Do Protein Shakes Make You Gain Weight Without Working Out?

Do protein shakes make you gain weight without working out? Discover how protein supplements can help with weight management.

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Protein Shakes and Weight Gain

Will Drinking Protein Shakes Make Me Gain Weight?

Although protein shakes are often championed as a weight loss food, they can also help you gain weight.

This may seem paradoxical, but it makes perfect sense because depending on how they are used, protein supplements can help you achieve a calorie deficit or surplus.

And losing weight is all about achieving and maintaining a calorie deficit – eating fewer calories than you burn.

Gaining weight, on the other hand, comes down to achieving and maintaining a calorie surplus – eating more calories than you burn.

You have to burn 3,500 more calories than you eat to lose a pound, or eat 3,500 more calories than you burn to gain a pound.

And to lose or gain weight at a safe rate – 0.5 pound per week – you need to achieve a weekly calorie deficit/surplus of 1,750 calories.

Increasing the percentage of your calories by replacing a meal or part of a meal with a protein shake can help you create a calorie deficit because:

• Protein is the most satiating macronutrient, meaning it keeps you feeling full for longer than nutrients like fats and carbs, which curbs cravings and overeating.
• Protein increases thermogenesis, , or your metabolic rate and energy expenditure.
• Eating protein, when paired with resistance exercise, can help you build muscle, and people with more muscle mass have faster metabolisms (burn more calories).

On the contrary, simply adding a protein shake to your diet, if nothing else about your diet or lifestyle changes, can help you create a calorie surplus.

So, protein shakes can make you gain weight without working out, as long as they allow you to eat more calories than you burn.

Note that working out – doing resistance training (i.e. lifting weights) – is essential if you want to build muscle.

Your muscles need amino acids to grow and repair themselves, and some of these amino acids (the building blocks of protein) must come from food or supplements.

How Much Protein Do I Need? 

The current recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for protein is 0.36 grams per pound of body weight per day for sedentary adults.

This amounts to 50-60 grams per day for men and about 40-50 grams for women.

Keep in mind that this is the bare minimum required to meet basic nutritional needs.

The actual amount of protein you need can vary depending on a number of factors, however, including age and activity level.

People who regularly lift weights, for instance, may need to consume 150+ grams of protein per day to build and maintain muscle mass.

What Are the Best Protein Shakes for Weight Management? 

As long as you are eating a balanced diet, the type (egg, pea, whey, etc.) of protein you consume does not matter.

Ingredients do matter, however.

Many protein supplements contain ingredients known to cause painful side effects and even long-term health problems.

Avoid Food Additives

Regularly eating food additives can alter the composition of your gut microbiome.

This can lead to gut dysbiosis, or an imbalance in gut bacteria, which can impair weight management efforts through several mechanisms. 

For instance, gut dysbiosis can diminish your ability to digest and absorb the food you eat, which, as you might imagine, can make it hard for you to gain weight.

It can also affect the release of hunger-controlling hormones such as ghrelin and insulin, which could have the opposite effect.

Here is a list of the most common food additives in meal replacements:

• acacia fiber
• acacia gum
• acesulfame potassium
• artificial flavors
• ascorbic acid
• aspartame
• calcium carbonate
• carrageenan
• cellulose gum
• dextrin
• dicalcium phosphate
• dipotassium phosphate
• erythritol
• gellan gum
• guar gum
• gum arabic
• inulin
• locust bean gum
• maltitol
• maltodextrin
• mono- and diglycerides
• ‘natural’ flavors
• rice bran extract
• rice dextrin
• rice hulls
• rosemary extract
• silica
• silicon dioxide
• sodium alginate
• soluble corn fiber
• sorbitol
• soy lecithin
• sucralose
• sunflower lecithin
• tocopherols
• tricalcium phosphate
• xanthan gum
• xylitol
• zinc oxide

Note that this list includes several artificial sweeteners.

Artificial sweeteners like sucralose and acesulfame potassium are among the worst ingredients for your gut microbiome.

They both reduce microbial diversity and promote the growth of potentially pathogenic bacteria.

In short, if you could not find an ingredient in nature or make it at home, it should not be in your meal replacement.

Avoid Protein Concentrates and Isolates

The protein source itself (not the type of protein, but the form) might be a factor worth considering too, especially if you have a sensitive stomach or preexisting gut issues.

Most meal replacements are made from protein concentrates and isolates, which have been mechanically and/or chemically stripped of everything but the protein.

This includes the enzymes, fiber, and other natural digestive aids that help your gut break them down.

You therefore do not digest them in the same way that it does whole foods, which can affect everything from satiety to gut health.

In fact, studies show that regularly eating protein concentrates and isolates can disrupt your gut microbiome and cause the formation of toxic byproducts in your gut.

So, pending further research, it is recommended that you stick to meal replacements made from whole food protein sources.

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Drink Wholesome Makes the Best Protein Supplement for Weight Management

Finding a protein supplement free from food additives and protein concentrates and isolates is hard.

In fact, 99% of protein supplements contain one or more of these problematic ingredients, which is why we created Drink Wholesome.

We make the best protein supplement for weight management because we use a short list of simple ingredients.

Our Ingredients

egg whites

coconut

vanilla

monk fruit

NOT Our Ingredients

• acacia gum

• acesulfame potassium

• artificial flavors

• carrageenan

• erythritol

• guar gum

• inulin

• maltodextrin

• 'natural' flavors

• silica

• soy lecithin

• sucralose

• xanthan gum

• xylitol

Note that instead of using protein concentrates or isolates, we use whole food protein sources like egg whites and almonds, which are both better tasting and easier to digest and absorb.

It follows that our customers experience fewer digestive issues with our Protein Powder more than any other protein supplement.

Order Samples to see for yourself.