Should i be drinking protein shakes?

Didn't catch this edit, but no mate. In terms of protein, whey protein supplements have an outstanding amino acid profile and are considered a top quality source of protein. I've been getting about 2/3 of my protein from whey for a couple of years now and my growth has been absolutely fine. A balanced diet will get you the nutrients you need, we're not getting all of our nutrients from proteins.

Cheaper than chicken is what I meant. Where do the other nutrients come from ? Testosterone is partially made from zinc, b6 and magnesium which if i remember correctly are present in milk. Saturated fat supports hormone regulation and T levels.

400 above maintenance is overkill ? How so?

Eggs also have an outstanding amino acid profile. And other nutrients not found in powders. Also the powders that I have bought were low in BCAAs. You're growth has been fine but it would have been fine with whole foods, perhaps better.

Btw, Im not against powders here I'm just arguing that it should only be an add-on to your diet.

I had really weak legs and incredibly poor balance before working out
I did 16kg last time and that was quite difficult I could really feel the stress on my fourth set of 8
I'm not looking into gaining weight, I'm 12 stone, 5 foot 10 I think? Just want a more toned body, I do have quite alot of body fat for a small build

There are many sources of magnesium and zinc. Beans, whole grains, chocolate, spinach, mushrooms... just off the top of my head. I'm not saying that I don't drink milk and eat eggs because I do, but as a source of protein I certainly don't rely on them. Especially milk, it's like 10% protein, and the nutrients you get from it are available elsewhere. Natural testosterone levels on bodybuilding are hugely overstated btw. Just as a bit of anecdotal evidence - there are guys in their late teens in my gym, who have been lifting for a few years, and at their age will have an abundance of testosterone in their system. I'm in my mid 20s and have had fairly low testosterone levels for the past few years that I've been lifting, yet I've made much better progress. Not saying it doesn't help to have higher testosterone, but not by any great degree. Of course, testosterone is the primary steroid used by bodybuilders, but the androgen receptors in the body don't quite respond to endogenous hormones in the same way as they do exogenous (artificial) hormones.

Simple really. You can't force the body to build more muscle than it's naturally capable of doing. Sure, once you're advanced, you'll need an extra few hundred calories to maintain a positive energy and nitrogen balance to feed growth, but as a beginner this isn't needed. For the first 6-12 months you can eat at maintenance and still grow like a weed, I know I certainly did. 400 is pushing it in either sense, 600 is way too much. You'll just get needlessly fat and won't experience any extra muscle gain.

Milk is 3.5g per 100ml. So 2 pints a day is about 40g of slow digesting casein protein. 40g is a good amount.

Were these teens and you tested for T ? T spikes usually at mid 20s so I find that a bit off.
Even if the body builds a small amount of muscle, it will need more nutrients. Calories imo aren't so important but to get enough macros it usually means higher calories, even if 400 is too high the principle remains.

Even if the body builds a small amount of muscle, it will need more nutrients. Calories imo aren't so important but to get enough macros it usually means higher calories, even if 400 is too high the principle remains.

40g of protein per 500 calories (and that's semi-skimmed) is NOT a good amount. To get 40g of protein from whey would be less than 200 calories, and you then have room for some better quality carbs rather than all that milk-sugar.





...sorry? Where on earth did you get that info from? Testosterone peaks during adolescence, i.e. up to 20 years old. Everybody knows this. It begins to decline once you get into your 20s - you've done all your growing up and gone through puberty, the body doesn't need excessive levels of testosterone anymore. Why do you think your voice deepens, body and facial hair grows, muscles grow a little and your sex drive goes nuts as you go through puberty? Testosterone, that's why. And yes, I've been tested numerous times, that's of course how I know where my T levels are at.



So why do you need an extra 400-600 then? You've recommended .6g of protein per lb of bodyweight, which is pretty conservative in itself, so not many calories there. Carbs and fats don't have a direct effect on muscle growth beyond a certain point - doesn't take much glucose to keep all glycogen stores full, and doesn't take 100s of grams of fats to fuel the relevant bodily functions - so why would you need so many? It's quite simple really - your caloric intake dictates the amount of weight gained and lost. The macros, or more specifically, the protein:carbs & fats ratio dictates the composition of that weight gain/loss to a degree, but calories are king for controlling weight gain or weight loss, and only a certain amount of muscle per week can be built and no more than a few hundred calories over maintenance is needed to facilitate that.

I've started going gym 4 weeks ago
Not looking to be massive or anything, just build muscle and strength
I eat 3 meals a day, 2 in which I eat alot of protein like chicken breast
Do i need a protein shake?

No there's a limit to the amount of amino acids your body can actually absorb which means protein shakes are basically useless unless your diet is very low protein.But yours isn't so protein shakes would end up being urinated down the toilet and be a waste of money.

The thing is I don't want to be eating so much chicken, I wanna switch to mostly vegeterian diet

i dont have much time, but in short yes T is highest in the 20's and declines usually after mid-20s. Highest T in adolescence is a myth. Facial hair etc. grows because T is on the rise but not at highest. If T was directly linked to facial hair or deep voice this would mean that old men would have no facial hair or deep voices. In fact I've seen studies showing young 30's have highest.

Stop the broscience. Calories aren't as important as you say, consider the keto diet. If this was true then I could get 50% of my calories from drinking Coke and have no weight gain. Hormonal effects change depending on the nutrients, and the loss or more we eat changes our metabolism. For somebody like me who doesnt gain weight easily the extra calories from milk is great. Also Lactose is slow digesting which means it gives slow release energy and has less of a insulin spike.

I usually have a shake when I wake up if I'm in a rush (therefore don't have time to make anything) and after a workout, but I wouldn't recommend taking them as a protein alternative - they should supplement a balanced diet

The big spike in testosterone is responsible for changing the physiology of the body. Same way a woman grows body hair, facial hair, an Adam's apple, a deep voice and a more masculine jawline if she uses large amounts of exogenous testosterone. However, less testosterone once fully developed does not equal lesser amounts of facial hair or heightening of the pitch of ones voice. You're oversimplifying things. It's not a myth, it's a largely recognised fact by every health organisation and physiologists the world over. This sort of thing is literally why males have testosterone.

Oh, so you were talking about how whole food is somehow better than a shake and how we must east certain foods to boost our testosterone for gains, and now you're going to tell me to stop the broscience
The thing is, it's not even broscience - it's actual basic physiology. Your example was a bad one as it's not quite ideal to be getting half your calories from carbohyrdrates on a maintenance or fat loss diet - I did say that macronutrient balance does play a part. However, you could get a large chunk of your carbohydrates from cola on a fat loss diet and still lose weight if your caloric intake is in check. It's a carbohydrate - carbohydrates are converted to glucose to use for the body's various needs. All carbs cause insulin spikes, whether it's sugar or oats. Sure, higher GI carbs will raise insulin quicker, but it'll then drop quicker too. So, bigger picture considered, 40g of carbs whether it's from sugar or complex carbs will produce the same effect in terms of function. The magnitude of the insulin spike is the same, sure the insulin doesn't spike as high but it's a more gradual spike and lowering with a lower GI carb, meaning longer spent in a state of heightened insulin. Only downside would be that sugar isn't as satiating.

Again, I did point out that the balance of macronutrients does play a part. However, calories are the main thing that will determine what happens in terms of fat loss or gain. You're not going to lose fat on a keto diet if you're eating at maintenance or above - it will simply aid in fat loss during a deficit by keeping glycogen stores depleted and using ketones.

Unless you want moist sticky and stinky farts like the other guy then go ahead

Though that's literally what they are. I'd never recommend getting ALL of your protein from whey protein based on adequate healthy nutrition, but the notion that you should only get a little bit of it and that getting half of your protein from whey isn't going to work is pretty baseless.

I don't want to eat sop much meat and food in general tbh
protein shakes will suit my needs more

T increases as a teen, I said that already thanks for saying it once again. http://www.webmd.com/men/testosterone-15738#1
" Testosterone is highest around age 40, then gradually becomes less in older men" Are you ignorant of what happens the body after puberty ? A man is said to be in his prime in his twenties because that's when he is usually strongest, fittest and altogether healthiest partially due to high T.

You go ahead and cut saturated fats, zinc, magnesium etc. from your diet and tell me how it goes. If you can find the energy to write that is. It's recommended that 40% of calories come from carbs. You argue that highly processed corn syrup in coke is the same as lactose, go get 40% of your calories from coke and tell me how we feel.
Insulin does not kick in storing fat until it reaches a threshold which most complex carbs and lactose won't reach. This is why keto only allows low GI foods.
I recently did a keto diet eating as much as I possibly wanted just from protein and fat, 0 carbs. I was probably having at least a few hundred calories over maintenance. 3 weeks in, I lost 7lbs, about 4 of which was water weight. Explain that. The body uses energy digesting proteins and fats, protein has 4 calories per g the same as carbs and yet doesn't cause hormone responses that store fat and uses energy by simply digesting.