As a trainer [1], a question I get asked all the time is "What protein do I need to be taking?" In most cases, the answer is "It depends." Generally I'll ask clients these questions: What are your goals? Weight gain, weight loss, or weight maintenance? What is your diet like currently? Specifically, how much protein are you getting? From there, I can determine if a protein supplement [2] makes sense for them.

If your main goal is to build muscle and lose weight [3], the best thing you can do is get your protein from food sources [4] such as legumes, nuts, tofu, lean meats, and eggs. If you find it hard to get enough protein in each day [5], I would recommend having one protein shake as a meal replacement and eating the rest of your meals as you normally would. People often have their daily meals plus a protein shake and end up gaining weight because their calorie intake [6] is too high. The only time I would advise adding in the additional calories is if you need/want to gain weight while building muscle.