To clarify my earlier post, I'm trying to be as observational as I can to give PF3 my honest evaluation. Here are my notes so far:
1) I am NOT substituting PF3 for protein.
2) I maintain my total grams of protein at 160/day (1g/lb BW). Since I'm not using protein powder any more I'm deriving all my required protein grams from whole foods.
3) I dropped all protein powder after about a week on PF3. Was taking 26 to 52 grams WPI per day before that.
4) I am experiencing a leaning out/fat losseffect, especially in the stomach area.
5) I am experiencing significantly reduced stomach bloating while on PF3 and off protein powders. I have stopped protein powder use in the past due to bloating with no reduction. Something is different this time with PF3 present.
6) I am experiencing improved recovery (DOMS from squat day usually lasts 4 days, it's been reduced to 3 days)
7) I am experiencing some sort of thermogenic effect while working out.
8) I am interested in the effects of the "bio-active" value of PF3 to enhance my workout recovery.
9) I have only been logging for 4 weeks (2.5 without WPI powder) and am still evaluating it.
So far my opinion is that PF3 is having positive effects on my workouts and muscle development. I realize that there are many factors working here and that everyone's body reacts differently.
Here's the issue I'm having with your "observations." Essentially, they are pretty useless because the MAIN variable here is that you are now deriving your protein from whole foods rather than shakes. This would essentially nullify whatever findings you have on PF3 since PF3 TBH is such a minute variable in the changes you have made.
To make a proper assessment, NOTHING should have changed in your routine and nutrition except for the introduction of PF3. That would provide the single change in variables and thus whatever effects one may have experienced could then be correlated back to that single change in variable.
One simply can not come anywhere near giving an accurate assessment of the product when the most significant change is in your diet.
i eat tons of protein powder, even though i know wholefood protein is better; i just dont have the stomach space.i personally view protein powder as an extract that misses alot of nutrients and is handled differently by the body. its no secret that protein can be converted to carbs ect, so i question how much of it has the nutritional value im looking for, whether it is optimal for me to try to equal its nutritional value with something else, and how much of it is undesirable nutrition leading to fat gain. i would stand to save some money if dumping protein for pf3 was, in terms of keeping my gains and reducing doms, equivalent (or better in the case with reducing doms) as several other people have said it is after several weeks, but my plan is to check in with these people after several months to see whats going on with it before i try dropping protein powder
This makes next to zero sense. Protein supplements are really no different from drinking milk for the most part except you have a much higher concentration of protein. It's not an extract which is missing a lot of nutrients. Protein powder provides you with by and large your protein macros. Plain and simple. If one is stupid enough to live off of mostly protein powders, yeah, you're going to be missing a lot of things in your diet because again, protein powders provide you with essentially just protein macros. You still have two other very important macros which are carbs and fats not to mention you still need micronutrients. PF3 again is NOT A MACRO NUTRIENT AND DOES NOT REPLACE A MACRO NUTRIENT. Getting your protein macros from whole foods or protein powder is a food choice one makes, that's it. So honestly, this whole notion of let's replace X amount of protein powder intake with PF3 is nonsensical. You MAY be able to get away with getting in less protein without drop off if there are MPS enhancing effects to PF3 but that is COMPLETELY different from implying that x amount PF3 replaces x amount of protein macros.
Let's also discuss the following which you have posted:
i would stand to save some money if dumping protein for pf3 was, in terms of keeping my gains and reducing doms, equivalent (or better in the case with reducing doms)
This is completely nonsensical since you are implying that protein powders magically reduce DOMS and what not. Again, IT IS JUST POWDERED FOOD. You could very well just drink some milk and eat some chicken to get the protein. PF3 helping with recovery is doing it through completely different means. It's COMPLETELY different from getting in adequate protein to provide the body with a major substrate it needs to repair itself. I mean, for what you have posted to actually make any sense and for it to be valid, it would have to mean that people go out of their way to buy and use protein supplements specifically for the bio-active peptides. Pretty much NOBODY is buying protein supplements to get those micro fractions. People buy and use protein powders to hit their protein macro goals. Keyword here is
macro.
You've seen me post enough on this topic at this point to understand that I have no quarrels with you, MAN, or the product (I even ran a tub of it for goodness sakes), but what you are posting here is both nonsensical, confusing, and misleading regardless of it being intentional or accidental.