Is whey concentrate fattening?

MysticMonk

I should probably rephrase the question to read 'does whey concentrate contain simple carbs or sugars'
I've been weight training for years with various degrees of intensity and I've always had a whey shake after the gym and in the mornings.

The last year I've added skiff rowing and cycling to my routine to try and shift a bit of long-held belly fat.

I've dialled my diet in pretty tight,lots of grilled steak and chicken,no sugar,no fried food and carbs from fruit,seeds and oatmeal only.
I lost a small bit of blubber over the year but really I would've expected a bit more fat loss.

The only thing I can think of ( apart from beer ðŸ˜) is my twice-daily shake and I'm concerned now that it may contain quite a bit of sugar.

I currently use bulkpowders chocolate flavoured whey concentrate.

Any thoughts?

Alf Veedersane

Whey concentrate?

Their standard whey has 3g of sugar per 30g serving.

I wouldn't have thought it was the issue.

MysticMonk

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Whey concentrate?

Their standard whey has 3g of sugar per 30g serving.

I wouldn't have thought it was the issue.

See I don't measure the servings so I'm probably chugging 90 grams or so which is 9 grams of sugar,twice a day!

Alf Veedersane

MysticMonk wrote: »

See I don't measure the servings so I'm probably chugging 90 grams or so which is 9 grams of sugar,twice a day!

3 scoops a shake would be ~800 calories for 2 shakes and that's if they're made with just water.

It's not just the sugar intake.

Johnnyhpipe

One serving (my normal shake) is 30g. So for every 1 shake I have you're having 6... That's a fair few calories too.

How many calories are you eating/day?

MysticMonk

Johnnyhpipe wrote: »

One serving (my normal shake) is 30g. So for every 1 shake I have you're having 6... That's a fair few calories too.

How many calories are you eating/day?

I honestly couldn't answer that question.
I'd eat four or five regular small meals throughout the day,meat would be the lion's share of it or eggs and chicken.

I suppose I'd be nearing 3000 per day?

Alf Veedersane

You probably just need to either spend a bit of time getting a handle on quantities of intake to get a feel for where your daily calorie intake is because there's no point trying to figure out which element it is that's slowing you down if you've no idea what your diet is.

Though ~800 calories from protein shakes is excessive. 6 scoops across 2 shakes, that's 120g of protein from shakes alone. If you're getting a lot of meat and eggs on board, you don't need the shakes.

That's an easy win right there if you're trying to cut a little off.

MysticMonk

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

You probably just need to either spend a bit of time getting a handle on quantities of intake to get a feel for where your daily calorie intake is because there's no point trying to figure out which element it is that's slowing you down if you've no idea what your diet is.

Though ~800 calories from protein shakes is excessive. 6 scoops across 2 shakes, that's 120g of protein from shakes alone. If you're getting a lot of meat and eggs on board, you don't need the shakes.

That's an easy win right there if you're trying to cut a little off.

Cheers for that and it's most likely the problem.

I've shed weight before by cutting stuff out so it's pretty much a matter of dropping it and seeing what happens.

learn_more

MysticMonk wrote: »

Cheers for that and it's most likely the problem.

I've shed weight before by cutting stuff out so it's pretty much a matter of dropping it and seeing what happens.

I think it's a good idea to drop the protein shakes altogether if your aim is to loose weight primarily. You'd often hear nutritional say 'don't drink your calories'.

If you ate the equivalent in protein in meals instead of drinking them you might find it a lot easier to keep your total daily caloric intake down by eating less overall.

That's what I did anyway and found the strategy quite effective. You can always go back on the shakes once you've got to your desired body fat percentage. I never did because I found it helped me focus on eating high protein meals instead of thinking I could get all my protein through shakes and then eat a load of carbs in my meals.

marialouise

MysticMonk wrote: »

I honestly couldn't answer that question.
I'd eat four or five regular small meals throughout the day,meat would be the lion's share of it or eggs and chicken.

I suppose I'd be nearing 3000 per day?

OP, if you want to lose weight, you need to be in a calorie deficit, and the only way to know what calories you're taking is to weigh your food. Download the MyFitnessPal app, put in your stats, start weighing everything you eat for a few days (uncooked and using the barcode scanner) and you'll see how many calories you're hitting.
It's really great that you've cleaned up the diet, but to lose weight you also do need to track calories, and you might need to reduce your portion sizes of certain foods. You can fit a little sugar into your calorie budget if you're in a deficit, but as you've seen yourself if you eat only "clean" foods but don't track the calories you're making life very difficult for yourself. So just keep a check on the intake and keep up the good work!

Transform

MysticMonk wrote: »

See I don't measure the servings so I'm probably chugging 90 grams or so which is 9 grams of sugar,twice a day!

the 9g is nothing in the entire scheme of things.

Id look more closely at your training and nutritional consistency than wondering if 9g is the difference

Mellor

MysticMonk wrote: »

See I don't measure the servings so I'm probably chugging 90 grams or so which is 9 grams of sugar,twice a day!

90g is a lot, and pretty hard to mix well in a single shake.
Even if you were having 90g, 9g sugar wouldn't be the issue

MysticMonk

Mellor wrote: »

90g is a lot, and pretty hard to mix well in a single shake.
Even if you were having 90g, 9g sugar wouldn't be the issue

I have a big chef's spoon and was using that to measure the stuff into my shaker.
When i compared it to the size of the serving cup it wasnt quite three times the size but near enough. No problem blending it though,the only stuff i remember sticking to the shaker was that Big Whey stuff that was out a few years ago.

going to use the scoop thing from now on.

Mellor

The serving scoops are often undersized tbh. Especially when using a good quality whey, as these tend to to be light and fluffy, rather and dense clumps. So in that case a 30ml scoop can be 22-25g. Best way to know is just weight out the big spoon of whey so you know.

DylanJM

MysticMonk wrote: »

I honestly couldn't answer that question.
I'd eat four or five regular small meals throughout the day,meat would be the lion's share of it or eggs and chicken.

I suppose I'd be nearing 3000 per day?

This is likely the real reason you're not seeing the progress you would like not the 9g of sugar from your shake (that only accounts for 36 calories). It's crucial that you know how many calories you are eating on a daily basis in order to have some sort of reference point to work from. If you eat 3000 a day and are not losing weight then that is your maintenance number and in order to lose weight you are going to have to reduce it (2500 would be a good number). The best way to accurately track your calories is to weigh everything you eat on a scales and and use something like myfitnesspal (or google and a spreadsheet) to log everything.

martinje

Have you considered supplements like carb blockers? Also, maybe isolate whey instead?

Alf Veedersane

martinje wrote: »

Have you considered supplements like carb blockers? Also, maybe isolate whey instead?

For what reason?

Mellor

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

For what reason?

To eat all the carbs

DylanJM

martinje wrote: »

Have you considered supplements like carb blockers? Also, maybe isolate whey instead?

The best carb blocker is free, it's called self discipline.

Carb and fat blockers are some of the most pointless supplements out there imo. If you are looking to make a serious and long lasting attempt at a healthy lifestyle then they a zero place in achieving that. Spending money on a supplement that stops your body processing and absorbing the macro nutrients from the food you are also spending your money on, what a waste of money. At that point your just using the food for self gratification.

Vital Transformation

I would agree with those who say that your calorie intake is too high. According to the TDEE calculator I use, 3000 calories a day is a maintenance intake for those engaging in heavy exercise, that's 6-7 days a week (near athlete levels of exercise)

Your post doesn't give off the impression you are exercising to that extent, I could be wrong. But even then, those would be the calories to maintain your current weight.

https://tdeecalculator.net/ Use that to find out maintenance calories subject to your own height/weight/activity levels etc. Aim for a deficit in calorie intake after that.

MysticMonk

Vital Transformation wrote: »

I would agree with those who say that your calorie intake is too high. According to the TDEE calculator I use, 3000 calories a day is a maintenance intake for those engaging in heavy exercise, that's 6-7 days a week (near athlete levels of exercise)

Your post doesn't give off the impression you are exercising to that extent, I could be wrong. But even then, those would be the calories to maintain your current weight.

https://tdeecalculator.net/ Use that to find out maintenance calories subject to your own height/weight/activity levels etc. Aim for a deficit in calorie intake after that.

Makes sense.

I'm not,of course training at any kind of top level so I'm probably kidding myself I need to eat so much.
The only problem is I'm terrified of losing muscle so I tend to eat every three hours too.