High-Protein, High-Calorie Drinks

In my previous blogs, I have discussed the benefits of protein supplement drinks, and how they are an excellent and essential addition for meal plans designed to maximise lean muscle mass gains while achieving and maintaining low body fat composition. Actually, there are two very different kinds of drinks you can use to obtain additional protein:

1. protein drinks that have no added (or very few) additional calories except for those found in the protein itself. Excellent examples of such drinks include Optimum Nutrition Platinum Hydro Whey, and Sci-Mx Grs-5 Proetin System.


2. weight-gainer drinks and supplements that are loaded with a lot of additional calories as well as those contained in the protein. Boditronics Mass Attack Evo is one such product, along with USN Hyperbolic Mass. A brand new product now available from Explosive Nutrition that is receiving good reviews is Reflex One Stop Extreme. Click on the link to learn more about the cutting-edge product.

When you take the time to read the labels on these two different products you can easily see the difference. A straight-forward protein supplement drink providing 27 grams of protein, mixed with water and sweetened artificially contains approximately 108 calories. On the other hand, a typical weight-gainer product that has the same amount of protein but is also loaded with carbohydrates and contains some fat as well, when mixed with whole milk as recommended, contains a whopping 2,000 calories per serving! Obviously, you should know the difference when you decide to use such a product.

Ultimately, it is important to realistically and logically assess your training goals, intensity and subsequent dietary needs to create the necessary demand for such weight-gainer drinks. Creating demand is also a subject I have previously discussed, and something I believe that most individuals set on 'getting jacked' routinely over-look. Without creating the demand for your body to utilise these excessive macro nutrient levels and the required cardio-vascular exercise to help bolster your metabolic rate, you will gain weight - but it will be centered around your waist-line, not where you actually need it in terms of muscle mass.

When I returned to England after wrestling in America and quickly realised that the job opportunities I was hoping for were few and far between, my survival depended on conserving as much money as I could to hold me over until I could land a job. That meant cutting all my supplements from my diet - a very disconcerting thought given that sports-supplementation products had been such a fundamental part of my diet for years. That meant relying solely on whole foods to supply my nutritional requirements.

The positive aspect of this is that I became much more aware of food nutritional values and foods that were very useful to me. I soon developed my own improvised protein-drinks, a benefit of which was that I knew precisely what was in them and what kind of nutritional benefit I was getting (refer back to one of my earliest blogs - Steve's Power Smoothie).

I'd combine my protein sources from oatmeal, weetabix, skimmed milk and Quark (similar to cottage cheese, but with virtually zero fat,neutral taste and 30g of protein at 70p per pot) to hit a target of 50-60g of protein per serving. I'd sometimes take this around with me in a thermos bottle at home or at work, so that I could drink it throughout the day.

But whether it's a commercial product or a home-made concoction, the purpose of such drinks is the same: to super-saturate the body with protein, making the necessary amino acids available for maximum muscle-building, and to supply the necessary calories to fuel training and growth.

The best protein powders are those that derive their amino acids from milk and egg sources - Whey protein shakes in particular has become the standard for protein drinks. But recently, other non-dairy based protein drinks have become increasingly popular - pea protein and rice protein in particular are favoured among vegetarian athletes (while not a complete protein source, when combined with proper diet and other meat and dairy protein sources it can become very potent).

Always check the label of any protein powder you are considering purchasing. Just because a serving size is listed at '1 scoop', don't just arbitrarily follow the direction. By now, you should know how much protein you need to ingest daily, and that 50-60g is typically the maximum amount of protein you can ingest in one sitting. To make sure I hit 50g of protein, not powder weight in a serving, I often weigh-out my protein, knowing what weight value is needed to hit my target.