Muscle Milk or Whey Protein?

[Spooky]

Which do you prefer? Which does a better job, and for what?

[inflated]

Originally Posted by Spooky

Which do you prefer? Which does a better job, and for what?

Check for ingredients if they contain artificial sweeteners ie, Aspartame and Sucralose stear clear that stuff is poison. I like Optimum Nutrition Whey protein its more digestable for me and its is less costly than muscle milk. Stay away from the strawberry flavors unless you like a sappy sweet flavor.

[wolfotehmoon]

They're the same; MM is just premixed and more expensive. Go and buy some powder.

[Spooky]

I'm no expert on this, but the guy at the Vitamin Shoppe said that there were mainly two types of protein (among others... but, mainly that I was looking at). And they were: Whey protein, and casein.

Whey protein has whey protein, and casein has well, casein. But hat both Whey and casein constitute MM. So, not knowing which to buy, I just bought both: MM.

Anyway. Just wondering what people's preferences were.

[b.spencer]

I've done a number of brands including 3 from Cytosport (makes of Muscle Milk.) While your Vitamin shop guy is correct that there is both fast digesting protein (whey protein) and slow digesting (casein), I have found that MM simply has a lot to be desired. It is relatively high calorie for the protein content, and extremely high fat. MuscleMilk consistently gave me as much fat gains and bloat as muscle gains. But, the high fat makes it taste good, no doubt.

If you want cleaner protein shakes (more protein, less cabs and fat), when simply buy a brand of clean close-to-pure whey and a brand of clean close-to-pure casein and mix the two, in whatever ratio you want. (I do 2:1 casein vs whey for my might shake, for example. Reverse that PWO). Casein does taste bad (thick and chalky) so mix carefully.

Personally, I prefer All The Whey products (because it tastes great, has a high protein to carbs/fat ratio, is aspartame free, and I can order in bulk for much less than from anyone else I know). But, ON makes both good whey and casein products too.

Of course, everyone has their opinion. Some people swear by MM, but I say if you want more cals and more fat, just add a raw egg to your shake and get a 3rd source of protein in addition to the extra sat fat.

[WhoDunIt]

I did notice a jump in what I could do after using MM, but I'm not sure it it's "real" or "mental". The fat content does to worry me some since I'm no lightweight to begin with and my weight has pretty much stayed the same since starting on it. I do like the taste and that it's premixed and ready to drink though.

[Spooky]

Originally Posted by b.spencer

I've done a number of brands including 3 from Cytosport (makes of Muscle Milk.) While your Vitamin shop guy is correct that there is both fast digesting protein (whey protein) and slow digesting (casein), I have found that MM simply has a lot to be desired. It is relatively high calorie for the protein content, and extremely high fat. MuscleMilk consistently gave me as much fat gains and bloat as muscle gains. But, the high fat makes it taste good, no doubt.

If you want cleaner protein shakes (more protein, less cabs and fat), when simply buy a brand of clean close-to-pure whey and a brand of clean close-to-pure casein and mix the two, in whatever ratio you want. (I do 2:1 casein vs whey for my might shake, for example. Reverse that PWO). Casein does taste bad (thick and chalky) so mix carefully.

Personally, I prefer All The Whey products (because it tastes great, has a high protein to carbs/fat ratio, is aspartame free, and I can order in bulk for much less than from anyone else I know). But, ON makes both good whey and casein products too.

Of course, everyone has their opinion. Some people swear by MM, but I say if you want more cals and more fat, just add a raw egg to your shake and get a 3rd source of protein in addition to the extra sat fat.

So... I want NO more fat. That was why I was hesitant at first to buy MM as it is 333 or some odd calories, much of it from fat.

I am working out three times a week, using the Stronglifts 5x5, if anybody has heard of that. My main two goals are gaining muscle mass and cardiovascular strength. So, I am lifting as well as 20-30 minutes cardio afterward, mostly jogging/running.

Should I be concerned, then, about using MM if I want to drop weight, or at least, keep the fat I have to help gain some muscle mass without gaining more fat? I am only drinking it AFTER workout (after weights and cardio, that is).

Opinions??

[inflated]

Eating fat is not what makes you fat its excess calories and usually from carbs---a prime example is the Adkins diet its high protein, and high fat and very low carbs and most people usually get much leaner. Its a bad idea to do this diet because most people cannot make it permanent nor should they and as soon as they return to eating carbs they get fat again. If you want to drop weight drinking protein shakes seems to be counter-productive eat a healthy lean diet of real food instead.

[Spooky]

Originally Posted by inflated

Eating fat is not what makes you fat its excess calories and usually from carbs---a prime example is the Adkins diet its high protein, and high fat and very low carbs and most people usually get much leaner. Its a bad idea to do this diet because most people cannot make it permanent nor should they and as soon as they return to eating carbs they get fat again. If you want to drop weight drinking protein shakes seems to be counter-productive eat a healthy lean diet of real food instead.

Yeah, I already do. You would be hard pressed to find anyone on this forum who eats a more well-balanced diet as I naturally eat.

Hmm... well, was just worried about calories. I called my mother tonight, who is a doctor, and she said that what she eats when she gets home from the gym is roughly in the 300 calorie range, and that she didn't think it was an outrageous amount of fat. I mean, hell, 3 cans of coke have somewhere around that many calories...

[hyooge]

I love Muscle Milk. I know that the fat content isn't ideal, but it tastes great, and I find the pre-mixed containers really easy to drink and carry around.

[b.spencer]

Originally Posted by Spooky

Yeah, I already do. You would be hard pressed to find anyone on this forum who eats a more well-balanced diet as I naturally eat.

Hmm... well, was just worried about calories. I called my mother tonight, who is a doctor, and she said that what she eats when she gets home from the gym is roughly in the 300 calorie range, and that she didn't think it was an outrageous amount of fat. I mean, hell, 3 cans of coke have somewhere around that many calories...

Like I said, everyone is different. I eat about 600 cals PWO and again 2 hours later. I was just saying, strictly speaking, the macro ratio for MM has a lot more fat and carbs in it that most other protein powder sources.

You will get an opinion about "Which protein powder is best?" from every guy or gal who has ever lifted. IMO, lol, the best thing to do is experiment. See what works for your body. As I said, I prefer to be able to control (as much as I can) what goes in to my shakes and to keep as natural foods as possible (I throw in fat from eggs and carbs in whole oats.)

MM just made me bloat like crazy and gave me sour stomach. As soon as I switched, within just a couple of days, the bloat was gone and have never had to stomach problems again. Other guys who look incredible, way better than me, use MM powder and pre-mixed and on -the-go and have no problems with it at all.

It's like the nutritionist at my gym tells clients. "Shakes are just empty calories. No matter who makes them. No matter what. It is the foods you pair with it and what you do to use it that makes it useful for muscle or not."

[BIGJOEY]

would suggest you contact the people at synergy advanced nutrition. best stuff out on the market today. all good products, no crap and they work. you dont bloat, no sugars, low carbs, and better than the name brands and not as expensive.
www.synergyadvancednutrition.com


use to get my stuff from a well know trainer not now they are much better and willing to work some deals on prices

[annoyingone]

So normally I swim, but now that the season is over, I've just been doing lifting to bulk up. Should I take Muscle milk or whey? I only lift like twice a week, and sometimes run and swim randomly on other days. I feel that musclemilk would be more beneficial since you can take it before bed and in the morning and what not, but I'm still confused on if I should buy it or whey. HELP?!?

[drew]

Guys, muscle milk is whey -- it's just a brand name!

When you go to choose a protein supplement, you want to look for one that's cheap, that is low in sugar, and that you actually process versus crapping out.

Everything else comes down to your individual preferences.

Don't worry about calories as long as they're good calories. Even when you look at the label and see carbs check out the sugars, that's the big number. The complex carbs are good, and are needed to get the protein where you need it. Same for the fat, you can't have a fat-free protein powder that's not processed to all hell. Milk and Eggs have fat as part of their forms. Those are natural fats and they don't hurt you. In fact they help you and you need them.

-------------------------------------------
Things to look for:

-- Something you can afford.
-- Something that tastes good.
-- Something that mixes well and doesn't feel like paste or sawdust.

-- Something that's low in sugar
-- Something that doesn't have lots of extra, crap

-------------------------------------------

The reason I like Muscle Milk -- it tastes good.

The reason I DONT like Muscle Milk:

It' got a huge load of carbs. They're simple sugar, the bad carbs.

It's only loading agent is pure sugar. That means it hits you fast and you still crap most of it out.

It's really high in fat. They do this to make it taste buttery and rich. You'd come out better eating melted icecream with protein in it.

Finally, if you read the label, they put a LOT of fillers in to make you think you're getting more than you are. You can tell this because if you add up the numbers for sugars and fibre, there's still 90-100 grams of unaccounted for carbs which means you're eating some random industrial filler like malto-dextrin.

[annoyingone]

I'm actually going to try cytogainer, since I am really small and I heard that it s a good helper for my jumping off point

[BIGJOEY]

i would suggest you try eating first before you go out and start buying crap you wont like. try doing 5 meals about 3 hrs apart, make sure your split is 40% protein( eg. chicken, eggs, beef ,fish, cottage cheese) 40% carbs 9eg, sweet pots, yams, brown rice, red skin pots, broccoli ) and 20% good fats, (eg natural peanut butter, almonds, walnuts, flax oil, olive oil) . most dont grow or gain size or weight because they dont eat. stay away from breads, white rice sugar, fast foods. you can do what is called a cheat meal something like pasta. Then do a few monts of good lifting before you start worring about powders etc. in the long run you will do better.

[drew]

Eat a bag full of the McDonald's Double cheesburgers/McDoubles.

Much tastier and a way healthier way to get a lot of calories.

[WhoDunIt]

I can honestly say that is once statemnt I thought I'd never read there Drew! McDoubles might be better since those only have one slice of cheese

[drew]

Well think about it. The burgers have complex carbs (buns), loads of protein (meat), some random vitamins and nutrients (toppings).

The fats are unrefined animal fats. You body doesn't like to use animal fat for fuel, it generally craps the excess out.

Compare that to the weight gainers where they just use sugar and super processed chemically-altered fats to provide you with useless calories.

When you weigh the two together, they McDonald's doesn't seem so bad...

[BIGJOEY]

that is the stupiedest statement ever.
here is the nutritional info:

double cheese burger total calories 440 total calories from fat 210
total fat (g ) 23 saturated fat (g) 11
trans fat (g) 1.5 cholesterol mg) 80
sodium (mg) 1150 carbs(g) 34
dietary fiber (g ) 2 sugars (g) 7
protein (g) 25
this isnfo is from mcdonals website just incase people want to look for themselves.

so just want you really want. a sandwhich of which almost 1/2 the cals is from fat a shit load of sodium some trans fats just to finish you off. in case you havent noticed the amount of obese people walk around stuffing them selves with crap like this. if you want to look like them then be my guest. But if your trying to bodybuild then you need to be smart about it. powders and premade stuff are only designed to back up tour nutritional plan not to supplant it.

[drew]

I was making the comparison between the McD's and the Cytogainer crap -- 570 cal, 10g fat, and 75g carbs, and 20g's of mystery products not listed on the label. All for 54g of protein that you won't get much usage out of.

[cccatl]

Casein vs. Whey

The supposed difference is the uptake rate in the body. Whey supposedly gets taken up faster than Casein (30 minutes vs. hours).

The theory is that whey is better in situations where you need protein fast, like after a workout or first thing in the morning. Casein is better at basically all other times, i.e. your body needs protein continuously throughout the day. Casein allows you to take a protein shake and your body is supplied with protein over the course of the next couple of hours.

Now, I'm not sure I believe this difference. The main reason is that my stomach seems to empty just as fast on a whey shake than on a casein shake (you run the experiment. Tell me what you think). I think that powdered protein is already so simple, so pre-digested, that both types of protein are taken up by the body pretty rapidly.

I slow down the uptake not by choosing casein over whey, but by consuming other stuff. If I take just a protein shake, I'll digest the protein fast. If I also take some carbs, some fat, some fiber, then the digestion is slower. For example, if I mix the protein with orange juice, 2% milk, and a fiber tablet, the digestion is slower. Not hours, but also not 30 minutes.

Anyways, the upshot is that I don't think it really matters. There are more important things to take care of in bodybuilding. I usually just have casein around the house. Recently, I've been trying a new protein powder, since mine old one is discontinued. It's a mix of whey, casein, egg, and soy. Seems fine.

[Russell123]

i also use the Muscle Milk it is good and full of vitamins i like it

[FuzzyKB]

[COLOR="LightBlue"]
My Nephew who is working towards his pro card has had good luck with MM. It is especially effective when used with Cytogainer during bulking. If your routine is good enough the calorie count of MM and fat content are not really sufficient to do damage.

One of the hardest aspects for most is the diet because so many of the supplements either lack flavor or present flavors or aftertastes which are not really all that great. I date back a long time and in the late 1960's and early 1970's when I was avid into this personally, I remember buying a number of the Weider products advertised in magazines. I actually wondered at the time if they had deliberately engineered this stuff to show how macho some of these guys were. It was awful. Today, most of the sups are pretty decent, and even the few that are pretty tough are miles better than what was available 30+ years ago.

If it takes flavor to get it down you are a candidate for MM. If you are brave and capable of tuning out the flavor of these products in general then you can get away with nearly anything that has the basic ingredients. [/COLOR]

[sharencaster]

No difference. Both protein drinks made for gaining muscle. Muscle milk has lots of sugar and tastes good. its like drinking bargain brand orange juice or tropicana. Tropicana has a few more nutrients and whatnot but you will get the same results.