Do Protein Shakes Make You Gain Weight?
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Sometime during young adulthood, some men and women experience a peculiar phenomenon where they’re overcome with an irresistible urge to get as ripped and as muscular as possible.
They start Googling things like “workouts to get crazy shredded” and begin stocking their cabinets full of pre-workouts (that probably should be illegal) with ridiculous sounding names like Russian Pit-Viper Venom XXX and Gorilla Pump Nitrous Oxide.
And, to really “pack on the gains” during their two-a-days, they devour bucket-loads of protein powder. It’s at this point that something interesting happens.
While they get bigger and stronger, they also develop an unpleasant thing novice weight-lifters refer to as “protein gut” –– where protein supposedly transforms one’s stomach into a nice hefty meaty protein-infused ball of chunk.
At first, it goes unnoticed. But one, they notice that their stomach has begun to uncomfortably roll over their belt buckle. They realize things have gotten out of control… and protein is the only thing to blame. Or, is it?
It’s not the protein shake… well, sometimes it’s the protein shake.
Let’s get one thing straight, there is no such thing as protein gut and protein shakes don’t make you fat. “Protein gut” is something college weight-lifters experience when they drink like fish on the weekends and eat like crap during the week. As a result, while they definitely pack on muscle from lifting heavy, they also pack on loads of fat. So, it’s not the protein shake, it’s the lifestyle.
Here’s the deal. Protein shakes make you fat… when you pair them with large unhealthy meals and late night snacks. While protein shakes are made up of protein, they still contain calories and that’s where, like the college student obsessed with bulking, people start running into trouble.
Pictured is our founder and CEO Billy Bosch-- on the left, we see Billy as a young professional (but still eating like a college student), and now, on the right.
We’re sold this idea that by simply drinking protein shakes we automatically get skinny, lean and ripped –– as if it’s a magic pill we can take and the fat will start melting off of us.
Due to this misconception, people workout, drink their protein shakes and don’t change any of their unhealthy eating habits… and as a result… yes… they notice they gain a few extra pounds.
But, with that said, we can’t let protein shakes completely off the hook here. After all, there is a big difference in some protein shakes compared to others. In fact, the vast majority of protein shakes have roughly 30 grams of sugar per serving. So, they’re not completely innocent. At 30 grams of sugar, it’s easy to see that if you’re hammering a few of the higher calorie ones back each day, it’d be like drinking a milkshake.
To execute what we hope to be a humble-brag here…ICONIC has no added sugar in all of our products… just saying. And we all derive our protein from grass-fed milk protein isolate a.k.a happy cows that get to run free like happy cows are supposed to and eat things that cows are supposed to eat.
Anyways, moral of the story, drink your protein but change your diet.
Happy chugging,
The ICONIC Team
Did you know that our protein drinks are sweetened with only stevia and monk fruit. You'll never see any sugar alcohols (think: sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, isomalt, and hydrogenated starch hydrolysates) or other artificial sugars.
