These are the best homemade protein shakes for muscle building. They contain all natural, whole ingredients, no protein powder and they work amazingly well.
Protein is essential to muscle gain. Many people supplement their protein intake with protein shakes and others get all the protein they need through whole foods.
Each method has its benefits but how much protein is enough to build muscle?
Today, I will talk all about muscle gain with protein and how to get the right amount. Plus, I’ll share with you some protein shake recipes for building muscle.
** Please note that this post may contain affiliate links which means that I can receive a small payment if you make a purchase through my links.
How Does Protein Build Muscle?
The way you build muscle is by damaging them in a manner of speaking.
When you do intense resistance exercise, your muscles get micro-tears that need repair.
Protein is made of amino acids, which are responsible for most of the activity occurring in living cells.
The micro-tears in the muscle cause your body to string amino acids together into new proteins for repair.
The damage from the micro-tears activates satellite cells which multiply at the damaged area and integrate into the muscle fibers to strengthen and enlarge them.
Muscle growth happens when you have enough amino acids to fix all the micro-tears and some extra.
The leftover amino acids are used to further muscle growth and bulk you up.
If you don’t have enough amino acids, then your muscles won’t heal during workouts, you won’t build muscle and you’re likely to experience muscle loss and get injuries.
To keep that from happening, you must eat enough protein.
Can You Gain Muscle Just By Eating Protein?
Just eating protein alone will not do much to increase your muscle mass. If you add more protein but not sufficient calories to your diet, you will not gain more muscle.
Increasing your caloric intake and eating more protein will build an identical amount of additional muscle mass and fat if you maintain a consistent exercise level.
Not eating enough protein will cause you not to build muscle because muscle is built directly from digested protein.
If you aren’t working out but consuming a lot of protein, you will add fat and not muscle.
The body can only use but so much protein for repair and tissue growth. If your protein intake is too high, the excess protein you consume will get excreted through urine or stored as fat.
Just like eating too many carbohydrates or fat, eating too much protein leads to weight gain.
{RELATED POST: How Much Is Too Much Protein? What No One Is Telling You}
How Much Protein Do You Need To Build Muscle?
The recommended protein daily allowance is a minimum of 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight.
As an example, for a 150-pound individual, that would be 55 grams per day.
For muscle growth, it’s recommended to consume 1.5 to 2 grams per kilogram of body mass.
For that same 150-pound person, it would mean 102 to 136 grams of protein each day.
Do Protein Shakes Really Help You Build Muscle?
After the age of 20, muscle growth naturally declines. Consuming protein shakes will not alter the size or strength of your muscles.
Protein shakes can enlarge your muscle in combination with other factors.
To build muscle you need exercise and strength training to encourage muscle synthesis and muscle development.
Activities such as running and weightlifting have positive impacts on muscle development and other routines that incorporate well-crafted cardio and weight-training.
You want to increase the demands you put on your body with every workout to gain muscle.
Otherwise, you won’t be challenging your body. Catabolism and anabolism, the processes of tearing down and restoring tissue, are what builds muscle.
It’s not always convenient to eat a protein-rich meal following a workout.
Therefore, protein shakes provide a post-training boost. However, protein shakes should compliment a diet with foods that provide protein.
Even though it isn’t necessary to have a protein shake to increase your muscle mass because you can increase your intake in other ways, the shake offers convenience.
Your diet you should focus on the consumption of whole foods but protein shakes can act as a decent supplement if you are trying to build muscle.
Does Protein After A Workout Help Build Muscle?
Researchers have discovered that diet can manipulate muscle metabolism after exercise. Have protein post-workout to muscle gain.
However, there are mixed suggestions as to the timing of the protein intake.
One group of researchers suggest that for optimal muscle gain, protein should be consumed immediately following a workout.
These researchers seem in line with the long-held belief that proper muscle recovery and growth occurs in the anabolic window which is a “short” period after a workout within 30 to 45 minutes.
Other studies, however, suggest that the window could extend to 24 hours or longer.
The recommendation is to spread out protein intake within that extended window.
That would mean consuming protein multiple times following the workout.
According to the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, for the best muscle growth, a person should have protein four times a day at 0.4 to 0.55 grams per kilogram of body weight.
Why It Is Better To Get Your Protein From Natural Sources Rather Than Protein Powder
It is better to get protein from foods than protein powder because having a natural source of protein comes with other essential nutrients that are typically lacking in powders.
Many powders also contain hidden additives, sugars, sweeteners, flavorings, and colors.
Eating whole foods for protein provides you with disease-preventing antioxidants, vitamins, dietary fiber, and minerals.
Risk reduction for heart problems and cancer are linked to eating protein-rich foods.
Foods with protein also have substances that promote satiety and digestive health.
Whole foods don’t have the negative effects that some protein shakes can have, such as nutrient deficiencies, gastrointestinal distress, headaches, nausea, or bloating.
Protein powder is a convenient and simple source of high-quality protein but it’s preferable that you get all your protein from whole foods instead.
If you’re a vegetarian or vegan, there are plenty of plant foods that have high amounts of protein, such as sweet potatoes, spinach, broccoli, quinoa, wild rice, spirulina, chia seeds, hempseed, amaranth, and green peas.
If you want to use powder, look at this article I wrote about the best plant-based protein powders.
{RELATED POST: 19 Best Plant Based Protein Sources: Complete Whole Foods}
Now that we’ve looked into the science behind protein shakes, let me share my favorite healthy protein shakes with you.
17 Homemade Protein Shakes For Muscle Building (No Protein Powder)
On The Go Green Smoothie For Lunch Recipe
This is the perfect green smoothie recipe for lunch if you’re always on the go. It is tasty, burns fat fast and will fill you up until dinner time.
Indulgent Chocolate Green Smoothie For Dinner Recipe
This indulgent chocolate green smoothie for dinner recipe is the perfect smoothie to replace your dinner with because it is luxurious and great for weight loss.
Pina Colada Meal Replacement Green Smoothie For Weight Loss Recipe
This complete meal is such a delicious, creamy breakfast, that you’ll be wanting to have it for lunch too. That’s no problem as this recipe serves 2.
Strawberry Chia High Protein Smoothie Bowl
This smoothie bowl is less than 500 calories. It contains 16.6 grams of protein, with 70 percent of your daily dietary fiber.
This recipe is rich with vitamin A, C, calcium, and iron.
Climate Cooler Coconut & Pineapple Green Thickie
My Climate Cooler Coconut and Pineapple recipe is a little less ‘thick’ and more on the ‘thin’ side today. It’s still very tasty and very filling. It also has very low sugar so it’s good for you if you are trying to eat less sugar, follow a low carb or a keto diet or generally want to be healthier. It is still sweet and ultra tasty. I hope you like it as much as I do!
Healthy Apple Pie Smoothie
We all love our desserts but we don’t love what they do to our waistlines and health. Unless you make a healthy thick dessert smoothie – A Thickie!
Creamy Low Carb Chocolate and Peanut Butter Smoothie
You won't believe this Creamy Low Carb Chocolate and Peanut Butter smoothie doesn't have any fruit and contains no sugar as it's so sweet! Yum!
Fruity Beetroot Hidden Greens Smoothie for Anemia (Green Thickie)
Want to hide the greens in your green smoothie? Why not try some beetroot. You can't taste the beetroot or the greens so it looks and tastes very fruity.
Natural Protein Shake without Protein Powder
Finally - a natural protein shake that is high in protein and HAS NO PROTEIN POWDER! This vegan smoothie gets the protein from one ingredient which is...
Fragrant Lavender and Blueberry Smoothie for Relaxation
This fragrant lavender and blueberry smoothie packs a potent antioxidant punch! The lavender is optional. Options to convert to a green smoothie / thickie.
Delicious No Fruit Smoothie Recipe
If you are avoiding fruit but want a quick breakfast that will keep you going, try this Creamy Filling No Fruit Smoothie. It actually tastes fairly sweet.
Creamy Dreamy Orange Green Thickie
This Creamy Dreamy Orange Green Thickie will help get you in the summery mood and you'd never know it contains so many healthy vegetables.
Pineapple and Frozen Orange Juice Smoothie (4 Way Smoothie)
This Pineapple and Frozen Orange Juice Smoothie has 4 options (4 Way Smoothie). You can make a fruit smoothie, green smoothie, thickie or green thickie.
Mince Pie Smoothie Christmas Drink
This Mince Pie Smoothie is a Christmas drink you won't be able to get enough of. Impress your guests and your kids with this simple recipe.
Raw Spiced Butternut Squash Smoothie
This spiced butternut squash smoothie is actually raw, very healthy and extremely filling. This is a perfect meal replacement smoothie full of antioxidants.
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Smoothie (Green Smoothie/Green Thickie)
It’s actually perfectly safe to eat raw rhubarb. Get all the health benefits of raw rhubarb in this gorgeous strawberry rhubarb pie smoothie.
Healthy Key Lime Pie Smoothie
I’ve only recently discovered this healthy key lime pie smoothie and I've already lost track of the number of times I've made it. An all time favourite
Health Benefits of A High Protein Diet
Conclusion
To gain muscle, you want to consume no more than 30 percent protein of your total daily caloric intake.
You want to have a balanced diet and exercise.
Protein alone won’t magically create muscle mass without these factors and others, such as timing.
Post workout is the best time to consume protein but remember to spread your intake throughout the extended window.
Related Resources You Will Love
Here are all the most popular resources that will help you take things to the next level:
- FREE Weight Loss Protein Shake Recipe Card
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Sources
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24834017
- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110818132225.htm
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Hi, I’m Katherine. I lost 56 pounds and recovered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome by replacing meals with Green Thickies – my original smoothie concept.
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