Does a protein shake counts as 1 meal?

[BullOx]

So, does a protein shake count as a meal?
Sorry for asking a beginner's question >.<

[JasonDB]

If you decide it does then it does... the concept of a meal is more psychological than having any real impact on physiology. Why do you pull less than you bench or squat?

[Perfect11]

Absolutely not! There's a reason why they call it a supplement.
Protein shakes alone just don't have all the nutrition you need from a whole meal.

[AdamWW]

It counts toward your daily nutrition goals because it has calories, etc. You can call it whatever you want.

[JasonDB]

Absolutely not! There's a reason why they call it a supplement.
Protein shakes alone just don't have all the nutrition you need from a whole meal.

Rep Power: 0

Could you please explain for us the importance of meals outside of a cultural, social or psychological context?

[WonderPug]

FYI: digestion takes between 24 and 72 hours to complete and thus what you consider a meal has very little relevance to what your body actually does with food, which is digest all the foods you've each day in one continuous process.

[Simmo0508]

I do. I count my post-workout shake as one of my meals, but it doesn't really matter if you don't choose to count it as a "meal". Worry more about your total calories.

I use whey powder for breakfast as well so it's kinda hard for me not to use it as a "meal" for that one either.

[jaklcrow]

This ? implies that a certain amount of meals a day are necessary. The cup of coffee I am drinking with a splash of whole milk in it could technically count as a meal if I felt like calling it one.

The real ? would be, "does a protein shake count towards my daily macros?" Which the answer would of course be yes.