How Many Protein Shakes A Day Should You Drink?
It’s one of the most asked questions, but for some reason nobody seems to know the answer.
The truth is, everyone has different protein needs and everyone follows a different diet.
Depending on how much protein you need and how much protein you’re currently getting from food will determine how many protein shakes you should drink.
If you’re looking for a quick answer, 2 protein shakes a day at most.
If you’re drinking anymore than that, you’re simply not eating enough real food.
Now that we got the quick answer out of the way, I think it’s important to understand the “Why”.
So follow the step by step plan below to get your true answer.
Table of Contents
- First – Calculate your protein requirements:
- Second, Get most of your protein from real food:
- Third, Fill in the gaps:
- Finally, Supplement as needed:
First – Calculate your protein requirements:
As always, these things are going to vary from person to person.
Everyone has different protein requirements, but a general rule of thumb is to consume .8-1.5g of protein for every lb of lean body weight you have.
For example, a 200lb male who is 10% body fat would need to consume about 180g of protein.
Second, Get most of your protein from real food:
Protein shakes are a muscle building supplement.
Most of your protein should be coming from whole foods like eggs, chicken, fish, steak and other lean meats.
Third, Fill in the gaps:
You should be tracking all of the food you are eating throughout the day.
I know, it sounds hard, but if you’ve got a smartphone it shouldn’t take you longer than a few minutes a day.
I personally use an app called MyFitnessPal to track all of my calories, protein, carbs and fats.
If you have no idea how many calories and grams of protein, carbs and fat you should be eating. Check out my post on how to calculate your macros.
Finally, Supplement as needed:
Let’s use the 200lb male with 10% body fat as an example again. We already know he needs about 180g of protein every day.
If throughout the day he ate 130g of protein from whole food sources like chicken, fish and steak he’s still going to need 50g of protein from supplements like protein shakes.
That’s about 2 protein shakes each day.
It’s as simple as that.
If you find that it takes more than 2 protein shakes to hit your daily protein needs then you’re not eating enough real food.
If you want to try out new supplements, protein powders and other fitness products each month check out the Best Fitness Subscription Boxes article I recently wrote.
