About a month and a half ago I started using Cytosport's Muscle Milk (Naturals).  The claim is this:

Muscle Milk helps grow muscle faster than gainers, whey or even creatine. This increased muscle growth is possible because Muscle Milk is the first product patterned after Nature’s ultimate anabolic food—human mother’s milk. Locked within the composition of human mother’s milk are long-held secrets to muscle growth potential. We took the next step and actually duplicated these important muscle growth factors into Muscle Milk. Muscle Milk helps you grow muscle like never before.

So what is the verdict?

Flavors & Texture

Chocolate w/ skim milk: WOW.  This tastes like a damn chocolate milk shake!  Seriously, this is the best tasting protein mix I have ever tasted.  I've never found a mix that made me actually feel excited and guilty to drink but this definitely hits the nail on the head.  I would compare it to drinking a brownie of awesome.  I didn't experience anything gritty from this.

Chocolate w/ water: Okay, not AS good as with milk, but this still tastes excellent.  Add a couple of ice cubes to your water before mixing and you are ready to go.  As before, no grit, so this is by far the choice of the three for me.

Strawberry w/ skim milk: I'll give this 4 out of 5 stars.  It is still pretty great tasting and I can see using this if I need a change.  It doesn't cause the guilty pleasure sensation of the chocolate flavor.  I didn't notice any gritty texture mixing with milk.

Strawberry w/ water: Alright, still tastes good... but I have to say I experienced the gritty texture slightly.  Not enough to really bother me but it is still there.

Vanilla w/ skim: I was rather disappointed with the Vanilla.  Perhaps it is my taste buds, but it really doesn't compare to either of the two previously mentioned flavors.  I won't be buying Vanilla again unless I want to mix it with fruit or something else.  Out of the three this was the grittiest of them.

Vanilla w/ water: Hmm.  While this still beats the typical protein mix... this wasn't all that great.  I ended up having this obvious after-taste and gritty feeling in my mouth for probably 10 minutes after consuming this.  By far the loser.

Overall experience.  Does it work?

I have not been using this before I go to the gym.  If I start, I will update this post to reflect that.  I have however noticed decreased recovery times since I started using this before bed.  Prior to using Muscle Milk I would mix a whey protein shake at this time.  I would wake up at 4am having to use the restroom starving with a feeling in my gut like I didn't eat dinner.  Since I started using this before bed I no longer wake up feeling this way.  Instead, I wake up feeling like I did before I went to sleep.  I'm very impressed by this product and would recommend it to anyone looking for a shake mix to use before bed.  I'm sold.

Around nine months ago, I stopped using Splenda as a sugar substitute after reading several articles related to how the product can potentially have negative side effects from stomach cramping to migraine headaches.  I was experiencing similar issues and wanted to rule out any possibilities to narrow down what was actually causing the problems.  Shortly after I stopped using Splenda, the headaches and stomach cramping I was experiencing went away so I figured it may have been the culprit.  I didn't want to pass judgement directly on Splenda though, since supposedly there have been all kinds of testing done on it to make sure it is safe (bullshit).

Approximately six months later I got back into lifting and began using supplements (protein, flax seed oil, creatine, etc) and the above issues began to occur again.  As before I began to narrow down the foods I was consuming one by one to determine what was going on.  Eventually, and to my surprise, Optimum started using Sucralose (Splenda) as an ingredient in the whey product I had previously used.  I purchased a 5 pound tub of Optimum Gold Standard Whey protein, since I had always enjoyed the bang for the buck that I got when I used to lift a couple years ago... I didn't bother to read the ingredients since I figured they were still the same.  Lucky for me, Optimum was intelligent enough to market a "natural" protein supplement dubbed "Natural 100% Whey Gold Standard" that doesn't use artificial sweeteners so I have remained a loyal customer.

The story continues with my waking up to a killer migraine two weeks ago.  I took a day off of work and slept the majority of the day.  Here we are, two weeks later... and I just had an epiphany.  I was sitting at my desk and could feel my head beginning to ache.  I looked down at what was in my hands, a package of Orbit chewing gum that I had purchased the night before.  A new flavor, Fabulous Fruitini, that I had started chewinng two weeks ago when I saw it on the shelf in the super market.  DING.  I looked at the ingredients and read the words "sucralose" and began to get this overwhelming feeling of annoyance.  If you read this post I made around a year ago you will see why I chew this gum... and why it is such a bummer to read that they are now using sucralose as an ingredient.  I guess the only positive to mention is that it is only specific flavors that seem to contain sucralos.

Wrigley's Orbit product page contains nutritional values for each flavor...

Contains Sucralose (Splenda):

1. Bubblemint
2. Cinnamint
3. Citrusmint
4. Sweetmint
5. Maui Melon Mint
6. Fabulous Fruitini
7. Strawberry Mint

Does not contain Sucralose (Splenda):

1. Peppermint
2. Spearmint
3. Wintermint
4. Crystal Mint
5. Mint Mojito
6. Rasberry Mint
7. Sangria Fresca
8. Positively Pomegranate

While some flavors don't contain Sucralose, they do contain aspartame, which has had negative light as well.  However, I have never noticed any side effects of using a product containinng aspartame so I will be chewing those flavors from now on.

Well, my pants are starting to require a belt in order to stay put... I am thinking this is a good sign.  I've also managed to increase weight on every single exercise each week!  I need to come up with or find an app to monitor my strength increases.  I'm still trying hard to hit 3k cals a day... it is getting easier with each passing week.  Do keep in mind I am currently lifting heavy and trying to gain mass with 200 lbs being the goal before I begin to cut down.

Personal bests that I recall from the previous week... 

Leg Press: 415 X 10 on 4th (final) set

Lat Pulldown: 150 X 4, 130 X 6 first set (a tad too heavy to start with)

Leg Extension: 190 X 10 on 4th (final) set

Skull Crushers (triceps): 85 X 6 on 3rd (final) set

Standing Calve Raise: 210 X 8  on 4th (final) set