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Optimum Nutrition Pro Gainer provides you with 60 g of protein, 85 g of carbohydrates, 8 g of fat, and a massive 650 calories per serving, making it the perfect choice for gaining strength and muscle size.
But without any pre-workout ingredients, creatine, glutamine, or BCAAs, how can you be sure you’re buying the best mass gainer?
In this review we’ll compare Pro Gainer to two other top rated sports nutrition weight gainers; Optimum Nutrition Serious Mass, and BSN True Mass, where each serving is a blend of 6 premium protein sources.
To guarantee you’re buying the best mass gainer for your body type, budget, and current calorie intake, we’ve compared the ingredients, dosages, price, cost per serving, and customer feedback. We’ve also created supplement stacks that combine Pro Gainer with some of the best creatine, glutamine, and pre-workout supplements to help maximize your results.
Optimum Nutrition Pro Gainer Ingredients

Pro Gainer and Mass Gainer are two protein powders from Optimum Nutrition that are designed to help you reach caloric intake goals. But although they have a similar goal, the macronutrient profile (protein, carbs, and fat) is very different.
So which is the best protein powder for you?
Pro Gainer is designed more for a lean bulk, with 60 g of protein and 85 g of carbs. In comparison, Mass Gainer has less protein (50 g) and more carbs (254 g), making it a better option for someone that has trouble gaining weight or already leads an extremely active lifestyle.
To put this in perspective, most whey protein powders have 30 g of protein or less, while the carbohydrate level is usually under 10 g per serving. That’s the case with the bestselling Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey (24 g protein, 5 g carbs, 1 g fat), which is a better option if you only want to increase your protein intake, with fewer carbs and calories.
Each serving of Pro Gainer is high in dietary fiber (5 g, 20% DV), low in cholesterol (60 mg, 20% DV), and includes a unique blend of 26 vitamins and essential minerals. The muscle-building protein blend also combines 6 different types of protein.
Pro Gainer protein blend
- Whey Protein Isolate
- Whey Protein Concentrate
- Calcium Caseinate
- Egg Albumen
- Hydrolyzed Whey Peptides
- Glutamine Peptides
Hydrolyzed whey is digested quickly by the body, while whey protein concentrate helps keep the price affordable and the protein level high. Whey isolate is used to provide a boost of protein without the carbs, and calcium caseinate is derived from milk, and around 92% protein. Egg albumen is essentially powdered egg whites, which are high in protein and sodium.
Because of the high carbohydrate content, we recommend taking a serving of Pro Gainer post-workout, or early in the day. This will ensure the carbs are used by your cells for energy.
The ingredient label also includes cocoa, sucralose and acesulfame potassium as sweeteners, lactase, and soy lecithin to improve mixability.
To improve protein digestion and ensure a healthy flow of aminos reaches your muscles, Optimum Nutrition have added the Carbogen® and Aminogen® enzyme blends. This helps to increase BCAA retention levels, nitrogen levels in muscle, and overall amino acid plasma levels.
Vitamin and mineral blend
- Vitamin A 20%
- Calcium 50%
- Vitamin E 35%
- Riboflavin 35%
- Vitamin B6 20%
- Vitamin B12 20%
- Pantothenic Acid 20%
- Iodine 45%
- Zinc 20%
- Copper 20%
- Chromium 30%
- Chloride 4%
- Vitamin C 35%
- Iron 25%
- Thiamin 15%
- Niacin 20%
- Folic Acid 20%
- Biotin 20%
- Phosphorus 35%
- Magnesium 30%
- Selenium 10%
- Manganese 35%
- Molybdenum 25%
O.N. Pro Gainer – Product Summary
- High biological value proteins, which means they are easily digested and absorbed.
- Each serving of Pro Gainer provides a 60-gram dose of premium muscle-building protein made from 7 unique sources.
- Complex Carbohydrates & Lipids. Each serving of Pro Gainer provides 85 grams of carbohydrates and 4-5 grams of fiber with only 5 grams of sugar.
- Pro Gainer supplies medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) and other energy-dense lipids.
- Micronutrients: Various vitamins and essential minerals are utilized during the growth process.
Each serving of Pro Gainer provides 26 vitamins and essential minerals. - Pro Gainer provides over 600 calories per serving.
- By adding just one serving to your daily routine, you can begin to experience an increase in lean mass within the first week.
- Mixes Effortlessly with a Blender, Shaker, or Spoon.
When is the best time to take it?
Recommended use
Use PRO-Gainer as your post-workout recovery shake and/or a high-protein meal between meals.
Pro Gainer vs. Serious Mass Gainer
Pro Gainer vs. BSN True Mass
What flavors and sizes are available?
With a serving size of 165 grams, each tub provides you with either 14 or 28 servings. As a post-workout recovery shake, this is enough to last between 3 and 7 weeks, based on 4 workouts per week.
At the time of writing this review, the best value for money comes from the larger 4.6 kg tub. Each serving was priced at $2.57, compared to $2.82 per serving with the smaller tub with 14 servings. That’s why we always recommend calculating the average cost per serving, across all sizes, before making a final buying decision.
Due to being more expensive than standard protein powders, we only recommend taking a mass gainer post-workout. For most whey protein powders you shouldn’t expect to pay much more than $1 per serving.
Flavors
- Banana Cream Pie
- Double Chocolate
- Strawberry Cream
- Vanilla Custard
Save money with Amazon
If you’re looking to save money on your monthly protein powder order, you might want to consider the Amazon Subscribe & Save program.
Subscribe & Save allows you to unlock savings of up to 15% on a wide range of supplements, including Optimum Nutrition Pro Gainer.
You can save 5% with a subscription to 1 product, or save the full 15% by subscribing to 5 products, provided they’re all delivered to the same address. The delivery schedule can be set from monthly, up to once every 6 months.
Although 5 products might sound a lot, if you already supplement with a protein powder, multivitamin, creatine, BCAA, and glutamine, the savings can soon add up.
Who are Optimum Nutrition?
With over 30 years in the sports nutrition industry, Optimum Nutrition currently produces some of the bestselling sports nutrition products in the world. These have been designed to improve your strength and recovery, health and wellness, and help increase your protein intake, such as their Gold Standard 100% Whey.
To find out more about their protein powders, bars, ready to drinks, BCAAs, glutamine, pre-workout supplements, creatine, multivitamins, and weight loss products, we recommend our Optimum Nutrition buying guide. This includes a summary of the health benefits you can expect from each product, which sizes and flavors are available, and dosages for the top ingredients.
We’ve also added in-depth reviews and comparisons with other top rated nutrition companies, to guarantee you only buy the best supplement for your fitness goals.
Review Overview
Overall Review Rating
4.5 / 5
At the time of writing this review, each 165 gram serving of Optimum Nutrition Pro Gainer was priced at $2.57, based on buying the 10 pound bag. This was cheaper than buying two of the 5 pound tubs, which worked out at $2.96 per serving.
This may seem like a lot of money compared to your standard whey protein powder, but on balance it’s actually good value for money.
If you consider the average serving of protein powder with 20 - 25 g of protein costs roughly $0.75, if you triple this to get the 60 g of protein in Pro Gainer, you’re looking at $2.25. Now add in the 85 g of carbs and complete vitamin and mineral complex, and the price appears very reasonable.
It’s also not a supplement you’re likely to take often, perhaps once per day on workout days only. At that rate, with 4 resistance workouts per week, the 10 pound bag should last up to 7 weeks. You may even want to mix half a serving with some whey protein isolate, to bring the carb level down slightly.
Having 4 flavors to choose from isn’t great variety, but should be enough to keep most people happy.
The hundreds of reviews on Amazon are also very positive, with high praise for the mixability, ease of digestion (no bloating), and ability to help add lean muscle. Arguably the best mass gain protein powder on the market.
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