Trying to lose 100lb, do I really need to intake protein shakes to do this?

[Nazarath]

Hey guys, pretty new here and am a novice at working out and such. Basically summary is, I'm 23 and weighed 300lb, decided to start doing cardio (3 mile jogs in morning) and recently joined a gym.

5 months later i'm down to 250lb but I hit a plateu and grew complacent. Now i'm back at it again but i'm going at it from a different angle by trying to diet better and am reading I need to get at least 1 gram of protein per lb? 250 grams of protein sounds insanely out of reach so i'm resorting to protein shakes now. I went to GNC because of their BOGO 50% deal and got one called "ON" gold standard 100% whey. Now this was 40$ for 56 servers of 24g protein but from what i'm gathering, since I don't get alot of protein from regular foods... Would I be needing to consume 10 scoops of this a day roughly?

Or do I really need that much protein at all since i'm specifically trying to lose weight and primarily only doing cardio? I understand that protein is used to repair muscle and such but what happened to that good ol "50 grams of protein is all you need a day"?

Sorry for the rambling i'm just confused and scared for my wallet. All i'm looking to do is lose roughly 100lb in a year and going for the fastest and most effective way to doing it without destroying my bank account.

[dmacdonal9]

1g per pound of estimated lean body mass, not body weight.

Start lifting weights yesterday. These forums of full of people trying to fix the mistake of losing massive amounts of fat without lifting. You end up looking like a skinny fat mess otherwise.

Try 180g, that'll be more than enough.

[Rooskie93]

No shakes are just meal replacements well not really but instead of eating a chicken breast you had a shake that's all supplements are used for to supplement food that you find hard to get in otherwise.

I would also start lifting weights depending on your goals as you will regret it if you want to build muscle after losing that 100lb it will just take you a lot longer to get to where you want.

Side note if you do decide to lift weights and the scale slows down dont be discouraged, if it's going down in general that's good but it could be so many other factors like water, muscle gain etc.

I would worry about getting the right amount of calories in per day before worrying about macros, I did that for the first 8-10 months before even knowing people take in certain amounts of macros for w/e they're doing (cutting/bulking).

[ablankenship83]

You don't need to take in your set macro goal of protein solely from protein shakes......you get protein from various foods you eat daily(like meat/fish/dairy/nuts and seeds/etc). You'd only really want to use shakes as supplemental protein, to hit you daily total protein needs.

To add to the chorus, implement some strength training during your weight loss, unless you wanna end up skinny fat.

[SC85]

Can you not get like 2lb of whey protein for 20 bucks or so in the US? That should last a while just have a couple of shakes a day if your protein from natural foods is really that low.

[GoUSAguy]

Shakes, paying ridiculous attention to protein, etc. is all bro science. Shakes are just disgusting compared to what you can eat for the same benefit (e.g. cottage cheese, yogurt). You will learn this eventually if you are just starting to consider using shakes.

I think it is very useful to pay close attention to everything at first, know the macros, but lay off that eventually. It doesn't work long-term for normal humans who just want to look good and be healthy. Once you do some calculations, it becomes obvious the content of what you eat. If I eat out, I try to overestimate caloric intake just in case there are more in there than what you would expect.

My guess is half the people in here who preach about protein, or ridiculous amounts of it, probably cheat in other ways (roids, HGH). I will never take advice from some POS who does that to their body. US Army all the way roid heads, you are p*ssies.

I wouldn't run if I were you. No need until your body can take it. So many good and challenging forms of cardio that will do the same thing, but protect your knees and joints in the process. It gets old when you see fat people in the gym running or whatever. No wonder they quit, it is brutal to do that to an obese body.

Nice start. Keep up the good work.

[SirJivical]

Nazareth, weight loss is extremely simple. You just need to consume less calories than you burn through metabolism and exercise. Protein shakes have absolutely nothing to do with it. If you're hitting a plateau, then you need to either consume less calories or burn more calories through exercise.

[Nazarath]

Nazareth, weight loss is extremely simple. You just need to consume less calories than you burn through metabolism and exercise. Protein shakes have absolutely nothing to do with it. If you're hitting a plateau, then you need to either consume less calories or burn more calories through exercise.

When I was counting calories and such along with using my fitbit I would average roughly 2000-2500 calories from eating, but be burning 4000-6500 on a average work day due to walking roughly 20k steps, jogging in morning, and then elliptical at gym for a hour burning 900-1200 calories. The fitbit was always roughly 100 calories off from what the machine said but I didnt always use the heartbeat part of the machine so I always assumed that was because of the difference.

What would you suggest doing based on these numbers? Cutting more calories or trying for more exercise(Or both)? I'm going to start doing weights at home and some at the gym when I have time but cardio takes up so much time just to burn 1k calories :\

[WindsorV8]

When I was counting calories and such along with using my fitbit I would average roughly 2000-2500 calories from eating, but be burning 4000-6500 on a average work day due to walking roughly 20k steps, jogging in morning, and then elliptical at gym for a hour burning 900-1200 calories. The fitbit was always roughly 100 calories off from what the machine said but I didnt always use the heartbeat part of the machine so I always assumed that was because of the difference.

What would you suggest doing based on these numbers? Cutting more calories or trying for more exercise(Or both)? I'm going to start doing weights at home and some at the gym when I have time but cardio takes up so much time just to burn 1k calories :\

Lower calories to 1800 and be consistent and accurate about your intake(buy a food digital scale). Lower the cardio to 3x week , 25min-45min each session (not necessary but if you want , do it. Can help and is good for health) . Hit weights 3x per week . Use shakes if convenient for you (your body doesn't know the difference of food vs shakes protein) . Maintain a protein intake around 140-180g . Don't worry about the lower calories because you have a toon of weight (fat) to loose . If necessary , cut 1000 calories from you TDEE . Just watch your protein goal and hit the weights in the gym .

[morrikj777]

Cutting more calories or trying for more exercise(Or both)? I'm going to start doing weights at home and some at the gym when I have time but cardio takes up so much time just to burn 1k calories :\

You can try to ramp up the intensity of your exercises. I too became complacent because the dreadmill, stair master and elliptical were becoming extremely stale. Try to mix in some fun activities that push you to your limits (within reason as you do not want to injure yourself).

Weight lifting certainly helps as well. Full body routines are generally recommended upon starting out as you can complete those three times per week with adequate rest days.