My pt told me protein shakes are great 'middle meals' to help me eat 6 smaller meals a day. Usually I eat my breakfast, go train, then come home and have a protein shake.

Am I doing it in the right order? Should I drink my protein shake, train, and then come home and eat breakfast? I'm not trying to gain massive bulk, just trying to tone up.

Thanks!

first thing I wanna point out, is that toning simply means "losing fat, to show off your muscle". so, you can't really bulk AND 'tone' at the same time, since they require polar opposite diet strategies.

but to your question: protein shakes are just food. they aren't magical.

post workout is a good time for a shake, because usually you're not dying for a 'normal' meal right after training, and shakes are usually very easily digested, which means you get nutrition quickly at a pivotal time (to prevent catabolism).
that's the main reason shakes are so popular for post workout...conveinience, ease of consumption, and quickness of digestion.

I usually slam a shake immediately after my workout, then 60 minutes later I have a whole food meal...steak and potato/rice, and some veggies. Cuz a shake, especially all whey, isn't gonna keep you full for long.

I usualy have one before and one after. I try to take in some type of complex card with my preworkout shake and simple carbs with my post workout shake

I flew with a pharmacist that had just graduated, and had a minor in phys ed last week. she said the protein shake should be whey, and should be "eatin" withing four hours. She also made it real clear to me that it is just food. she also said flax seed is one of the best things to be added to any diet, second only to water.

p.s. Malkore- sho told me the difference with eating chicken breasts an drinking a shake is chewing--- most peopl won;t chew the breast welll enough to get the potential absorbsion.

for whatever it's worth. she was pretty and seemed smaht!!! - just like malkore!!

hahahahaa

i better log the heck off for tonight.

I may be wrong about this.. But I thought it was you that preached about having 2X as many carbs as grams of protein with your post workout meal? I have been trying to do this lately while cutting, am I just wasting calories for nothing?

any response malkore?

Rice and potatoes have tons of carbs. And you still need carbs while cutting, they're defintely necessary. malkore's way of doing it is pretty good! Whey protein post workout, and a meal an hour later. The carbs replenish glycogen stores which actually allows you to do work, in your workout.

Whoever said the stuff about chicken. Whey protein is better post workout because it's faster acting, it absorbs quickly and starts prevent catabolism and all of that. But chicken overall is better absorbed. So, chicken should be one of the first on the list (below eggs and fish) for protein absorption, but whey is good to get it in there real quick right after a workout.

I like to drink my protein shake right after my workout. I eat a very light snack about an hour or so before I go to the gym, slam a protein shake right after the workout, then an hour or 2 later I eat a full meal.