)Provided you're not intolerant to lactose, most varieties of whey are probably fine. MyProtein and Bulk Powders are probably the most reputable good value companies in the UK for this. You won't need to more expensive whey isolate varieties, and these are just a bit more pure but for quite a bit more money.
You're probably best aiming to get good quality protein from a variety of sources, though, just to make sure you have a balanced diet (also an over-reliance on whey will give you whey flatulence if you're anything like me, even though I don't have any digestive problems with dairy...).
Also consider fish (tuna, salmon, trout, cod, monkfish and smoked haddock are my favourites), turkey, pork (under-rated lean meat if you get the right cut), natural/Greek yoghurt, quark, cottage cheese, nuts, pulses and wholegrains (quinoa, oats, linseed, lentils, chickpeas, beans, etc.), and good old milk. Don't discount the protein in veggies too - peas and broccoli for instance both have reasonable amounts of protein as well as vitamins, minerals and fibre - and soybeans, of course.
I get 190g protein per day without too much bother by concentrating on these foods, with only one scoop of whey with my breakfast. It's just a matter of getting a handle on the rough protein content of various foods, and then once you have a few staple meals you can chop and change pretty easily.
After a month or so I find myself just working this out fairly automatically (like last night: my wife and kids had fish 'n' chips, which I didn't want as I'm cutting fat. A quick rummage through the freezer and I made myself a couple of fillets of smoked haddock with a heap of quinoa, green beans, broccoli and peppers - 450Kcal and 50g protein it worked out to, and with some greek yoghurt for dessert I was easily over my desired protein target for the meal. I stir-fried the veggies in garlic and soy sauce too, so it wasn't bland - you don't just have to stuff yourself with chicken breast!
Nice one for the detailed response!
It looks as though my diet is fairly similar to yours in that I eat a lot of protein rich foods by default (Quinoa salads most days for lunch, plenty of fish, chicken and green veg as well as overnight oats with plenty of Greek yoghurt for breakfast), so I'd imagine the inclusion of a supplement would be around the same volume. Regardless, I'll use the MyFitness app to track intake and adjust accordingly
Is it best to take your shake or supplement in the morning as you suggested then? I see quite a few people mentioning that they shake up around an hour before there workout begins and again almost directly after it's done
Sounds good!
I don't think it matters that much when you take your whey. There's a lot of over-thinking that goes into this sometimes, and a lot of set-in-stone gym-science assumptions have been found to be baseless (e.g. you can only digest around 20g protein at once, you need 6 small meals per day to keep your metabolism optimal, you have a short anabolic window to get your nutrients right after exercise, etc.).
I just have my whey in the morning because... well, no reason really, other than that it's easier to mix into a breakfast of oats or quark than any other meal.
AFAIK, it's still regarded as good practice to get some quality protein after working out (but no need to stress getting it immediately after a gym session). But other than that, plenty of people train fasted in the morning, while others prefer getting some protein and carbs about an hour or so beforehand. No reason not to try different approaches and see what works best for you.
And there's nothing special about whey. It's a complete protein and high in some of the important amino acids that some other sources aren't, but it's just a convenient and easy to prepare protein source really, nothing more than that, so I don't think it would matter when you took it.
Does 100*8 with gammy shoulder.
Stewards a bar.
