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"Can protein shakes replace meals?" | Your Nutritional Questions Answered | Myprotein
Jan 30, 2025
Our Expert Nutritionist, Richie Kirwan, answers your questions about protein, protein shakes, meal replacements and supplements.
We love our community here on YouTube and we wanted to make sure we can answer your questions. Each Tuesday Richie answers a question and it is posted as a YouTube Short.
If you have any questions, drop them below - we can't wait to get answering them ⬇️
Find Richie on Instagram: @be_more_nutrition
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Chapters:
00:00 - Adding protein powders to diets
00:40 - Why take supplements?
01:39 - can protein shakes replace meals?
02:20 - Protein do’s and don’ts
03:20 - The best time to drink protein shakes
04:09 - Alternative to protein shakes
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0:00
foreign
0:01
[Music]
0:04
should you include protein powders in
0:07
your diet so why would you want to take
0:09
a protein powder you might want to
0:10
improve recovery you might want to build
0:12
some muscle you can absolutely get
0:14
enough protein from your diet and I
0:16
always recommend getting protein from
0:18
your diet first but it does get to a
0:21
point where getting that much protein
0:23
from food is not easy you need to cook
0:25
can be expensive too so in that case
0:27
taking protein powders as a supplement
0:30
can be a great way to supplement the
0:32
protein in your diet to get more protein
0:34
into your diet help you reach the
0:36
protein goals that will help you reach
0:38
your physique goals what are the main
0:40
reasons for wanting to take a protein
0:42
supplement and how do you know which is
0:43
the right protein powder for you well in
0:46
terms of reasons the main reason for
0:47
wanting to use protein powder or protein
0:49
supplement is muscle growth we know that
0:51
after you've had a heavy training
0:52
session in the gym taking some protein
0:54
powder can help to stimulate muscle
0:56
growth and help to lead to muscle growth
0:58
in the long term the second reason is
1:01
very much related to the first and it's
1:03
Sports recovery so if you're training
1:04
hard getting more protein into you after
1:07
your training sessions will help your
1:09
muscles recover and prepare you for your
1:11
next training session and then the third
1:13
reason is for dieting so a lot of people
1:15
don't know this but protein actually
1:17
helps to reduce appetite so that can be
1:20
one reason that'll stop you from eating
1:21
too much but protein also helps you hold
1:24
on to more muscle as you're dieting so
1:27
you're not going to be losing muscle
1:28
instead of fat which is really really
1:30
important in terms of the right protein
1:32
for you it's all down to experimentation
1:34
play around with the ones that you like
1:35
and that agree with you most can you use
1:38
protein shakes to replace an entire meal
1:40
the answer is absolutely not the reason
1:44
for that is a protein shake obviously
1:45
not only contains protein whereas a
1:48
whole meal will contain carbohydrates
1:50
fats protein fiber vitamins minerals
1:54
polyphenols and a whole host of other
1:56
nutrients that we get from Whole Foods
1:58
which you cannot get from a simple Shake
2:01
that's why we often have whole meal
2:03
replacement shakes which contain much
2:06
more than protein alone now that's it
2:08
you can use a protein powder or a
2:10
protein shake to supplement the protein
2:12
in a meal if you need to get some extra
2:14
protein but don't think that you can
2:16
replace all of your meals with protein
2:17
shakes in the long term it is not
2:19
healthy here are some of the most
2:22
important tips when it comes to taking
2:23
protein if your goal is to build muscle
2:25
aim for at least 1.6 to 2.4 grams of
2:30
protein per kilogram of body weight per
2:33
day okay get enough protein second one
2:37
okay don't have all of your protein in
2:40
one meal protein works best if you
2:42
distribute it evenly throughout the day
2:44
and if you can aim for between four and
2:47
six meals with enough protein so say for
2:49
example 30 to 40 grams of protein per
2:53
meal that is your best chance of evenly
2:56
stimulating muscle growth throughout the
2:59
day next make sure you get protein at
3:03
night before you go to bed remember when
3:05
you go to bed you're going to be fasting
3:06
for at least eight hours you are missing
3:09
out on an opportunity to stimulate
3:10
muscle growth and the last one but not
3:12
least remember to get enough protein at
3:14
breakfast which is usually the lowest
3:16
protein meal of the day when should you
3:18
be having a protein shake I'm going to
3:20
explain this okay if you go to the gym
3:22
and have a heavy training gym session
3:25
okay you're going to stimulate muscle
3:27
growth and you want to be stimulating
3:29
muscle growth for up to 24 or maybe even
3:32
up to 48 hours after that gym session
3:35
here's the thing if you eat protein
3:37
within that period you'll stimulate
3:40
muscle growth even more so that means
3:42
you've got this really really really
3:44
long period of time where you can take
3:46
advantage of that anabolic window to
3:50
stimulate muscle growth it's not just
3:52
immediately after your training session
3:54
so if you really really want to get the
3:56
most out of your training session have
3:58
protein regularly so have some protein
4:00
after your training session have it a
4:02
few hours later have some protein before
4:04
you go to bed get plenty of protein to
4:07
stimulate muscle growth regularly
4:09
an alternative to protein shakes if you
4:11
don't want to tape them absolutely it's
4:14
called real food okay if you don't like
4:17
protein shakes if they don't agree with
4:19
you you can absolutely get enough
4:21
protein from your diet it's just not as
4:24
easy and it can probably work out a
4:26
little bit more expensive because you're
4:27
going to do it need to do a little bit
4:28
more shopping a little bit more cooking
4:30
to get that much protein into your diet
4:31
the reason we take protein shakes in the
4:33
first place is because they're super
4:35
convenient to take now that's it if you
4:37
don't like protein shakes themselves you
4:39
can also use protein powder as an
4:42
ingredient so for example you can make
4:43
protein oats by making some porridge and
4:45
just adding some protein powder in
4:47
you've immediately increased the amount
4:49
of protein you're getting you can also
4:50
add protein powder into things like
4:52
cottage cheese or Greek yogurt to make
4:55
them taste a lot nicer and also increase
4:57
the amount of protein in your diet but
4:59
don't think you need those protein
5:01
powders but they are super convenient
5:05
[Music]
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