Bodybuilding Forums

I heard it decreases protein synthesis and i heard it increases protein synthesis also i heard waiting an hour and then take the protein is better that taking right after. What is the truth to this.

My perspective:

If you're eating every 2-3 hours as you are supposed to as a bodybuilder, you probably don't want to work out right before you eat because digestion takes some energy you'd be using for lifts. So let's say you eat an hour before you work out. Well, you'll be eating again within an hour after your workout anyway, and most workouts take about an hour, so who cares?

It's been proven that 20-25g of protein ingested immediately post-workout maximizes protein synthesis; additional protein, for the average male, was not found to have additional synthesis benefit. However, since I don't eat much in the way of carbs, I figure that my body can use the extra 20-25g of protein in my 50g protein shake as fuel anyway

So be confident that the first 20-25g of protein you ingest immediately after a workout will help you build muscle. Additional may or may not be of a benefit to you.

--Matt B.

Oliver Lopez wrote:I heard it decreases protein synthesis and i heard it increases protein synthesis also i heard waiting an hour and then take the protein is better that taking right after. What is the truth to this.

I go to school in the mornings and i don't come back home around 5. So this is what i was doing. I eat break around 6:30am and i don't workout until 10am. I finish around 11am. Thats about 4hr duration of no food since breakfast. So Matt is a good idea for my situation to drink a protein shake right after I workout because the rule is too eat every 3 hours. My times suck. Im not home and i can't cook anything. Maybe i should be bring like 2 meals prepared everyday for school. Its kind of a hassle bring plastic containers in my gym bag, having the fear of the odor or spilling of the food.

Oliver Lopez wrote:Its kind of a hassle bring plastic containers in my gym bag, having the fear of the odor or spilling of the food.

So get some sealable containers that don't leak. Thermoses could work if you have stuff you want to keep cold and hot. It may be a hassle, but how do you think the rest of us grown-ups deal with it when we leave our houses in the morning for work and don't get home for maybe 12-13 hours? It's called planning ahead.

Why, you could even take several plastic baggies with whey protein in them and mix your shakes up right out of the water fountain throughout the day. You just have to use a little brain muscle.

I bring several pounds of food to work with me every single day in my backpack. Yeah, it's a hassle. Yeah, get used to it If bodybuilding was easy, everybody would look like Arnold in his heyday!

If I were you, I'd eat breakfast around 6:30 and then second breakfast around 8:30. I'd make breakfast heavy, and second breakfast lighter but still plenty of protein. Then after the workout, I'd have a protein shake, eat lunch around 1PM, then again around 3:30 PM, then dinner at 6 or 7 as usual. Toss back one last protein shake before bed, and there's your 7 meals.

Hypocrite alert: I'm down to around 20% body fat after being well over 30% for years. I'm starting my second twelve-week challenge today; on my previous one I lost 21 pounds of body fat, a couple inches off my waist, and hope to match or beat that this time around. That said, I don't look like a bodybuilder at the moment!

--Matt B.

Eggs and nuts are easy to carry with you and are great for low-carbers.

Sandwiches with tuna,whole grain bread slices, some veggies like tomato,lettuce and a bit of egg or light cheese or light mayo for some fat(if want) are also easy to carry with you and are great for diets like GLAD.

Fruits like an apple or a banana are also great.

And these are choices that you do not need containers.If you have a sealable container you can practically get with you almost any meal. From chicken with rice or lean red meat with arabic pita for the high carbers to an omellette or your high fat meat and veggies for the low-carber.

And of course your nice protein powder whether it is casein or soy or whey,you just need your shaker and buy some water or juice or milk from some store and you have your shake any time. There meal replacement supplements like them of Met-Rx,Muscletech or EAS.

Calculate how many hours you are away from home and devide them by 3 or 2.5 or 2 depending on how many hours you space each meal.If you are going to leave home for 12 hours and you ate your 1st meal right before leaving home ,then
you need to take with you 3 meals(if you devided with 3).I would take an extra small 4th with me just in case or just take enough money with me to buy something from outside in case my 3 meals will not satisfy me or I lose a meal by an accident.

A sandwich(tuna,whole grain,veggies,some mayo), a main meal(rice,chicken,veggies), a fruit, a protein shake and some nuts for 12 hours away from home.I don't think they take much space.Just buy a bigger bag... Actually I had finished school and for 6 months I was resting and now that my university starts I have to get in this type of lifestyle again.I

Thermoses could work if you have stuff you want to keep cold and hot.

marochka_raduga the thermose bags sound pretty cool, where can i find those. Having a warm meal rather than cold meal will is always preferred.

Why, you could even take several plastic baggies with whey protein in them and mix your shakes up right out of the water fountain throughout the day. You just have to use a little brain muscle.

The plastic is a good idea but its a hassle to put the protein powder into the shaker/waterbottle, i had a incident when i poured it, i completely miss, the particles went everywhere.

Eggs and nuts are easy to carry with you and are great for low-carbers.

Sandwiches with tuna,whole grain bread slices, some veggies like tomato,lettuce and a bit of egg or light cheese or light mayo for some fat(if want) are also easy to carry with you and are great for diets like GLAD.

Fruits like an apple or a banana are also great.

Eggs and nuts is awesome suggestion, Im planning to make a 2 packages of eggs with veggies hopefully with thermos containers. I love peanuts but the mix nuts are okay. Are honey roasted peanuts still under the guidelines of healthy nutrient, I love honey roasted....so tasty and crunchy. Then the banana and apples are high in glcyemic level. I been eating apples in the morning, now i switch oranges.

Raw nuts are best. Honey-roasted are really full of carbohydrates.

You can also cook up some meats the night before; I often bring along cold meats and snack on them throughout the day. Nice to toss them into the microwave, but they are also good without re-heating.

As far as the inconvenience of occasionally having protein dust to clean up, we all get it. I have two "blender bottles" that I like to dump a serving of whey protein into, then I take them to work with me and if I need a quick shake, bingo! Easy to do.

--Matt B.

My workspace has a tin of almonds, a box of whey protein and some yogurt that I carry to work every day. Keeps me in good company