Protein powders & supplements: Men and women can boost their training and muscle strength with protein power

And it’s not Yorkshire women who are sceptical when it comes to taking protein supplements and worry about ‘bulking up’.

A recent survey of over 1,000 people, which included quizzing over 200 people from Yorkshire and the Humber, showed that more than a quarter (28%) of women have avoided or hesitated using protein powder because they’re concerned about gaining too much muscle mass.

But, says nutritionist Kate Withington, nothing could be further from the truth. She is passionate about the power of protein and says far from putting on weight it can help women tone up and lose weight.

Crunching the numbers

The statistics come from a survey carried out in October last year on behalf of British sports nutrition brand SCI-MX  which was carried out by Censuswide Research Consultants.

The good news was that half (50%) of Brits said there had been a positive shift in societal attitudes towards women who engage in strength training or weightlifting, with 55% saying there’s been a shift in celebrating physically stronger women.

And more than two-thirds (67%) of women questioned said they were likely to pick up weights in the gym than a few years ago and almost a third (31%) said lifting weights was part of their exercise routines.

But with more than two-fifths (42%) of Brits believing there are misconceptions when it comes to protein powder and its impact on women’s bodies, we wanted to debunk the myths and find out what the benefits could be.

Protein power

Kate, who has teamed up with SCI-MX, said: “It’s amazing to see that so many women now feel comfortable using weights within the gym – it’s been a long time coming! I think the societal shift in celebrating physically strong women has really helped with this change, although we clearly have more work to do when it comes to nutrition given the research from SCI-MX reveals a clear gap in knowledge when it comes to protein.”

Matt Durkin, product developer at SCI-MX said for the general population, eating 0.8g of protein per kg of body mass was recommended. But, he said, that should increase to around 1.2kg to help preserve that muscle mass – and even more if you’re wanting to build or strengthen muscles.

“Protein is only one part of the equation, everyone should be performing muscle-strengthening exercises frequently to stimulate the body to build or maintain muscle,” he said.

So, we asked nutritionist Kate to come up with an example of what a good protein-rich diet might look like.

Kate’s protein diet tips

Include protein-rich foods in every meal and include protein as additional snacks. For example, a day of eating could look like this:

Breakfast: protein smoothie made with one scoop of strawberry protein powder, frozen berries and milk.

Lunch: tuna and sweetcorn baked potato with salad. I love to use Greek yoghurt instead of mayo to increase protein content further and reduce calories.

Afternoon snack: cottage cheese on rice cakes with some mixed seeds.

Dinner: salmon goodness bowl. Salmon fillet with quinoa, broccoli and edamame beans.

Evening snack: Greek yoghurt with berries.

Try to stick to snacks which are high in protein – these could include hard-boiled eggs, tuna lettuce cups, cottage cheese, edamame beans and beef jerky.

Find out more

To find out more about SCI-MX and its range of high-protein products visit the website here