I have been going to the gym regularly for the past couple of weeks (currently week 3) and have noticed quite a change in the scales: 14 pounds to be precise.

14 pounds seems like a lot in two weeks to me, however. I am concerned that I am also losing more muscle mass than fat because I don't think I take in enough protein per day.

What is the recommended daily protein to build muscle while losing fat? Would it be wise to start taking a protein supplement daily to reduce muscle mass loss, and, if so, how much is recommended?

I am male. 5'10" & 214lbs.

I work out 6 days per week and include weight lifting and cardio every day.

I drink only water... around 135oz per day (8 bottles of 1.05PT bottles)

I stopped eating candy, sweets, etc.

I generally eat 2-3 meals per day because that's what my college schedule/budget allows, however I try to have healthy snacks, such as raw almonds, to munch on if I get too hungry... I think I'm pulling between 1500-1800 calories per day at the moment.

Hope that's enough information to answer the question.

Calories are a bit low. That's a lot of weight lost for two weeks... especially if you're not low carbing.

Protein should be at about 1 gram per pound of goal body weight.

So a protein supplement would help all around then? More calories from the supplement, as well as fulfilling my daily requirements?

Sure, assuming your protein intake is currently below what I noted as optimal. Which I don't know, so I can't answer your question.

No, a protein shake most likely won't help with calories. They're generally around 100 or 120 calories per serving. Nothing much.

Unless you're talking about something like muscle milk.

What Steve said.

I aim for 120g of protein per day, and I usually get to that pretty easily. On the days I'm a little low, or on the days I lift weights, I have a scoop of protein powder - either in water or in juice, post workout.

Thanks so much for the responses =)

I'm having trouble trying to adjust to this as a lifestyle change when I'm so limited to the foods here at college...

I don't want to just go out and gorge on some fast food because it is the only thing available, but my current schedule makes it so that I have to catch "dinner" rather early (4:30 pm) and go to the gym from 6:00pm-7:30pm or so, so I find myself feeling hungry afterwards, but I hear it has negative impacts to eat very late at night, so I try not to eat after my workout.

Eating after your workout is actually a good idea. It's when you body is most sensitive to partitioning calories to muscle rather than fat.

Also, look at it this way...

Even if you eat all your calories in the PM, if you're in a net caloric deficit for the day, you're not going to be storing energy.

Man alive, what's becoming of college cafeterias? I would kill to go back to my cafeteria in school. There were limitless options.

You "hear" from where?

Everyone "hears" or "reads" or can remember that "they say" ... but no one actually bothers to find out for sure. It's kinda one of my pet peeves (and I say that with a smile, but also seriously). We have so much information at our fingertips these days and yet people still believe what they "hear" instead of finding out for sure.

When you hear things like this ask yourself (or the person you hear it from) ... WHY? Why is it bad to eat late at night? And when you get the answer, investigate it and find out for yourself if what you were told or read makes sense. Google is your friend in these situations. Use critical reasoning skills, make sure that your sources are reliable ones (medical sites, etc. rather than sites that want to sell you a product) and figure out the why of these arbitrary (and often false) rules of dieting.

The truth is that it isn't bad to eat at night - from a weight loss standpoint. Eating late at night isn't going to cause your food to convert to fat or slow your weight loss or anything like that. There could be other reasons that are particular to individuals as well, of course. Me? If I eat close to bedtime, especially if it's a heavy meal, I sleep restlessly and, depending on what I eat, I wake up in the middle of the night with heartburn. So I really try not to eat anything a couple of hours before I go to bed - but that's personal and has nothing to do with weight loss.

The main reason the "don't eat late" rule was made was to discourage people from mindless snacking at night - which is an indirect way of controlling calorie intake. If your schedule is such that eating later in the night is what works, as long as you're in your calorie range and eating healthy foods, there's no reason you shouldn't eat at night.

Ultimately, from a calorie/weight loss standpoint, it doesn't matter WHEN you eat, as long as you eat something for breakfast and eat something after you work out. Those are the two key times that your body makes the BEST use of nutrients and really needs nutrition. Anything else ... it all depends on your schedule and your body.

Thanks so much for the fast, informative responses... You both helped very much!