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The short answer to that question is: yes, you can take them together.
After all, they are both water-soluble bodybuilding supplements that you scoop, mix, and drink in the pursuit of gaining muscle.
Whether or not it is a good idea will depend on what you need to meet your fitness goals. Your calorie intake, macronutrient requirements, meal prep time, and budget may determine how you answer that question.
Having used both, I used to ask myself the same question. Let me help you shed some light on these 2 awesome supplements.
Now let’s take a side-by-side look at mass gainers and whey protein powders so we can determine the pros and cons of taking these two together.
Supplement Profile: Whey Powder vs Mass Gainer
These two are perhaps the most used mass gaining powder supplements in the fitness industry. But, they differ in these three categories: macros, calories, and use. Read more to find out which one will work for you and your needs best.
Macronutrient Content
A whey supplement is a pure protein powder. It has little to no carbohydrate or fat content; we can say they are negligible. One serving of whey has around 20-30 grams of protein, 3-5 grams of carbs, and 0-3 grams of fat.
Your standard mass gainer is a mix of protein with added ingredients to ramp up its calorie count. It can contain 40-60 grams of protein, 200-250 grams of carbohydrates, and 5-10 grams of fats.
Calories Per Serving
There are about 120-160 calories in a serving of whey supplement. While in a mass gainer, it can range anywhere from 700-1300 calories.
It is obvious which supplement will impact your calorie intake to a significant degree. Looking at the figures, consuming one shaker bottle of a mass gainer is like drinking 5-8 whey protein shakes.
Intended Use
A pure whey supplement is used to increase your daily protein intake, to help you reach your daily macro goal. Drinking your protein is definitely easier and better than chomping down on dry chicken breast, boiled eggs, or bland sirloin.
A mass gainer is formulated to increase your daily calorie intake. This is for people that have a very fast metabolism or those that cannot eat more than a baby’s portion of food. One serving of this high-calorie supplement gives you nutrients that can equal to about two or three meals already.
How Much Protein Can The Body Absorb
If we mix a serving of whey and mass gainer together, the total protein content of that drink would be somewhere around 60-90 grams.
Studies show that we can only absorb 30-50 grams of protein per meal that will be used for muscle-building [1][2].
The extra protein intake is used for energy the same way carbs and fats are. Hence, wasting the precious muscle-building properties of the protein.
Considering how much more expensive protein is compared to carbs on a gram-for-gram basis, you’d be better off not mixing a whey and mass gainer supplement together. It would simply be a waste.
Both whey powder and mass gainer give you the same type of protein, and if you don’t need excessive calories, then just opt for the pure protein powder.
Impact on Daily Calorie Needs
If you don’t have much trouble gaining muscle mass, it is suggested to just use a whey supplement.
It has much fewer calories, hence, it impacts your overall calorie consumption less. Plus, its macros are easier to account for in your nutrition protocol.
If you are a hard-gainer, a mass gainer will be of great help. Simply drinking one serving can take care of your daily calorie intake by up to 50%. This will make the nutrition part of your mass building easier.
So, if you decide to take them together, consider how many calories that would be. They are both supplements meant to help you with your food intake. They should not be your sole source. Thus, you should not replace your meals with them.
With that being said, the total number of calories from combining whey and a mass gainer together might be too high that it replaces your meals altogether. And, this is not a good thing.
Take note, the process of eating your food, chewing and digesting, creates important responses in the body that simple drinking won’t be able to trigger, at least to the degree consuming whole foods do.
Can I take whey protein and mass gainer both in one day? And Is it okay to take mass Gainer and Whey Protein at the same time?
While we advise that you should not use them at the same time. This does not mean you cannot use them on the same day.
Use these two supplements to take care of your food needs when in a hurry, or to deliver the right type of nutrients when you need them most.
You can use a whey protein shake pre-workout. This helps prevent muscle breakdown and activates mTor aka muscle protein synthesis after.
Then, you can take a mass gainer post-workout to replenish both glycogen stores and broken protein at the same time.
Bottom line, you can use both supplements in your nutrition protocol. But taking them together in one swig is a bit unnecessary. And, given how pricey supplements can get, it is best if you use each in a way that the nutrients they provide are not wasted.
