Hello, Hope all is well for everyone!
I started out today with an EAS Vanilla Whey Protein Shake with a banana blended in. I love vanilla and banana smoothies they make me get out of bed in the mornings. I also wanted some carbs this morning. The whole wheat bagels in the fridge where actually mocking me .... they were sitting there looking all delicious! I passed because I was planning on a chicken sandwich for lunch and the wheat bread along with the few grams of carbs in the smoothie would make up my entire 20% of carb allowance!
This brings me to a question ... What type of Protein Powder does everyone else use?
I'll run down the ones I have sampled and would like to hear what everyone else is doing. First, I had the Smoothie King Gladiator Tub (23G/Scoop). It was chocolate flavored and tasted very good. The problem was that it was like $50 for a tube and it had a very high amount of carbs. I thought that to be a bit pricey. Then I tried this Tub that I got at Target for $18. It is called Body Fortress (26G/Scoop) and was 100% Whey Protein. It worked fine when I put it in a blender with ice and fruit to make a smoothie but it didn't absorb very well in just milk or water. I almost felt that is was priced so good that it was a lesser quality powder? It wasn't as good tasting as the Gladiator powder either. Then I tried EAS 100% Whey Protein Powder. It is 23G/scoop and comes in vanilla, chocolate or strawberry and is priced at about $23. It blended with water and milk and tasted great. I would have kept using this but the next time I ran out I went back to Target and they were sold out? I even asked if they had any in the back. So, I went to GNC during the Gold Discount Week and bought the GNC Private Label 100% Whey Protein. It was Strawberry -- very good with a banana also!! It was $24 a tub and I believe 20G/Scoop. It mixed well with water and milk but it did not blend well with ice and fruit. It would get clumpy when used with my blender. And it only tasted so-so. So, after all that rambling I have purchased bulk supply of the EAS tubs. I have vanilla, chocolate and strawberry and probably will not try another brand unless someone has an awesome recommendation!
Okay, now that I got that out of my system lets move on to Upper Plus and Abs/Core Plus. Both of these are very solid workouts. I burned a total of 558 calories during the workout today and my arms feel like strings of spaghetti. The damn combat pushups at the end of UP just murders me. And the "L Chin-ups" are by far the hardest move for me to do on all the PLUS workouts. I cannot do the chin-up with my legs L'd. I pull myself up and then make the L and slowly lower myself down -- just like the ripped little blondie mom who giggles a lot in the videos. Except I cannot even make a full L. It is more like a half L, if that even makes sense? It absolutely destroys my shoulders and abs. I did seven today and it may have been one too many because I was still hurting from it a few moves later. I am getting better at Abs/Core Plus. I really like how this workout makes my obliques and lower back just ache. In my opinion, Ab Ripper X is a superior Ab workout and I think it needs to be incorporated into P90X PLUS more than it is, but that being said Abs/Core Plus really blasts your entire core. Even more so that Core Synergistics, once again - just my opinion. And I think by doing ACP it is going to make me even stronger at doing Ab Ripper X.
Alright, today is my wife Annie's birthday so we are going out with friends for some sushi and drinks. So, Happy Birthday Annie!
Tomorrow is Kenpo Plus.
Thanks for Reading,
Jeff
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteI use Elite Dynamatize Vanilla Whey it is about $25 bucks at the Vitamin Shoppe. I also like Lean Mass Builder, the chocolate is delicious plus it has a little creatine in it(5mg) per scoop. It is aliitle more expensive $40. If you time the sales right at GNC you can always get it for cheaper(or if you have a GOld card its 20% off at the beginning of the month). Last time I think I got it around $30. The thing with the Whey is you have to watch the cholesterol in it. Especially if you are eating 3-4 scoops a day. The Fortress and EAS all have very high cholesterol(around 50/60 mg) the kind that you can get at Target or Wal Mart. I do agree that the EAS has a money taste though. YOur daily alloted amount is 300mg, and with all of the other protein I have ended up at 2 times this amount on several occasions. I only started to realize. Lean Mass Builder has 0mg cholesterol and the ELite has 15mg. I also tried Met-Rx which was very low also, healthy, but the Chocolate flavor tasted kind of like carmel....gross. YOu may want to take this into account when looking for Whey. Also the Vanilla Flavors typically have less cholesterol than the others if I remember correctly.
Oh yeah, it took me a good while to figure all of that out. Earlier this year as I began to eat healthier and healthier I slowy began to analyze different aspects of my nutrition. Eventually Cholesterol came up and boy was I amazed at how much of it I was downing in Whey. So I set out to find low cholesterol ones. It took me a while to narrow it down to those two brands. The Elite is OK w/ water and good w/ skim milk. I usually skip the milk b/c of the carbs in it.... The lean mass builder is very good both ways. I use a magic bullet to mix my drinks up with, it is very handy since it is basically a glass. So I don't have to wash a whole blender when I am done with it. I have tried the magic bullet w/ chopping food and it isn't so great.....but since i use it atleast twice a day w/ shakes as opposed to solid food it works perfect!! Hope this helps!!
ReplyDeleteHello guys,
ReplyDeleteMy friend at work had suggested that I try Casein Protein (see link below).
http://www.bulknutrition.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=casein&x=0&y=0
It has 10mg of cholesterol. Didn't one of you guys try this before. I thought I read something about "Cookies and Cream" protein drink from one of you guys' blog or something.
Anyways, this product comes in four favors (Banana, Chocolate Supreme, Cookies and Crem, and Creamy Vanilla). So far, I've only tried the Cookies and Cream. It has a little bit of artificial sweetener after taste.
So take a look and see if it's something for you.
I just swapped out my Friday workout from core to total body + now you're making me want to retry upper plus. Hmmm,.... Gonna have to think on that!
ReplyDeleteWhy are you keeping your carbs so low??? I can't function on under 30%
Matt -- I may have to try the Elite. I never really thought about the cholesterol but you make a very good point.
ReplyDeleteJoc - I decided to start the whole nutrition phase over again when I started the PLUS. I am in the Fat Shedding Phase 1 which is 60% Protein/20% Fat/20% Carbs. I probably won't make it the entire recommended 30 days since I don't really have too much more Fat to shred! After that I plan on staying in the more balanced 40%protein/40% carbs/20%fat phase....but you are right I am feeling the effects of such a low carb intake. It hasn't effected my workouts yet but when it starts to I will up the carbs.
ReplyDelete