Protein intake question....?

[orscrubs]

I've read on the forum that the MAJORITY of your protein intake should come from actual food and only a smaller percentage from protein shakes. So I want to know what percentage of protein do you guys get from actual food and what percentage you get from a protein supplement...what percentage split do you guys think is best for lean muscle gains?



For example, if you get 200g of protein per day...what percent of those 200g comes from actual food and what percent comes from a protein supplement?



Currentlly, I'm getting about 50% from actual food and the other 50% from Nitrean shakes. Is this okay? Or, am I hurting my muscle gains because half of my protein is from shakes? Let me know what you guys think, thanks!

[Gilles1975]

I've read on the forum that the MAJORITY of your protein intake should come from actual food and only a smaller percentage from protein shakes. So I want to know what percentage of protein do you guys get from actual food and what percentage you get from a protein supplement...what percentage split do you guys think is best for lean muscle gains?



For example, if you get 200g of protein per day...what percent of those 200g comes from actual food and what percent comes from a protein supplement?



Currentlly, I'm getting about 50% from actual food and the other 50% from Nitrean shakes. Is this okay? Or, am I hurting my muscle gains because half of my protein is from shakes? Let me know what you guys think, thanks!

If people tell you that you need to get most of your protein from real food then they are talking utter crap. A gram of protein is a gram of protein.
Your body doesn't care where the protein comes from, all your body cares about is the amount - how many grams you take in a day. So long as you are taking in enough then it really doesn't matter whether you get it from 'real' food or supplements.
BTW what does real food mean exactly - my supplement is whey protein, when did whey stop being a type of food?

[orscrubs]

"Real food" as in chicken breasts, tuna, fish, etc. not a protein supplement.

[JohnnyBrown]

Whey protein is the name for a collection of globular proteins that can be isolated from whey, a by-product of cheese manufactured from cow's milk

They dont make protein in labs it comes from food

[azma]

You're not hurting your muscle gains by using protein supplements -- in fact, you're probably helping them, if you're getting a bunch of protein that you couldn't get otherwise.

The problem is not with muscle gain, but with general health: a serving of typical food has a lot of nutrients that you may or may not get if you're downing protein supplements most of the time.

[thewicked]

I would say about 70% should come from food and the rest supplements if at all possible. I would never EVER let that ratio exceed 50/50

[Gilles1975]

You're not hurting your muscle gains by using protein supplements -- in fact, you're probably helping them, if you're getting a bunch of protein that you couldn't get otherwise.

The problem is not with muscle gain, but with general health: a serving of typical food has a lot of nutrients that you may or may not get if you're downing protein supplements most of the time.

But what if you do eat foods that have those important healthy nutrients, but they happen to be foods that contain little or no protein (say if you were a vegetarian who ate lots of veggies and fruit), if you ate these foods and got all of your protein from whey powder then are you not also eating a perfect diet?
I'm not a veggie btw, but I only have 6 slices of bacon a week, and no other meats, chicken and tuna are rancid to me. I get lots of nutrients from my foods but they are low in protein, so I get all my protein from whey.
Does my body care that my protein needs are taken care of separately from my other nutrition needs, err of course not, why would it.

[bjohnso]

I'm a diet noob, but there are different kinds of proteins, with different digestion rates. It probably doesn't matter much, but I try to get all my protein from whole food on rest days (about 215g minimum, which is pretty easy), and on workout days I take about 50g of whey - only because I mix it with dextrose and drink that during my workout. If I go to visit my family, or I am pressed for time, then I will take more whey, because it is fast and easy. I don't think an ideal percentage exists - get as much as you can comfortably from whole food, then fill the rest in with whey.

[Gilles1975]

I'm a diet noob, but there are different kinds of proteins, with different digestion rates. It probably doesn't matter much, but I try to get all my protein from whole food on rest days (about 215g minimum, which is pretty easy), and on workout days I take about 50g of whey - only because I mix it with dextrose and drink that during my workout. If I go to visit my family, or I am pressed for time, then I will take more whey, because it is fast and easy. I don't think an ideal percentage exists - get as much as you can comfortably from whole food, then fill the rest in with whey.

If you are also taking things like dextrose and creatin then that is a different matter and you should have more whole-food protein.

[bjohnso]

If you are also taking things like dextrose and creatin then that is a different matter and you should have more whole-food protein.

Why?