Would You Recommend Muscle Milk for Naturally Skinny Guys?

[Frank2500]

Folks,

I was wondering if any of you would recommend to guys who are already naturally skinny and slim as me, to begin drinking muscle milk regularly. Before I began lifting weights three days a week, I used to look extremely skinny. I still look somewhat skinny-my stomach is very flat and the only difference now is I have a somewhat big chest and huge biceps. Since it is stated on the Muscle Milk packets that its goal is to help people burn fat while keeping and maintaining lean muscle, I'm worried that if I begin drinking muscle milk often, I will instead be losing whatever little weight that I may have been gaining from working out.


So far, I've heard contrary statements about Muscle Milk from two men who work at some local GNC stores here in Philly. One encouraged me to drink it from time to time because "I look pretty skinny," while the other suggested that I avoid it because it makes people fat. Interestingly, the cashier who encouraged me to start drinking muscle milk later said that I really won't see much of a benefit at all unless I were using the one in powder form instead of the liquid one. Does anyone have suggestions?

 

[simon]

Instead of focusing on the Muscle Milk question, let's look at the bigger picture. In order to help you, we need to know stuff:

What are your goals?

What is your diet like?

What is your workout routine?

And in answer to the Muscle Milk thing...

It's overpriced with too many sugars and a horrible mixture of polyunsaturated oils high in omega-6 fatty acids. You'd be better off staying away from the branded stuff and buying protein supplements in bulk from places like trueprotein.com

 

[Frank2500]

Re:

Hi There Simon,

Well, in terms of goals, I'm primarily looking to bulk up, since I'm a naturally skinny guy. I'm trying to avoid foods that are high in fat such as fried stuff-french fries, deep fried chicken, etc. I usually eat ground turkey, lean ground beef, egg whites, pasta, anything that is lean and I usually buy protin bars from the GNCs.

 

[John_Galt]

Don't buy stuff from GNC. They rip you off.

I've never heard of this muscle milk, it sounds like it's just bullsh*t.

 

[TheVirtualMind]

Don't buy stuff from GNC. They rip you off.

I've never heard of this muscle milk, it sounds like it's just bullsh*t.

MuscleMilk has been around a while and a LOT of people swear by it.

My gf's brother drank it and worked out and got huge. However, when he stopped lifting, he stopped drinking it because according to him "if you drink it and don't lift, you will get fat."

Take it for what it is worth.

 

[[S]alvatore]

I recommend food, and lots of it. Forget about the muscle milk.

 

[simon]

I recommend food, and lots of it. Forget about the muscle milk.

True dat.

If you want muscle, eat 1.5g protein /lb of bodyweight every day as a minimum, 2g/lb is optimal. If you can't reach that with whole food, supplement with pure protein powders, (no added carbs/fat). I'm not a fan of protein bars; too many contain trans-fats and loads of sugars. If you can find a decent one, go for it, but only use them as a supplement.

You're right to avoid deep fried stuff, but don't avoid fats, except for the trans variety. Eat WHOLE eggs, as many as you can.

Reach your calorie total for a day (~20kcal/lb bodyweight) by eating as many low GI carbs as you can handle without getting fat.

Eat as many fibrous vegetables as possible.

Further reading for you:

http://www.sosuave.net/forum/showthread.php?t=110033
http://www.ironaddicts.com/ (awesome information)

 

[shagnscoob]

Simon is right. If you want to get big musclemilk isn't going to help unless your training is in order, and then your resting and your diet.

Get a shorter training routine, naturally skinny guys don't do well on the programs with 3x10 of everything 3 days a week. Go to ironaddicts and fight a Simple Strength Based routine, or one of the "Hardgainer" routines.

Then eat and sleep. it's simple :cheer:

 

[dirtyvibe]

Muscle Milk is I think basically just cassein protein which is the opposite of whey: whey digests really fast and cassein digests really slowly. So, most people take muscle juice before they go to sleep so their body doesn't start eating itself.

However, Muscle Juice is really ****ing expensive. Just eat a cup of cottage cheese before you go to bed since cottage cheese has lots of cassein protein and 1 cup = about 20 grams of protein.

 

[ValleyDJing]

Yo Frank. Try WeightGainer 2200. You can get a huge tub of it for like 50 bucks at GNC. I weightlift about 3 times a week (although I'm gonna try and bump it up to 4 or 5 times per week) and I gained 5 lbs in a month. And it was solid muscle, not just bulk. This stuff works, I highly recommend it if you're looking to pack on some weight. Just make sure you take it only when you excercise cause I knew another guy that took it and packed on bulk instead of lean muscle cause it has so many calories in it.

 

[shagnscoob]

Don't eat weightgainers.

Eat smart.

I drink musclemilk before I workout sometimes, but only in a pinch. You're better off just eating healthy and big.

 

[Frank2500]

Re:

Thanks, folks. Been away from the computer for a while. I'm a little overwhelmed by the load of information each of you have given me, and I don't really know what would be the best option for me. And I thought most protein bars had 0 transfat. My main concern is that since muscle milk supposedly burns fat and I naturally don't have much of any fat in my body, it will burn off whatever little fat that I have and I'll end up being the extremely skinny guy that I was once again.

Question: When I fry eggs, I normally throw away the yoke and only eat the white due to the general belief that the yoke contains a lot of fat and cholesterol and can easily lead to a heart attack. Am I doing the right thing?

 

[simon]

Thanks, folks. Been away from the computer for a while. I'm a little overwhelmed by the load of information each of you have given me, and I don't really know what would be the best option for me. And I thought most protein bars had 0 transfat. My main concern is that since muscle milk supposedly burns fat and I naturally don't have much of any fat in my body, it will burn off whatever little fat that I have and I'll end up being the extremely skinny guy that I was once again.

Seriously...don't bother with muscle milk. It's just a well advertised protein powder with a hefty price tag, nothing more. Don't believe the hype; you're wasting your money buying it. Drinking sunflower oil and canola oil, (two components of muscle milk) won't make you lose fat. If you want the MCT present in muscle milk, get it from coconut oil.

You need to lose this paranoia about becoming skinny. Don't want to be skinny? Eat, eat and eat some more. Read the thread I put in my last post (WBA's Idiot's Guide). Go over to ironaddicts.com and read all you can. While you're over there, find one of IA's beginners routines and get going on it.

Question: When I fry eggs, I normally throw away the yoke and only eat the white due to the general belief that the yoke contains a lot of fat and cholesterol and can easily lead to a heart attack. Am I doing the right thing?

No. Eat the yolks. They are full of precious vitamins and minerals and protein and calories and other highly anabolic substances. Cholesterol is a precursor to testosterone. You need it. Eat it.

Read http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/skinny.html for more info.

You've got the basic information, now do some reading. In ironaddicts you have almost all the resources you could ever need for what you want to do.

 

[Frank2500]

Re: So What Are The Effects of Muscle Milk Then?

Ok...somebody please help provide me with an answer to this question. What then are the effects of Muscle Milk? Is it primarily designed to make people leaner (lose fat/burn fat while keeping muscle) or help them gain weight? If a really skinny guy began drinking Muscle Milk frequently, what would you expect to be the result? If a relatively bigger guy did the same, would the results differ? Would he instead lose weight? I'm asking because I'm already very slim and I don't know...perhaps I'm just being overly pessimistic here, but for some reason, ever since I started drinking this Muscle Milk, it just seems to me that I've lost quite a chunk of the bulk that had developed and built in me from weight lifting. I look at the mirror and I feel as if I'm starting to get somewhat skinny again and my biceps and triceps that I worked so hard to build for almost two years now are starting to become almost barely visible unless you get a close look.

 

[SamoJednom]

Hey there Frank,

I recommend that you read "The Idiot's Guide to Growth" by Warboss Alex, which is found at this link http://www.sosuave.net/forum/showthread.php?t=110033
That thread has a whole lot of information and a good routine to get you started.

Depending on how much you weigh, I would recommend eating 2x your bodyweight in protein like "Simon" suggested. Eat tuna, steak, beef, turkey. chicken, eggs, cottage cheese, milk, fruits, vegetables, it is important that you eat vegetables they clean out your system meaning that your stomach won't look like a beer belly. There are a ton more of foods you could eat search them on ironaddicts.com and bodybuilding.com

Also buy yourself some Whey Protein, you can find it pretty cheaply at your local Wal-Mart or Sam's Club. Drink it once before your workout like 2 scoops and 2 scoops after your workout. By before workout I mean 45 mins before and after within first 30 minutes after your workout is done.

You can also drink the Shake on your non-workout days. Mix it up with fruits or etc. There are plenty of recepies for this look them up. But don't supplement these shakes for your meals if you can eat the meal instead of the shake eat the meal. Try to eat between 5-6 times a day to kick start your metabolism make it digest the food faster and better.

Make sure you don't use cheat food, don't eat fast food, bulk clean other wise your gona get some fat like I did and gonna have to bust your ass to burn it off with cardio.

Run on your off days for like 25-30 minutes of light cardio or do treadmill running. 3 times or so a week whatever works for you.

The hardest thing to do will be to eat this much food but you have to tough it out man. I gained quite a bit of weight doing the 2x your bodyweight in protein its tough but it works. I reached my goal for my weight now am still eating the same doing my cardio and my exercises.

Hope this helps you a bit but read that guide I gave you the link for its going to help you a lot. It may be a bit tough at start but stick it out man if you need support thats what this forum section is for don't be shy to post for help or questions!!

-SamoJednom

 

[Rugbystar]

SamoJ, please stop trying to put your two cents in on every topic. I have been reading Don Juan Discussion for a while now and you just started lifting guy. How are you giving someone advice? I been lifting 9yrs now and i keep my mouth shut. Sorry i could not keep my mouth shut on this one!

Werden

 

[simon]

What then are the effects of Muscle Milk?

Effects are the same as any other protein powder, except muscle milk contains more high GI carbohydrates and is therefore more likely to put fat on you.

Is it primarily designed to make people leaner (lose fat/burn fat while keeping muscle) or help them gain weight? If a really skinny guy began drinking Muscle Milk frequently, what would you expect to be the result? If a relatively bigger guy did the same, would the results differ?

Drinking muscle milk won't do sh!t for your if the rest of your nutrition, routine and rest isn't good.

I'm asking because I'm already very slim and I don't know...perhaps I'm just being overly pessimistic here, but for some reason, ever since I started drinking this Muscle Milk, it just seems to me that I've lost quite a chunk of the bulk that had developed and built in me from weight lifting. I look at the mirror and I feel as if I'm starting to get somewhat skinny again and my biceps and triceps that I worked so hard to build for almost two years now are starting to become almost barely visible unless you get a close look.

This is all going in bold because you keep failing to see the point.

It seems to me that you haven't actually absorbed any of the information that's been presented to you.

Let me get this straight...you've been 'building' your biceps and triceps for 2 years and they're barely visible? That says everything about your diet and training.

If you've lost muscle that you did put on...it's because of your diet and training. If you can't put on muscle...it's because of your diet and training.

Until you're prepared to listen and actually read the information that's out there and which I've already tried to get you to read, you won't get anywhere. Change your mindset before you try to change your body.

 

[mrRuckus]

To hell with muscle milk and all that garbage.

Why can't you all just eat food? It's really not that hard. for serious.

I make about 6-8 lbs of chicken a week. Two packages. I put it in two glass pans, pour some balsamic vinegerette on them, and put them in the oven for an hour at 350 degrees. This takes like no time or effort. The prep is about the length of time it takes the oven to preheat to 350.

Then another day of the week i mix 6 lbs of ground beef (80% or 93% if it was on sale) in a bowl, sprinkle a bunch of italian seasoning and ketchup and pack it down into a glass pan and bake it again for an hour at 350. Easy as sh1t meatloaf.

That's most of my food for a week or more and it took about 20 minutes of actual work. And if you can multitask for sh1t you can cook up 18-36 hard boiled eggs at the same time. That takes as long as it takes to put water and eggs in a pot and watch tv until the next commercial break and turning it off.

Sometimes if no ground beef is on sale and i'm out then I buy whatever steak is on sale and i'm too lazy to grill it or anything like that so i put it in the slow cooker overnight. In the morning i have really juicy, soft hunks of cow flesh ready to become part of my triceps with no more work then turning a knob and dumping steak in with a bit of water.

I do most of this stuff whenever I just have a little bit of time to kill when i'm just sitting around at 7:30 waiting to go meet friends at 9.

I get 300g of protein a day now on my current recomposition diet. About 4 scoops of whey on workout days and one in a whey/caseine shake before bed on nonworkout days.

 

[D_Master]

Hey man, I don't know what you mean by "naturally skinny", but I would probably put myself right in that category with ya. When I started lifting a year ago I was about 157 and always a hardgainer. By November I had been lifting for about 7 months and only up to 162 ( I wasn't taking much in the way of supplements). By January 165 when I started on this new supplement I saw mentioned on here called CYTOGAINER. Look it up, you can find it about anywhere. I bought a 6 lb container and it took me about a month to go through it and when I was done in 1 month I was up to 171. So I gained as much muscle weight in 1 month as I did the 1st 7 months of just going to the gym. The stuff works and it doesn't taste bad at all.

Its a mixture of protein, creatine and several other important supplements.

Muscle milk has a lot more in the way of fats in it than this stuff does. I would avoid muscle milk if I were you, even though it probly is the best tasting protein drink.

 

[Frank2500]

Re:

Thanks, DMaster and others. And to SamoJ, I'll check out the link you provided. To the person who responded to me in "bold," there's no need to take it personal. I haven't had enough time to sit on the computer and read every response folks have written on this topic until fairly recently, and my questions were put out of genuine curiosity. Some of you on here just seem to love getting confrontational with others no matter what the topic is about.


Personally, I've been trying to cut down on how much cardio I do...focusing on doing about 10-15 minutes on the Elliptical to avoid burning muscle. As I did mention earlier, I used to be a really skinny guy for so many years and my body is such that once I start doing things like cardio probably for more than 15 minutes, I start to burn muscle very easily. There used to be a point when I stopped doing cardio entirely. That was when I just started lifting very intensively. Prior to that, I used to jog at least 3 days a week. I ended up almost getting to 180lbs. I stood on a weight scale one day and it said that I was 19 pounds over my ideal weight, which was about 160lbs or so. But then, I got worried about my heart and at one point I started to feel some kind of chest pain once in a while and also as if my heart was beating somewhat irregularly. It was then that I got back to doing cardio. It seems as if it's quite easy to develop a beer belly from lifting weights and eating a whole lot without doing cardio, so I need to also watch out for that.