Can I Drink 2 Protein Shakes a Day?

If you’re following a high protein diet, you have probably considered using a protein supplement. If you’re like me, you might be asking yourself “Can I Drink 2 Protein Shakes a Day”.

I’ve been drinking protein shakes for over 13 years. Have studied to become a personal trainer and have competed in bodybuilding contests since 2013.

I can answer from experience.

Yes you can drink 2 protein shakes a day to help you boost your protein intake, wether you’re trying to lose weight, build muscle or stay healthy.

But should you have more than one protein shake a day and how many protein shakes is too much?

There are a number of different reasons as to why you may be asking “Can I Drink 2 Protein Shakes a Day”.

Maybe you’re starting to get into bodybuilding and have read that you need a lot of protein to build muscle.

Perhaps you’ve read the latest glossy magazine, advertising a weight loss protein shake, and want to do some research before buying it.

In this article I’m going to share my experience of when and why you maybe want to drink 2 protein shakes a day, what the benefits are and if there are any risks.

Can I Have More Than One Protein Shake a Day?

In short – yes. You can have more than one protein shake a day.

I like to think of protein shakes as just another food source. Everything in moderation is ok (but bodybuilders like me don’t often do thinks in moderation…but that’s another story)

I’ve looked at How Many Protein Shakes a Day Is Healthy previously, but the TLDR answer is, a couple of protein shakes a day (to help supplement your protein intake) is fine.

However, if all of your protein intake comes from protein supplements – then it’s too much.

How many protein shakes should i drink a day to lose weight

The number of protein shakes you drink a day won’t determine if you lose weight or not. You can only lose weight if you are in a calorie deficit.

A calorie deficit is when you consume less calories in a day than what your body needs to maintain its existing bodyweight.

WebMD posted this brilliant article exploring how many calories you should be eating a day, based on your height, weight and age.

Im an active 31 year old male (bodybuilder and pro wrestler) – so according to WebMD’s article, I need 2800-3000 calories to maintain my bodyweight.

To lose weight, I would need to create a calorie deficit, and consume under 2800 calories each day.

As a bodybuilder, I would take this one step further and calculate my Macros (You can do this using MyFitnessPal).

If that sounds a little excessive, don’t stress. I would advise calculating how much protein you need, then just hit your caloric goals outside of that to make things easier. Once you know how much protein you need, you can figure out how many protein shakes you should drink in order to lose weight.

Can i drink 2 protein shakes a day to lose weight

Yes – as long as your total calorie intake is low enough to create a calorie deficit, you could drink 2 protein shakes a day to lose weight.

Myself, and many bodybuilders, will often eat 6 times a day.

For me personally, this would be 3-4 whole food meals and 2-3 protein shakes.

If I am travelling, I find that packing and drinking protein shakes is a more convenient way of hitting my macro and calorie goals.

Following a high protein diet can be quite difficult. Supplementing your diet by drinking 2 protein shakes a day to lose weight can make things so much easier.

How many protein shakes should i drink a day to gain muscle

The number of protein shakes you should drink a day to gain muscle will depend on what your total protein requirement is. If you struggle to eat “whole meals” you may want to drink 3 protein shakes a day to gain muscle. I’ll show an example meal plan below.

Lets say you’re an active female, aged 30. According to WebMD’s calorie requirement chart, you would need 2400 calories to maintain your bodyweight.

If you want to to gain muscle, you need to create a calorie surplus. This is simple to do, using the following steps.

How to create a calorie surplus to gain muscle

1. You can do this by increasing your daily calorie intake by 10-15%.
2. So if your maintenance calories are 2400 a day, you could consume 2700 to gain muscle.
3. Let’s say you weigh 170lbs, you would need 1 gram of protein per lb of body weight.
4. Your daily protein requirement would bee 170grams of protein and your total calories would be 2700.

Example meal plan using protein shakes to gain muscle

Once we know how many calories we need, and how much protein we need following the above steps, we can structure our daily diet to figure out how many protein shakes you can drink a day to build muscle.

You may want to increase the calorie content of your protein shake to add extra fats and carbs. This is easy (and cheap) to do if you follow my recipe to make your own homemade mass gainer.

Adjust the portion sizes accordingly to fit the desire calories and macros.

Meal 1 – (Breakfast) 7.30am

Whole food meal consisting of:

• Eggs
• Toast
• Oatmeal
• Fruit Juice

Meal 2 – 10am

• Protein shake

Meal 3 – (Lunch) 12:30pm

Whole food meal consisting of:

• Lean protein source (chicken, beef, steak, fish, vegan substitute)
• Complex carbohydrate source (rice, quinoa, pasta, wholegrain bread)
• Veggies

Meal 4 – 3pm

• Protein shake

Meal 5 – (Dinner) 6pm

Whole food meal consisting of:

• Lean protein source (chicken, beef, steak, fish, vegan substitute)
• Complex carbohydrate source (rice, quinoa, pasta, wholegrain bread)
• Veggies

Meal 6 – 9pm

• Protein shake

This is an example meal plan, divided into 6 meals. You could adjust this based on your preference and schedule to 4 meals or 7 meals.

The use of protein shakes is to help you supplement your protein intake, as eating whole meals every 2-3 hours can be quite difficult.

When I was younger and began bulking, I was at University most days. Eating cold, dry, chicken and rice wasn’t very appealing.

To help make my diet easier, I would eat breakfast before leaving the house. I would take one chicken and rice meal with me for lunch (I didn’t have access to a microwave to reheat this, so eating it was a bit difficult).

I would then take 2 protein shakes with me and have one mid morning before lunch. I would have the second shake late afternoon after lunch. I would always try and find a bathroom to rinse and get the smell out of my shaker bottle.

I would then be able to get home and cook a fresh, hot meal in the evening.

Can I Drink 2 Protein Shakes a Day Build Muscle

Yes – you can drink 2 protein shakes a day to build muscle. As demonstrated above, you can use protein shakes as part of your daily meal plan to help supplement your protein and total caloric requirements to build muscle.

If you have a big appetite and prefer eating whole meals, then you may opt to only have one protein shake a day.

If you don’t have a big appetite, and struggle to eat all your meals, then you will benefit from drinking 2 protein shake a day to build muscle (or even more if you require!).

How Many Protein Shakes a Day for a Woman

The number of protein shakes a woman needs a day depends upon her daily calorie and protein requirements. If you’re a female, establish how many calories and how much protein you need each day following the steps above, then decide how many protein shakes you need per day to hit your goals.

You dont need any number of protein shakes a day as a woman (or a man). Protein powders are just a convenient way to help you hit your protein requirements if you struggle to eat a lot of whole foods.

Should You Drink Protein Shakes on Rest Days

Your protein intake should be consistent each day, wether you are working our or resting. If you require a protein shake to hit your daily protein intake, then you should drink protein shakes on rest days.

Your protein requirements are based off your body weight, not your activity level. Ideally your protein intake would remain the same each day.

You don’t need to drink protein shakes on rest days. You don’t need to drink protein supplements at all.

However, from experience, I think its quite difficult to consume over 200 grams of protein a day from just whole foods.

I like to use protein powders to help supplement my diet, and allow me to more easily hit my protein requirements.

Can I Drink 2 Protein Shakes A Day

To summarise;

• You can drink 2 protein shakes a day without any adverse health effects
• Protein shakes alone will not make you gain muscle or lose weight
• Your protein shake usage should be factored into your macro and calorie requirements
• You can use protein drinks to help supplements your protein intake (if you struggle to eat enough whole foods)
• You do not need protein shakes – but they are a useful and convenient way to help you hit your protein intake

If you are going to use protein shakes as part of your diet, make sure you find a quality and affordable brand. I regularly use Myprotein and never pay full price by always using a Myprotein discount code. You can usually save over 30% – but don’t feel like you need to buy protein supplements to make gains.