Q: Hi Mike, I am confused about what protein powder I should be taking. I am trying to strip down the fat from my body and and show off the muscle that I have been building up for quiet some time. I am a 77kg female and I train 4x a week with an advanced level of weight training. There are just too many protein powders out there and I am wanting to know what's best for my build and stripping fat. Thanks Mike.

A: Any pure whey protein powder should be fine. I like Optimum Nutrition whey powders but any quality powder should be fine. Just make sure it's almost pure protein with very little carbs or fat. You may want to read my Protein supplements article for more detail.

But remember that protein powder by itself will not do much and it's not necessary at all if you can get enough protein using 'regular' foods like lean meats, chicken, fish, and others. Your protein goal should be to get at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day -- and if you can't do that using regular foods, that's when you should use whey protein powder. That's all it does: provide protein. If you happened to really like, say, skinless chicken breast you can just as easily eat a lot of it instead of protein powder. Check out my Nutrition article if you are not sure about your overall diet plan.