Protein Shakes After a Workout – Why and Is it Important?

Lately I have been getting a TON of questions about working out, foods I eat, regimens I stick to and a big question — protein shakes! If you guys follow me on IG stories then you know I’m always complaining about drinking my protein shakes after a workout because I hate doing it but I still do it, every single time.

I’ve gotten some questions regarding if I feel that it is essential to have a protein shake after you work out or if I’ve even noticed a difference since I started doing it so I thought I’d talk all about it in today’s post.

To be honest, when I first started working out and my trainer told me I needed to get in the habit of having a protein shake after our workouts I was like, “Ew, gross — is that even necessary?” Of course, he gave me a long lecture of why it’s important and well, because I forked over a good $1500 in training, I decided to hell with it — I’m going with the protein too. In the past I’ve always been a do pilates periodically kinda girl, never really watch my diet and never been on a super strict workout regimen. But once I decide I’m going to do something – I don’t give up so I was all in.

So, long story shot – YES, it matters and YES, I notice a huge difference.

Now lets get to whole technical side of things which I’ve finally come to understand.

Protein is used for the production of muscles (which hello is why we all workout). When you push through a tough workout, your muscles are being constantly challenged and their fibers start to break down and get damaged. After a workout is the best time to get protein into the body so that the protein can be delivered to your muscles to begin healing those little tears in the muscle tissue (caused by an intense workout). Basically, you’re using the amino acids from the protein the encourage healthy recovery and muscular growth. #Winning.

So you’re probably thinking, why in the world do I want to drink some nasty protein shake when I can just eat protein instead, right?

Protein powder is an isolated nutrient source, so it provides a lot of nutrition for relatively few calories. After exercise, your body needs that nutrition to recover, but you obviously don’t want so many calories to negate all the effort you put forth during your workout. I mean, sucks but it’s true.

Another reason? Solid food takes more time to digest and to break down the protein and send it to the muscles. Most protein powders on the market feature whey protein concentrate or whey protein isolate as primary ingredients. Whey is a fast-acting protein, so most people are able to digest it easily. Your muscles will then soak all the nutrition up for muscle recovery and growth.

SO, the particular protein I use is a popular one probably seen everywhere — Optimum Nutrtion Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein Powder available here. The flavor I get is Strawberry. I have tried Chocolate because everyone in the world swears by drinking chocolate protein shakes but for some reason I literally cannot.

To me, if chocolate doesn’t taste like a Hershey’s bar I just CAN’T.

I’ll be honest guys — It doesn’t taste great, no protein shakes do unless you make them with milk and add fruit and all that fancy stuff to it. But if you want to go low carb low calories and just good ol protein then you do what I do and add one scoop of protein powder in your shaker bottle and some water and drink it up.

Another thing I’ve been addicting to my protein shakes is a tablespoon of Collagen Protein. This is not a necessity but just a little something extra I do because I love anything collagen (I mean, I’m an esthetician!!) Basically this helps support joints, healthy gut, vibrant skin, aging and keeps hunger in check. This doesn’t have any taste so you don’t have to worry about that just mix it in with your existing protein shake or you can add it in soups, etc.. It will also give you an extra boost of protein which is always a good thing!

Also, there are many different types of protein:

Soy Protein (for Vegetarians or Vegans), Egg Protein (lactose and dairy free protein powder), Pea Protein (vegan), Hemp Protein (vegan or anyone with dairy allergies) and so on. So if Whey protein isn’t for you, then you can look into other options as well!

I hope you guys found this helpful and as usual let me know if you have any questions!

Shop the Post:

Sports Bra: Lorna Jane // Pants: Lululemon // Protein Powder: Here