necessary for serious lifters, but it’s definitely also overused by people who are not serious lifters.
For the following statistics, “adult” is defined as age 20 and over. The overweight + obese percentages for the overall US population are higher reaching 39.4% in 1997, 44.5% in 2004, 56.6% in 2007, 63.8% (adults) and 17% (children) in 2008,in 2010 65.7% of American adults and 17% of American children are overweight or obese, and 63% of teenage girls become overweight by age 11. In 2013 the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that 57.6% of all American citizens were overweight or obese. The organization estimated that 3/4 of the American population would likely be overweight or obese by 2020. According to research done by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, it is estimated that around 40% of Americans are considered obese, and 18% are considered severely obese as of 2019. Severe obesity is defined as a BMI over 35 in the study. Their projections say that about half of the US population (48.9%) will be considered obese and nearly 1 in 4 (24.2%) will be considered severely obese by 2030.
What many US citizens need is portion control and regular exercise.
Seems like you just have an axe to grind about fat people. Protein is not the deciding factor in weight gain, calories are, so I don’t know why you think a link to the wiki page about obesity would be convincing that protein powder is snake oil.
Even when you coincide that it is relevant you dismiss with little justification. Also BMI is not a great metric for individuals, many that have a lot of muscle are measured as overweight because there is a lot more to bodies that height and mass.
Can you justify why protein powder is snake oil in line with the other things in the thread? I will grant that most people have more than enough protein in a regular diet, but stats about obesity says literally nothing about if powder can help your workouts give the results you’re hoping for.
While the obesity part is kind of a digression, I think they were pretty clear: protein powder is a waste if you have a typical American diet and are not exercising, which is apparently most Americans. While protein powder on its own isn’t snake oil, it effectively is for most people.
My point was that people who are likely obese are busy trying to suck down protein shakes when they probably already have enough protein. Like I said, if you’re in the USA and not explicitly vegan, you probably already get enough protein from your daily diet to build muscle.
When less than 25% of the country is a healthy weight, people don’t need to build muscle, they need to lose weight.
I am fucking fat myself, maybe that’s why I feel so strongly about this. America has a massive obesity problem and it’s tied to our eating habits (especially overly processed foods… like protein shakes) and we’re not going to find out way out of it by buying protein shakes.
The protein supplement industry alone is currently a $6.57 billion industry. Are you really going to tell me the only people buying them are that sliver of people with healthy weights?
If you’re overweight and want to lose weight, you don’t need a protein supplement. Yes, it’s more complicated than calories in/calories out but the reality is and has been 1. portion sizes in USA are out of control, 2. the vast majority of the country have weight issues not muscle issues, and 3. Excess protein doesn’t help you lose weight.
The less than 25% of the country that has a normal weight is not the source of the $6.57 billion dollar market cap of the protein supplement industry.
But sure, it’s not that fatasses are focusing on the wrong fucking things, like protein. The vast majority of Americans like to think they would pump iron but most fucking don’t and the evidence is that over 75% of us are overweight, obese, and morbidly obese.
Gyms would cease to function if all the people who paid for them actually tried to use them.
Finally, the men who suck these down are trying to look like men who suck down tons of steroids. Those results are not achievable with protein and exercise alone, thus making protein a snake oil to cover for steroid abuse. Steroid abuse is real and hiding behind this “you just need more protein” bullshit is a farce. The number of men who claimed to be gaining insane muscles while only “exercising and eating healthy” to only have it come out that they abuse the fuck out of steroids is too damn high.
See: Elon Musk’s distended gut and man-boobs from sucking down steroids but not actually putting in the work of lifting. Joe Rogan’s distended stomach is looking pretty rough these days, too.
While I’m going to ignore your clear issues regarding other people’s weight, there’s 258 million people, if a quarter of them spend $100 a year on “protein shakes” there’s your 6.5 billion, and now that number seems low.
You seem quite invested so I have a question. I have learned that protein fills more and therefore reduces appetite. Won’t a protein shake be a relatively healthy option which reduces snacking and overeating of less healthy meals?
This has also anecdotally been my experience but I haven’t done it very much.
I’ve had the opposite experience myself. Protein shakes keep me full for about as long as water. Protein rich whole foods are much more satiating for the same quantity of protein.
What about that protein powder? my brother is mad into it.
Protein powder is a calorically dense food supplement, not a vitamin or mineral supplement
Gaining significant muscle mass and strength through heavy lifting requires adequate protein intake. It is extremely challenging to build the muscle needed to squat two or three times your body weight without dramatically increasing your protein consumption. Attempting to lift heavy weights without the proper nutritional support can lead to extended recovery times, increased injury risk, and wasted effort.
Whey protein powder can be a cost-effective and high-quality source of protein for those engaged in strength training. For individuals who lift weights regularly, protein powder can be an integral part of their training program and is not simply a gimmick. The notion that protein supplements are “snake oil” because the average person may not need them is flawed logic. The same could be said for weight training equipment, which would also be considered unnecessary for the general population, despite their benefits for those who strength train consistently.
The key is matching your nutritional intake, including protein consumption, to your training goals and needs. Dismissing helpful protein powder as snake oil simply because they may not benefit everyone is an oversimplification. The appropriate use of protein powder can be an important part of an effective strength training regimen for those who lift heavy weights.
I’d like to note in my top level comment I was referring to medically unnecessary vitamin and mineral supplementation. Protein powder is food and is not part of that. It’s 100% necessary for serious lifters, but it’s definitely also overused by people who are not serious lifters.
Is your brother also mad into lifting weights? If not, they have no need for protein powder
yes.
Unless you’re vegan, you’re probably already getting more protein than you need.
Protein is needed for building muscles but most meatheads in the USA just eat all the protein and don’t do enough of the exercise.
Only about 24% of people in the US aren’t “overweight” to “obese.”
Literally almost nobody needs this fucking protein because almost fuck-nobody is exercising.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_the_United_States
What many US citizens need is portion control and regular exercise.
Seems like you just have an axe to grind about fat people. Protein is not the deciding factor in weight gain, calories are, so I don’t know why you think a link to the wiki page about obesity would be convincing that protein powder is snake oil.
Even when you coincide that it is relevant you dismiss with little justification. Also BMI is not a great metric for individuals, many that have a lot of muscle are measured as overweight because there is a lot more to bodies that height and mass.
Can you justify why protein powder is snake oil in line with the other things in the thread? I will grant that most people have more than enough protein in a regular diet, but stats about obesity says literally nothing about if powder can help your workouts give the results you’re hoping for.
While the obesity part is kind of a digression, I think they were pretty clear: protein powder is a waste if you have a typical American diet and are not exercising, which is apparently most Americans. While protein powder on its own isn’t snake oil, it effectively is for most people.
My point was that people who are likely obese are busy trying to suck down protein shakes when they probably already have enough protein. Like I said, if you’re in the USA and not explicitly vegan, you probably already get enough protein from your daily diet to build muscle.
When less than 25% of the country is a healthy weight, people don’t need to build muscle, they need to lose weight.
I am fucking fat myself, maybe that’s why I feel so strongly about this. America has a massive obesity problem and it’s tied to our eating habits (especially overly processed foods… like protein shakes) and we’re not going to find out way out of it by buying protein shakes.
The protein supplement industry alone is currently a $6.57 billion industry. Are you really going to tell me the only people buying them are that sliver of people with healthy weights?
If you’re overweight and want to lose weight, you don’t need a protein supplement. Yes, it’s more complicated than calories in/calories out but the reality is and has been 1. portion sizes in USA are out of control, 2. the vast majority of the country have weight issues not muscle issues, and 3. Excess protein doesn’t help you lose weight.
The less than 25% of the country that has a normal weight is not the source of the $6.57 billion dollar market cap of the protein supplement industry.
But sure, it’s not that fatasses are focusing on the wrong fucking things, like protein. The vast majority of Americans like to think they would pump iron but most fucking don’t and the evidence is that over 75% of us are overweight, obese, and morbidly obese.
Gyms would cease to function if all the people who paid for them actually tried to use them.
Finally, the men who suck these down are trying to look like men who suck down tons of steroids. Those results are not achievable with protein and exercise alone, thus making protein a snake oil to cover for steroid abuse. Steroid abuse is real and hiding behind this “you just need more protein” bullshit is a farce. The number of men who claimed to be gaining insane muscles while only “exercising and eating healthy” to only have it come out that they abuse the fuck out of steroids is too damn high.
See: Elon Musk’s distended gut and man-boobs from sucking down steroids but not actually putting in the work of lifting. Joe Rogan’s distended stomach is looking pretty rough these days, too.
While I’m going to ignore your clear issues regarding other people’s weight, there’s 258 million people, if a quarter of them spend $100 a year on “protein shakes” there’s your 6.5 billion, and now that number seems low.
You seem quite invested so I have a question. I have learned that protein fills more and therefore reduces appetite. Won’t a protein shake be a relatively healthy option which reduces snacking and overeating of less healthy meals? This has also anecdotally been my experience but I haven’t done it very much.
I’ve had the opposite experience myself. Protein shakes keep me full for about as long as water. Protein rich whole foods are much more satiating for the same quantity of protein.
Isn’t there a limit of how much protein your body can absorb in a meal and the rest just gets metabolized/excreted.