advice needed about protein powder

[JLB2]

Hi all we are at the beginning of our IVF journey and I have been doing a lot of reading around on healthy IVF diet. I have read a lot about adding protein powder to smoothies and recipes to help raise protein intake. I am a little worried about adding protein powder to my diet.

My weight is just within the limit for me to be below 30 BMI. I thought that protein shakes help you to gain weight and obviously I can not do this - in fact I am trying to go the other way.

Is any one using protein powder? Any advice of this would be great.

Thank you

[mrs_m_shizzle_dizzle]

I’m vegetarian and use pea protein in my smoothies xx

[Hidden]

I’ve not thought of adding protein powder and I would think it would be more important to have a healthy diet with lots of fruit and veg. There are plenty of dietary sources of protein- the obvious being lean meat and eggs but also lentils, beans and yoghurt. I used to use a protein powder as I thought it would help fill me up and therefore help with weight loss- it didn’t! Be careful with smoothies too as the sugars in them add calories quickly. There are diet proteins available. Protein powders have only been widely available recently so not much evidence to support their use. Good luck xx

[Lilli79]

Spirulina is really high in protein and as far as I am aware is free on slimming world so can't be too bad. People take protein powder to add bulk for muscle building, I don't think it's the same as putting on fatty type weight but I wouldn't recommend adding protein powders unless you're a body builder! I think the muscle building ones are really high in protein whereas the natural ones are high but at a more manageable level. Could you try just adding lean protein to your diet? Soya, peas, lentils, beans are all good sources. I don't eat meat but obviously lean chicken & meat, and fish are also good sources. If you do eat meat you shouldn't need to supplement with extra protein. As others say it's really more about a healthy balanced diet.

[JLB2]

Thank you all. I thought a healthy diet would be best. I am adding lots of vegetables, beans, pulses and fruit to my diet.

There are just so many posts, articles etc on the internet with so many different bits of advice. We just want to do everything we can. If it doesn't work at least I know we would have done everything we can.

[Lizzielizzielizzie]

Personally I would choose to add protein through my diet, eg reducing carbs and increasing protein in my normal dinner plate, otherwise you will be taking in increased calories and this will increase your weight.

[Hidden]

Hey I know this is an old post but saw you are starting ICSI soon.

My nutritionist recommended 20g organic whey protein powder in 500 full fat organic milk once you start stims with chia seeds and blueberries...but as you say she said this will put weight on....

I was full of energy and felt so good on the protein though, we didn't get a positive but I have it lined up for our frozen round.

Maybe you could do less milk to make it less fattening....

Best of Luck,

Xxx