It’s no secret Gainful has been making waves in the supplement and nutrition space. Gainful eliminated the trial and error process of finding a new supplement plan by taking a science-backed and expert-led approach.
Simply put, Gainful is developing custom supplement plans for active individuals.
A Customized Supplement Plan Backed by Experts
The team over at Gainful was generous enough to provide me with my own Gainful supplement plan. If you want the short answer to my satisfaction, I was seriously impressed with what I received.
If you want to find out why I was impressed—and why you should hop on the Gainful train too—below are my thoughts after taking my plan for a little over a week.
Review of My Gainful Supplement Plan
Gainful recommends a personalized performance nutrition plan after each new user completes a 5-minute survey, so that’s the first place I started when creating my plan.
The survey gauges your level of physical activity, what diet restrictions you have, what physical results you’re looking for, and much more in order to determine what’s best for you.
Here’s what I put for my nutrition goals.
Aside from results, Gainful caters to the specific diet of each individual too. For me, I have specific food allergens and diet restrictions, so I knew seeing how the plan would accommodate those were important to me.
I also sweat a lot during my cardio workouts throughout the week. I do a lot of outdoor running and playing pickup basketball. I was happy to see Gainful pose more in-depth questions about my physical activity, as opposed to just asking, “How many days do you workout?”
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Committed to Accommodating All Types of Diets
I’m lactose-free and also largely gluten-free. I’m also sensitive to high amounts of sugar (especially high-fructose corn syrup) which points me towards consuming foods with natural sugars like fruit and honey.
This has led to a lot of trial and error in different plant-based protein powders and different pre-workouts. I was happy to see Gainful understood individuals like myself when taking the survey.
Here’s what I put for my diet accommodations.
A Plant-based Protein Powder Made for Building Muscle
One problem I’ve run into in trying plant-based protein powders is (1) I end up feeling like I didn’t get enough protein to my body and (2) the taste is less than ideal.
This turned out to be far from the case with my Gainful blend. Here is what my protein looked like when I received it.
My Own Personal Formula
What I love best about the packaging is the front includes my name and includes my specific formula. In my survey, I chose that I wanted a plant-based protein that would help me in recovery and muscle building.
Here is what my formula reads,
An entirely plant-based, organic blend of protein and carbohydrates to aid in exercise recovery and muscle building goals. The perfect all-natural, soy-free addition to any post-workout recovery.
Then under my formula paragraph, it reiterates how I’m getting 20 grams of protein per serving, plus icons signifying my dietary restrictions of plant-based, soy-free, and gluten-free.
Having this on the packaging might not seem like a big deal, but for individuals who have sensitivities and allergies like myself, it gives me tons of comfort knowing Gainful went the extra mile in printing out my formula on the bag.
It also gives me a sense of trust I’m getting my own blend, and not just a blend that may or may not be customized to me.
A Plant-based Protein Rich in Flavor
While flavor isn’t super important to me, I do at least want something that feels like I’m drinking a protein drink or shake. I grew up drinking a lot of whey protein powder in traditional vanilla and chocolate flavors. My brain is used to recognizing those rich flavors as a signifier of a job well done.
When I had to overhaul my diet, the first thing I noticed in trying plant-based protein is the taste can be off—and off by a lot.
What I like about my Gainful protein is it comes plain, meaning the powder has no taste. This makes it so I can put it in a smoothie or bake it in protein muffins or protein pancakes without having to worry about any preexisting flavors.
To get those traditional flavors I like, I use the Flavor Boost packet that comes with each package. I chose Madagascar Vanilla and Rich Cocoa.
I make my protein shakes post-workout. I mix mine with one scoop of the Gainful powder per 8 ounces cold almond milk. Then I add my flavor booster packet. So one day I can have a chocolate protein shake, then the next I can have vanilla. It’s a fun choice I can make depending on my mood of the day.
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And in terms of how consuming the shake went, I felt replenished and slim. It also felt good on my stomach, as there was zero disruption or feelings of bloatedness.
A Pre-Workout with A Steady Delivery of Caffeine
While I don’t rely on pre-workout as much as I did in the past, I still like to take it on days I really want to get a good weight lifting session in.
First off, I never use a pre-workout that’s close to the daily allotted amount of caffeine (around 350mg). I drink a small cup of coffee in the morning so I take that caffeine consumption into account when calculating my healthy daily amount.
That’s why I was happy to see there is 200mg of caffeine per scoop in my Gainful pre-workout. After taking the pre-workout, I felt a gentle rise in energy that had me ready for my weightlifting workout in about 20 minutes.
I’d say my energy level peaked around 30 minutes, which was right on par with my main lift after I stretched and did my warmups. I consume
I consume it by funneling one scoop in a cold bottle of water. My flavor of choice is Watermelon.
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My Personal Favorite: Hydration Blend Pick-up Basketball Post Workout
Out of the entire lot of Gainful products, I was most impressed with the hydration blend.
I play a decent amount of pick-up basketball—I run full-court games at the gym 2 times a week. In terms of estimated cardio time while playing I’d estimate I’m running up and down the court for about 30-45 minutes each time I play.
After those games, I’m spent. I leave the gym having sweat all throughout my shirt and am in dire need of a sports drink for replenishment. I’ll typically grab a Gatorade or Powerade, but I know if I had an easier option I’d switch considering those drinks have more sugar than I’d like to consume.
Gainful’s Hydration Blend was made to give me an appropriate amount of sugar and sodium to replenish all of the water I just lost from playing basketball.
The taste is great—I got Lemon-Lime—and the blend comes in a small packet you can tear and pour into a water bottle.
Get the Collagen and Creatine Performance Boosts
Gainful also provides additional performance boosts to help achieve the desired results one mentions when taking the survey.
I received a Collagen Performance Boost and Creatine Performance Boost each in the form of powder. The powder is odorless and tasteless, so you can add a scoop to your protein shake, your hydration mix, or your pre-workout.
For the Creatine, I add it to my post-workout shake. The amino acids blend helps build muscle while providing recovery so I like to put that in at the end of my entire routine.
For the collagen, I like to add it to my pre-workout. Collagen helps keep joints and connective tissue healthy, so I like to consume the collagen before I go into training.
Both the performance boosts make it easy for me to enhance my workouts while staying on track with my fitness goals.
And it doesn’t necessarily matter how you consume the performance boosts, but I recommend finding a routine for taking them. You won’t see results from the boosters unless you take them on a regular basis so establishing a routine of when you consume them will work best in guaranteeing you don’t forget.
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Gainful Supplement Plan Review Final Words
Gainful prides themselves on trust and transparency. They don’t just say they’re making you a custom supplement plan and hand you bottles with no labels on them.
Instead, they are constantly reminding the user at every step what’s inside your supplements and why it was chosen specifically for you.
As someone who has been fighting to find a supplement plan I can rely on, my Gainful formula proved to be a quick and easy solution to a problem I’ve been trying to solve since I graduated from college.
