We all know that fueling your body with protein and nutrients is vital for your overall well-being. But when you don’t have time to make a proper balanced breakfast every morning, it’s challenging to get the essentials you need. So grabbing a protein shake on the go is convenient and easy, but is it really beneficial? Yes, according to people Eat This, Not That! spoke to who swapped out breakfast with a protein shake every day for a week. Here’s five noteworthy changes that happened.
More Energy
Jennifer Rapchak, Fitness Director at Results Fitness Gym, based in Alexandria, Virginia. She leads the fitness team, does personal training and does group fitness programs. Rapchak needed constant energy to make it through the day and started drinking protein shakes to help. “The biggest change was my energy staying consistent through 12-hour days,” she says. “Before protein shakes, I’d crash around 2 PM and need coffee or snacks. With 25-30g of whey protein every morning, I maintained steady energy from my first BodyPump class through evening training sessions.”
Better Recovery Time
Another way protein shakes helped Rapchak was the recovery period between workouts, which she says “improved dramatically.” She explains, “As a Les Mills instructor teaching SPRINT and CXWORX classes, I noticed I wasn’t as sore between high-intensity sessions. My strength training numbers also went up—I added 10 pounds to my deadlift that week.”
Appetite Control
An unexpected, but welcome change Rapchak noticed was appetite control. “Protein shakes kept me full until lunch, preventing the mindless snacking that used to derail my nutrition,” she says. ” After 14 years as an ACE-certified trainer, I tell clients that protein timing matters as much as total intake—especially for anyone doing morning workouts.”
Less Muscle Stiffness
Dr. Nick Hadinger, DPT, USAW-1, Founder, Streamline Performance Physical Therapy, is a former Division I swimmer who competed at Olympic Trials and suffered a shoulder injury he needed physical therapy for. “I knew my body needed serious protein to rebuild muscle tissue after the procedure,” he explains. The shake he used was Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey with frozen berries and oats and experienced a major difference within five days, “I noticed significantly less morning stiffness and faster recovery between my physical therapy sessions,” he says.
Improved Sleep
To start his wellness journey, Dr. Hadinger followed his clinic’s protocol: 1.4-2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily. “At 175 pounds, that meant 110-140 grams of protein per day,” he says. “The morning shake with 30-35 grams of whey protein gave me a solid foundation to hit those numbers.” Besides less muscle soreness, another major win for Dr. Hadinger had better quality sleep. “What surprised me most was how much it improved my sleep quality – I think because my body finally had the building blocks it needed for proper muscle repair overnight.”
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