For the entire month of June, I did not make or consume any whey protein shakes. That may not seem like a big deal to most, but for someone who works out daily and is always wanting to cut bodyfat and build muscle, it is HUGE. Especially considering the fact that often when I am drinking protein shakes, I’ll have 3 to 5 a day. I can easily go through a tub of whey protein powder in less than 3 days – about three a week.
In fact, on July 1st I rushed right out and got a bucket of the whey protein that I (used to) like best – and a gallon of milk. The milk was gone the first day and I had to buy more. I had the last serving of the protein around 9am on the 3rd. It hadn’t lasted 2 full days.
In the past, I would have gone back out and bought a couple of tubs of the whey protein powder and made sure that I did not run out. This time, I was pretty positive that I did not want to fall back into that rut.
Three Things I Discovered While Consuming No Whey Protein
I did not lose any weight when I dropped whey protein from my Live-It. I had thought I would lose a lot of weight, but that did not actually happen.
I farted A LOT less. Yes, I still had plenty of gas, but not nearly as much, was less bloated – and the farts did not smell nearly as bad as with the whey. I almost killed Stacia with a really bad one when I went back to whey for two days …
I didn’t lose any muscle mass. I didn’t test bodyfat or muscle weight before or after my experiment, but I’m pretty positive that I did not lose any muscle mass and might have actually gained some.
Conclusions:
I have decided all the bodybuilding books, articles, sites, etc that tell you that you need to consume protein powders to get strong and cut are WRONG (at least for me). I could be wrong about this, check back with me in another 89 days, 6 hours and 13 minutes – or maybe a few days before the celebrating begins.
Ironically just after I decided to take whey protein out of my Live-It I received an email from Muscle and Fitness with a link to an article called The Definitive Guide to Understanding Whey Protein. This article does have some good information about whey protein, but does not talk about plant based proteins and screams out
If you read the article and click around it is obvious that they are just trying to sell whey protein and other supplements to make money. Not sure they really want their readers to be healthy.
I have also decided that I don’t need to want whey in my Live-It at all. I don’t think it adds anything except an excuse not to eat real food. Whey protein shakes can be convenient and tasty, but I now prefer to use real food to fuel my body.
If and when I feel like I need a protein shake, I will now use a Vegan protein powder like Vega Sport (affiliate link at Amazon.com). I’ve tried each of their flavors (with water instead of milk) and they are palatable and something I could get used to. Vega Sport has 25 grams of plant based protein in each serving. I’d probably try consuming Vega Sport daily with my green drinks, but at this point while trying to conserve money, I just cannot rationalize the expense. It’s probably better for my body than whey, but it’s also over twice as expensive.
Full Disclosure: I did actually eat a number of whey based protein bars during June. I’ve known for some time that these protein bars are crap and really bad for me. In fact I’ve called them “Fart Bars” for a couple of years now. I’m pretty much done with fart bars now too!
