I’ve talked a little about the surgery I had four months ago. I’m pretty sure I also recall complaining about the surgery prep, which required me to cut out carbohydrates and stick to protein for a couple of weeks in advance.

It was recommended two meals each day comprise a protein shake. The dietician I was seeing suggested two different brands. One of those was not gluten-free. But fortunately the other – Isowhey – was, and it was one I was familiar with from the free-trial I participated in almost four years before.

I didn’t lose any weight when on the shakes back then. I wasn’t really trying at the time. I was about to move house. AND I’d just finished up in my government job – taking a redundancy and on the precipice of my seachange.

It wasn’t really the right time to make such a big change to my diet, but I’d committed to trying Isowhey so had the two shakes each day for three weeks. I found I enjoyed the shakes and it made life easier over those few weeks. I didn’t need to worry about food preparation and breakfast was easy.

Fast forward four years and – having relied on shakes for my protein and other sustenance for two weeks prior to surgery (losing 5kgs) and in an ongoing way after – I’m a little bit of an expert. Well, in my own mind anyway.

It’s all about the protein… 

My current diet needs to be high in protein. I’m still kinda conscious of calories, but it’s all about getting a certain amount of protein in each day. (At least 60-70g, in fact.)

When I first heard that I was like… “Easy. I love steak and chicken. I eat like 150g for dinner without blinking.” Little did I realise that 100g of steak actually only has (approx) 20g of protein.

I should add, I’m not doing the paleo thing and I haven’t cut out carbohydrates. I’m just very very focussed on getting the required amount of protein I need.

Shakes for brekkie and sometimes lunch

Starting the day with an Isowhey shake is a no-brainer. I have it with skim milk (0% fat). In total I consume 200 (110 in the shake, 90 in the milk) calories and 27g protein. (The milk, incidentally  has 12g of carbohydrates…. but like I said – I’m  not worried about limiting them. There’s no HFLC thing happening here.)

I’ll generally  have some leftovers of a meat-based dish for lunch, and meat and veges for dinner. And I almost always easily reach my 60-70g protein. Of course if I’ve not got lunch sorted for work, I’ll usually take a second shake in for an easy (healthy) lunch.

One of my colleagues has a protein shake (though one with less protein and higher carbs) for morning tea every day, which she seems to enjoy.

I tend to buy the multipacks of Isowhey (you get 7 for about $20, depending on where you buy), which give you all five flavours. My fave flavours are the vanilla and coffee and I’m not overly enamoured with the banana flavour… smelling too much like bananas and all that. I must also admit that when I was having them three times a day in winter, I occasionally heated the milk just a little and added some sweetener, so it felt akin to a hot chocolate etc. With added protein.

Not sponsored, just happy to share the love

This post is not sponsored… I’m just sharing my experiences and thought it was worth adding to the earlier Isowhey post as it gets more visitors than any other post on my site. In fact it gets more visitors than most of my other posts combined!

I order my shakes from the Isowhey site (cos you get discounts and free delivery) or buy them at a local chemist… depending on how organised I am that particular week or fortnight.

Protein shakes obviously can’t replace a well-balanced diet, but if you need to increase your protein intake or are in the market for an easy supplement / alternative for the odd meal, I can recommend Isowhey – particularly if you’re coeliac or gluten-intolerant.

In case you are interested, CanStar Blue did some research on the shake front recently and Isowhey held up very well (coming out on top).

Do you drink protein shakes? Do you prefer any particular brand or flavour?