this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2024
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Unless you're vegan, you're probably already getting more protein than you need.
Protein is needed for building muscles but most meatheads in the USA just eat all the protein and don't do enough of the exercise.
Only about 24% of people in the US aren't "overweight" to "obese."
Literally almost nobody needs this fucking protein because almost fuck-nobody is exercising.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_the_United_States
What many US citizens need is portion control and regular exercise.
Seems like you just have an axe to grind about fat people. Protein is not the deciding factor in weight gain, calories are, so I don't know why you think a link to the wiki page about obesity would be convincing that protein powder is snake oil.
Even when you coincide that it is relevant you dismiss with little justification. Also BMI is not a great metric for individuals, many that have a lot of muscle are measured as overweight because there is a lot more to bodies that height and mass.
Can you justify why protein powder is snake oil in line with the other things in the thread? I will grant that most people have more than enough protein in a regular diet, but stats about obesity says literally nothing about if powder can help your workouts give the results you're hoping for.
While the obesity part is kind of a digression, I think they were pretty clear: protein powder is a waste if you have a typical American diet and are not exercising, which is apparently most Americans. While protein powder on its own isn't snake oil, it effectively is for most people.
My point was that people who are likely obese are busy trying to suck down protein shakes when they probably already have enough protein. Like I said, if you're in the USA and not explicitly vegan, you probably already get enough protein from your daily diet to build muscle.
When less than 25% of the country is a healthy weight, people don't need to build muscle, they need to lose weight.
I am fucking fat myself, maybe that's why I feel so strongly about this. America has a massive obesity problem and it's tied to our eating habits (especially overly processed foods... like protein shakes) and we're not going to find out way out of it by buying protein shakes.
The protein supplement industry alone is currently a $6.57 billion industry. Are you really going to tell me the only people buying them are that sliver of people with healthy weights?
If you're overweight and want to lose weight, you don't need a protein supplement. Yes, it's more complicated than calories in/calories out but the reality is and has been 1. portion sizes in USA are out of control, 2. the vast majority of the country have weight issues not muscle issues, and 3. Excess protein doesn't help you lose weight.
The less than 25% of the country that has a normal weight is not the source of the $6.57 billion dollar market cap of the protein supplement industry.
But sure, it's not that fatasses are focusing on the wrong fucking things, like protein. The vast majority of Americans like to think they would pump iron but most fucking don't and the evidence is that over 75% of us are overweight, obese, and morbidly obese.
Gyms would cease to function if all the people who paid for them actually tried to use them.
Finally, the men who suck these down are trying to look like men who suck down tons of steroids. Those results are not achievable with protein and exercise alone, thus making protein a snake oil to cover for steroid abuse. Steroid abuse is real and hiding behind this "you just need more protein" bullshit is a farce. The number of men who claimed to be gaining insane muscles while only "exercising and eating healthy" to only have it come out that they abuse the fuck out of steroids is too damn high.
See: Elon Musk's distended gut and man-boobs from sucking down steroids but not actually putting in the work of lifting. Joe Rogan's distended stomach is looking pretty rough these days, too.
While I'm going to ignore your clear issues regarding other people's weight, there's 258 million people, if a quarter of them spend $100 a year on "protein shakes" there's your 6.5 billion, and now that number seems low.
You seem quite invested so I have a question. I have learned that protein fills more and therefore reduces appetite. Won't a protein shake be a relatively healthy option which reduces snacking and overeating of less healthy meals? This has also anecdotally been my experience but I haven't done it very much.
I've had the opposite experience myself. Protein shakes keep me full for about as long as water. Protein rich whole foods are much more satiating for the same quantity of protein.