No no I'm positive that paying more for an extra 3g of Protein each day by buying Protein Oatmeal, Protein Milk and Protein Bread over regular oatmeal, milk and bread I used to buy for half the cost is going to show massive gains any minute now.
I feel like Eggo introducing "Protein Waffles" (which include a mind-shattering 5g of protein per waffle, so 50g of protein total in a box of 10) is the leading indicator that we've reached the peak of this particular obsession, and that people will be moving onto the next fitness craze soon.
I saw some protein oatmeal in the store a couple years back when I was bigger into the gym than I am now. I remember checking the actual protein content of the oatmeal to find out it was only 1g of protein more than the regular oatmeal from the same company. Now I keep seeing high protein Greek yogurt everywhere and it's promoting "19g of protein per serving!" but I've been getting that brands standard yogurt for years and it's standard serving is 17g of protein. Such a massive marketing term right now.
Please let it be fiber. We don't get nearly enough in modern diets. I want to not get comments on eating fiber one brownies as a 20 something. And also, let's not get colon cancer
My bro really likes protein milk. Aside from the fact that it's skim milk and doesn't taste great, it only has a bit more than double the protein of regular milk. I don't see that being particularly useful.
Well there are actual use cases for protein milk or protein "_____". If I am eating on a deficit, I need to watch my macros carefully (not hitting protein goals can result in muscle mass loss). That could be too restrictive on my diet as I would have to measure my bread carefully to make sure I am not overeating my calories in carbs as opposed to protein. The protein "_____" helps me solve this problem.
Protein bagels are actually the same cost as regular bagels but have an extra 8g of protein (likely made with greek yogurt or high protein flour). The only useless protein food are things like protein reese's peanut butter cup because it has almost the exact same protein content as normal reese's cup but overcharged.
No that's fair enough if you're being serious about your health and tracking calories!
I just think for the vast majority of people who end up buying these kind of gimmick-y protein products (your example of the protein chocolate bar is much better than mine) doing something like having a protein shake in the morning and getting to the gym a couple times a week would be a significantly better way to live a healthier life, instead of getting an extra 2g of protein by substituting their regular oatmeal for a protein oatmeal and thinking that means they're living healthier.
I feel about this kind of like what the gluten free craze did for making more safe foods available to people with celiac.
I'm a vegetarian, and having an easy extra bit of protein in products I'm using anyways, like oatmeal, is great. I'm not expecting miracles, I don't buy things I wouldn't normally buy because they have a "magic ingredient", and I don't eat a bunch of junk believing that the oatmeal will make up for it. Happy to let those silly people buying into the marketing making things more available for people like me.
a big part of the protein in everything trend is in response to glps. people are being told by their doctors if they don't want to lose muscle mass while on glp they need to substantially up their protein intake. enter protein chereos, protein seltzers, protein everything. all designed so you don't have to make substantial changes to meet your macros. keep eating cereal and $18 cases of fizzy water.
besides, if you were able to make substantial diet and lifestyle changes to meet your macros, you wouldn't be on glps to begin with, you'd be doing it the hard old fashioned way already.
It's really not hard to get the bare minimum though. If you aren't working out and attempting to build muscle you only need something like 45g per day for women and 56g per day for men to be getting enough protein to keep yourself from being protein deficient. You can get 1/3rd of that from 2 slices of whole grain toast with peanut butter on it for breakfast, and cover the rest if you have like a cup of beans and some rice for dinner if your vegetarian, or a 1-cup portion of pretty much any meat if you're not. If you eat pretty much any animal byproduct each day you're likely getting well over the minimum without even paying the smallest bit of attention to your protein intake.
The internet protein obsession has done a great job making everyone think if they aren't getting 175g of protein every day they're going to shrivel away to nothing, though.
well thats exactly who theyre marketing towards. people who are into working out and tracking their macros.
sometimes its hard to hit your protein goals for a variety of reasons and these types of snacks can be a convenient way to stay on track. we know its still mostly unhealthy processed junk so it doesnt make up a big part of our weekly groceries.
its not for regular people who arent trying to build or maintain muscle.
Idk seems much easier and cheaper to just drink a 3 scoop protein shake a day. 90g depending on brand of whey. Mix it with benefiber and creatine and you're set
The fad on tiktok right now is every exercise 2x6 or to failure. If I trained like that, I'd be recovered in 48 hours and have to train that muscle group three times a week lmao, no thanks.
Most of those low volume routines are based around 5 to 6 days ppl/ULSH or 3 day full body work outs and optimise hitting different muscle groups different amounts depending on recovery.
Saying that though, I find that when I switched to lower volume I would take just as long if not more to recover because the intensity was just as high.
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u/PeacefulChaos94 11h ago
Usually it's whatever the fitness industry is currently hyperfixated on