Okay, so despite the fact that I've been a member of these forums for over a year I haven't ever tried whey protein before. This is mainly because prior to two months ago I lived with my parents and didn't do my own grocery shopping today. Anyway, today I decided it's time to try this whey stuff that I've heard so much about on these forums. So, I tried to buy the one that had the least sugar. I bought this Designer Whey Protein that says it's America's #1 protein. Here are the nutrition facts:

Serving Size 1 level scoop(~24g)
Servings per container ~15

Calories 90
Calories from fat 15

Total Fat 1.5g
Saturated Fat .5g
Cholesterol 30 mg
Total Carbohydrates 2g
Dietary Fiber 0g
Sugars 2g
Protein 18g
Vitamin B1 (as Thiamine) 1,13 mg
Vitamin B2 (as Riboflavin) 1.53 mg
Vitamin b6 (as Pyridoxine) 1.75mg
Vitamin B12 2.2mcg
Pantothenic Acid (as Ca panthothenate) 7.75mg
Calcium 220 mg
Phosphorus 140 mg
Magnesium (as Mg aspartate, oxide) 100mg
Zinc as Zn aspartate) 5mg
Sodium 60 mg
Potassium 100mg

Anyway, this stuff seems pretty expensive. 10 bucks for 15 servings of 90 calories? Seems a bit steep. How can you guys afford this stuff? Anyway, I'm not sure what to do with this stuff. It says you can add it to water, milk, juice, yogurt, or your favorite recipe. So, how do you guys normally use it? Do you usually have it plain with water or do you usually eat something else with it like a piece of fruit or something? What's the best time to drink this at? On the package they recommend three times a day, upon rising, immediately after workout, and before bed. But, man, if I eat this stuff three times a day it will be gone in five days. That's crazy. Oh, one last question. What exactly is whey? I mean, what's it made out of?

Anyway, this stuff seems pretty expensive. 10 bucks for 15 servings of 90 calories? Seems a bit steep. How can you guys afford this stuff? Anyway, I'm not sure what to do with this stuff. It says you can add it to water, milk, juice, yogurt, or your favorite recipe. So, how do you guys normally use it? Do you usually have it plain with water or do you usually eat something else with it like a piece of fruit or something? What's the best time to drink this at? On the package they recommend three times a day, upon rising, immediately after workout, and before bed. But, man, if I eat this stuff three times a day it will be gone in five days. That's crazy. Oh, one last question. What exactly is whey? I mean, what's it made out of?
http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/proteinprice.htm <-- a list of what they sell broken down by price per serving. There are many cheaper proteins out there.

I usually put it in water, SOMETIMES milk...

Drink whenever you want. I like it first thing in the morning because I'm not a morning person and I hate cooking when I'm dead tired. :) I of course also like it before and after lifting weights with added carbohydrates. But it's up to you.

Your paid $10 for 15 servings? If you don't want to buy whey online, you should at least buy your whey at Costco. You can get 95 servings-worth of whey (chocolate or vanilla) at Costco for under $20.

The bigger the container you buy ,usually the less expensive it is. 9 times out of 10 I mix mine with milk. The main problem I encounter is finding one without all those artificial sweeteners in them. I usually settle for one with fructose/maltodextrin. Even though there's some issues with fructose I'll still take that over the others. Wonder why they don't make one with just maltodextrin in it?. I have a whey shake first thing in the a.m. and one right after workout. Every now and then I'll have one in the evening as well.

Man, I tried the vanilla kind with water. Yuck! I'll try it with milk tomorrow. Does the chocolate one taste any better? I noticed on the package that it says to drink immediately after you stir it. Why is that? I don't think I have a Costco near me. I have a Wal-Mart supercenter. Do you think they would carry it? What section of the store would it be in? Would it be near the pharmacy?

Man, I tried the vanilla kind with water. Yuck! I'll try it with milk tomorrow. Does the chocolate one taste any better? I noticed on the package that it says to drink immediately after you stir it. Why is that? I don't think I have a Costco near me. I have a Wal-Mart supercenter. Do you think they would carry it? What section of the store would it be in? Would it be near the pharmacy?

Chocolate is universally better than vanilla. I've heard other flavors are good, but I made the vanilla mistake twice before -never again!

I think Wall-Mart have it cheap.

All-the-Whey is by far the best value for money I have seen (obviously just my opinion). Go on line, these guys are legit, you won't get ripped off.

Do NOT by from GNC or anywhere like that - you are just getting really ripped off. I whould choose no whey over that!

All-the-Whey is by far the best value for money I have seen (obviously just my opinion). Go on line, these guys are legit, you won't get ripped off.


What's the website? What about shipping charges? Oh yeah, one more more general question. What is the advantage of whey over other protein sources, like fish and cottage cheese and chicken?

What's the website? What about shipping charges? Oh yeah, one more more general question. What is the advantage of whey over other protein sources, like fish and cottage cheese and chicken?
Scroll up, their website is at the top of this web page under "Please Support Our Sponsors!" :)

Oh yeah, one more more general question. What is the advantage of whey over other protein sources, like fish and cottage cheese and chicken?

There are more disadvantages, but some advantages include:

Faster absorbing - great for post WO. Also good for pre-WO if you are eating less than 30mins beforehand - for example I use it first thing in the morning before my morning workouts. (I have a small amount of yogurt+whey+cereal during my warmup, which I find my stomach can tolerate while I work out)

East to mix with water or milk for pre cardio (if you want some protein by no carbs/fat or whole food).

Good to add to milk, yogurt or cottage cheese if you want a higher whey:casein ratio. Also good for taste - I often only add 1/4 scoop to 1/2 cup yogurt.

Good for upping the protein intake of certain meals - like add it to oats, makes them taste better and adds protein without having to put something like tuna in there. In this case cottage cheese is not bad either and Davini syrups rock!

In general, exept port WO, I would not use whey+water (or even really milk) as a meal. It should be used as a supplimient, even within a meal.

Remember it is very fast absorbing, which is not what you want most of the day. Appart from pre and post WO, I use maybe 1/4 scoop/day cutting and 1 scoop bulking, the rest is whole food protein.


If you want something for when you can't make food I would suggest home made protein bars - I've posted a reciepe here, or a 'protein blend' rather than whey.

Scroll up, their website is at the top of this web page under "Please Support Our Sponsors!" :)

Holy crap! There's like 7 different types! How am I supposed to know which one I should use?

Holy crap! There's like 7 different types! How am I supposed to know which one I should use?
What type of product from All The Whey or what product from what sponsor? I'm not going to debate what sponsor is the best, because that wouldn't be right. Especially since I have not tried all of their products. I will say however that I really like At Large Nutrition's Nitrean; it tastes good and it works really well for me.

I have not tried the other sponsor's products (except Jeremy's products) so I can't vouch for them, however everyone up on that list gets great reviews all around (including the non-supplement sponsors).

What type of product from All The Whey or what product from what sponsor? I'm not going to debate what sponsor is the best, because that wouldn't be right. Especially since I have not tried all of their products. I will say however that I really like At Large Nutrition's Nitrean; it tastes good and it works really well for me.

I have not tried the other sponsor's products (except Jeremy's products) so I can't vouch for them, however everyone up on that list gets great reviews all around (including the non-supplement sponsors).

I was looking at AlltheWhey's site. Look at all the protein supplements they have:

Whey Protein Concentrate (unflavored)
Whey Protein Blends
20/30 Whey Blends
Whey Protein Isolates
Milk Protein Isolates
Hydrolyzed Whey Protein Isolates
Calcium Caseinates
Protein Cookies
Wheynola
Micellar Casein

How am I supposed to know which one I need?

I was looking at AlltheWhey's site. Look at all the protein supplements they have:

Whey Protein Concentrate (unflavored)
Whey Protein Blends
20/30 Whey Blends
Whey Protein Isolates
Milk Protein Isolates
Hydrolyzed Whey Protein Isolates
Calcium Caseinates
Protein Cookies
Wheynola
Micellar Casein

How am I supposed to know which one I need?

Try some searches on the forums, or some Google searches. There's plenty of information out there about different types of protein supplements. I buy the 20/30 blend, but I know that some of the folks on here buy the isolate or hydrolyzed isolate.

Protein is a chemical compound made up of amino acids. A protein containing all the amino acids required by the human body to function (called "essential amino acids") is referred to as a "complete protein."

Protein is used within your body for a variety of things, one of the most important of which is for construction of new cells. For bodybuilders, who by nature are trying to build more muscle cells, intake of protein is very important.

Proteins vary in quality. Aside from whether they are complete proteins or not (most plant proteins, for instance, are incomplete and only contain a portion of the amino acids you need), they also vary in terms of bioavailability (a fun term that basically refers to how easily your body is able to make use of that particular protein) and rate of absorption (some will digest faster or slower than others).

Whey is a by-product of the cheese-making process. Remember the old nursery rhyme: "Little Miss Muffet, sat on a tuffet, eating her curds and whey....?"

When you make cheese, you add a separating agent to milk, which results in solids, called curds, and a liquid, called whey. The curds are used to make whatever cheese you want to make, and the whey is either used to make ricotta, animal feed, powdered whey protein, or any of a number of other things.

The whey protein you buy is made by concentrating and purifying the liquid whey using a filtration process, resulting in a product in powder form. Depending on how thoroughly all this was done, you will have varying amounts of sugars and fats as well. Whey proteins are generally rated by how much protein they have per serving. Whey Protein Blends have the least, and are thus the cheapest. Whey Protein Concentrates have a little more, usually around 80-85%. Whey Protein Isolates have the highest amount possible, around 90-95%. There is also something called Hydrolyzed Whey Protein Isolate, which has been treated with an enzyme to basically "pre-digest" the protein, allowing it to be absorbed faster into the system.

Milk has two types of protein, though: whey and casein. Cow's milk is about 80% casein, most of which ends up in the curds during the cheese-making process. Casein and whey are both very high quality proteins. Their major difference is in terms of their rate of digestion.

Whey is a very fast-digesting protein. This makes it ideal for use close to a workout because it allows you to ensure you have a good supply of protein ready and waiting for your muscles when they need it most.

Conversely, casein is a very slow-digesting protein. This makes it a poor choice right after a workout, but excellent for when you want a slower "sustained-release" of protein. Many people eat foods rich in casein, such as cottage cheese, or take casein in powder form at night before bed so that they have a continuous release of protein during the night. This helps stave off catabolism, where your body will consume muscle tissue.

Some companies market blends of different types of protein to take advantage of the different absorption rates. Nitrean, sold by At Large Nutrition and popular on these boards, us a blend of different types of whey along with casein and egg protein. Egg digests faster than casein but slower than whey, helping to provide a near-constant stream of protein.

As for what to get, you'll have to experiment and see what works best for you. Obviously, your budget is a big factor here as well. Things like micellar casein and hydrolyzed whey are great, but pricey. A good whey protein isolate, such as from All They Whey, or a quality blend of different proteins, such as Nitrean, are in my opinion the best values.

Nitrean is about $24 for a huge tub just shy of 5 lbs. Dollar for dollar that's a killer deal. It also mixes really easily and tastes great (as far as protein powders go).

As for what to get, you'll have to experiment and see what works best for you. Obviously, your budget is a big factor here as well. Things like micellar casein and hydrolyzed whey are great, but pricey. A good whey protein isolate, such as from All They Whey, or a quality blend of different proteins, such as Nitrean, are in my opinion the best values.

Nitrean is about $24 for a huge tub just shy of 5 lbs. Dollar for dollar that's a killer deal. It also mixes really easily and tastes great (as far as protein powders go).

Nitrean looks good, although I didn't see it for $24 anywhere.

For the other options, I'd just go with a concentrate - they are good enough, especially nowadays IMO. - unless you are lactose intolerant, in which case pay the extra for the isolate.

Thanks for the advice. I found some Designer Whey at Wal-mart for $20 for 46 servings. Is that a good price? It's important to note that each serving is 34 grams at 140 calories, as opposed to the smaller container I bought last time that was 24 grams per serving at 90 calories. How can the same brand label a serving as different sizes on different size packages? Anyway, looking at the ingredients it's a whey protein blend with Whey Protein Concentrate, Hydrolyzed Whey Protein, and Whey Protein Isolate.

Anyway, one more question, a lot of you say it's best to take it right after your workout. So, for consistensy is it good to take it at the same time on your non workout days? I mean, if you workout Monday Wednesday and Friday between your second and third meals should you have whey protein on your third meal on Tuesday and Thursday when you don't work out as well?

The whey protein you buy is made by concentrating and purifying the liquid whey using a filtration process, resulting in a product in powder form. Depending on how thoroughly all this was done, you will have varying amounts of sugars and fats as well. Whey proteins are generally rated by how much protein they have per serving. Whey Protein Blends have the least, and are thus the cheapest. Whey Protein Concentrates have a little more, usually around 80-85%. Whey Protein Isolates have the highest amount possible, around 90-95%. There is also something called Hydrolyzed Whey Protein Isolate, which has been treated with an enzyme to basically "pre-digest" the protein, allowing it to be absorbed faster into the system.

Thanks for this description. I was pretty confused about the many types listed on AllTheWhey's website too. When I first bought from AllTheWhey, they had two types of Whey protein, Isolate and Blend. The isolate was twice as expensive as the Blend, so I went with blend. Now when I go back I continue to get the blend, because I know I like it and I've heard stories about how the different kinds taste quite different.

Can anyone speak to the general taste difference of Blend, Concentrate, Isolate, and Hydrolyzed Isolate in water? just curious, thanks.

Wow, I tried the chocolate kind with skim milk today. The stuff is delicious! Way better than the french vanilla kind. It doesn't taste much different than Ovaltine or Nesquick. The stuff is so good I kind of want to have it more often. I'm currently only having one scoop with skim milk for breakfast, I'm sure another serving midday wouldn't hurt me, but the stuff is a tad bit expensive so I'm not sure I want to go through it too quickly.