What are the best protein flapjacks and the best protein bars to gain weight or for people on a diet?

We compare high protein bars and high protein flapjacks to understand why protein bars are good for you, why protein bars are sometimes bad for you and to find out what protein bars make you gain weight and what protein bars are best when on a diet.

Eating protein bars and protein flapjacks as part of a high protein diet

So you want to buy some protein bars or some protein flapjacks. But you may be asking yourself questions such as:

 

  • What are the best protein bars or protein flapjacks?
  • Where can I buy protein bars or protein flapjacks?
  • Why are protein bars good for you?
  • Why are protein bars bad for you?
  • How many protein bars should I eat a day?
  • What do protein bars do?

 

Before we compare the best protein bars and the best protein flapjacks to buy online in the UK, lets first take a look at these questions.

The best protein bars and the best protein flapjacks for you depends on your body composition objectives. What are you trying to achieve? Are you looking for protein bars to gain weight? Are you looking to lose weight? Are you looking to maintain weight?

What do protein bars / protein flapjacks do?

Protein bars and protein flapjacks exist because they are a convenient high protein snack. You will buy a box of protein bars primarily because you want to achieve a high protein diet but sometimes feel that you can't get your daily protein quota through meals. Perhaps you're just too busy to prepare high protein meals or you don't have easy access to protein rich food. So a protein bar or protein flapjack can be eaten as a snack that will help get protein into your diet with each bar usually containing around 20g of quality protein.

The difference between protein bars and protein flapjacks

As you will see from the ingredient profiles in this article, protein bars tend to have less calories, less carbs and more protein than protein flapjacks. Fat and sugar content tends to be similar for both. Generally there is more choice with protein bars and they are usually slightly easier to digest (some say protein flapjacks can be quite dry and chewy although I have tried many which have actually been fairly easy to eat).

Protein flapjacks tend to be cheaper than protein bars (by this I mean you usually get more for your money - i.e. 18-24 per box costing around £22 rather than 12 per box costing around £22) although there are some exceptions.

What protein bars / protein flapjacks make you gain weight?

Protein flapjacks are more likely to make you gain weight because they tend to contain more calories and more carbohydrates than protein bars. Protein flapjacks contain whey mixed in with oats which as a result is the main carbohydrate source. But protein bars can also make you gain weight because they also have fairly high carbohydrate profiles. So if you're looking to build size, bulk up and gain muscle, both protein flapjacks and protein bars can help you.

That's not to say you can't eat protein flapjacks if you're looking to maintain a lean body and weight. If you do frequent exercise then you will burn off the calories and carbohydrates consumed from the flapjacks.

Protein bars / protein flapjacks to maintain or lose weight

If you're looking to maintain weight or lose weight, you can opt for a diet protein bar which tends to contain less carbohydrates but they are also usually smaller in size (i.e. 38-50g rather than 60-90g). Even if you're looking to lose weight or maintain lean muscle, a regular protein bar or protein flapjack is still fine to eat as long as you are doing the exercise to burn off the calories.

Why protein bars / protein flapjacks are good for you

Put simply, protein bars and protein flapjacks are good for you if you need additional protein sources for your high protein diet because you struggle to access high protein meals each day or you just want a protein snack to prevent you eating chocolate bars and crisps instead. They're not the perfect healthy snack but they do provide a need and help you to get quality protein into your diet.

Why protein bars / protein flapjacks may be bad for you

Protein bars and protein flapjacks may be bad for you if you are not doing much exercise because you may put on weight with the high calories and high carbohydrates in each bar. The sugar content isn't actually too bad considering a teaspoon is 5g (so some actually have less than what someone might put in one cup of tea).

They should be treated as a snack in between your healthy meals. We do not recommend using them as meal replacements. You can buy MRP bars and high protein cereal bars from the likes of Saints & Slimmers (the Summer Berries is very nice!) but we haven't included them here.

How many protein bars / protein flapjacks should you eat in a day?

Retailers suggest 1-3 protein bars / flapjacks a day. I would say ideally you want to limit yourself to one a day but you can eat one at around 10-11am as a morning snack and one around 4-5pm as an evening snack for instance.

There is no strict rule, just go for whatever works for you and your daily routine but I wouldn't recommend having more than 2 protein bars / flapjacks a day.

When should you eat protein bars / protein flapjacks?

When I am working in an office, I wake up around 6:45am and have breakfast so by 10am I am hungry. So I might have a protein bar then. I might then have lunch around 1pm and be hungry again by around 4pm so I might have another protein bar. Then I will have dinner around 7pm. If I can pre plan some high protein cooked meals then I might only have one bar a day and replace my 4pm one with a small meal.

If you're doing an evening workout, you might want to have a protein bar around 2 hours before you workout so you are not exercising on an empty stomach which can sometimes cause tiredness and feeling weak (although there is a big discussion to be had here around the benefits of intermittent fasting). Many bodybuilders don't like to eat carbohydrates close to a workout which is why we recommend around 2 hours.

Where to buy protein bars / protein flapjacks online in the UK

Our comparison tables show you the best protein bars and the best protein flapjacks to buy online in the UK and where you can buy them. We have looked for the cheapest websites where applicable so you can be sure that you've got yourself the best deal!

What are the best protein bars / protein flapjacks?

We will now take a look at the most popular protein bars and protein flapjacks, their ingredients, price and box size. Using this information, we will then interpret the best protein bars and the best protein flapjacks for you.

We have tried to include the best selling protein bars and flapjacks in the UK on our lists. If you eat protein bars and/or protein flapjacks that we have missed out, you can TWEET US to let us know and we will look to add your suggestion(s) to the necessary lists.

Ingredients shown are per bar not per box. We have ordered the protein bars / flapjacks by price.

Protein Flapjacks - Ingredients and price comparison

                                                                                                                               
Size Calories Protein Carbs Fat Sugar RRP price Bars per box
Bodybuilding Warehouse Protein Flapjacks 75g 273-282 18-19g 36-37g 7-9g 2g £18.99 24
CNP Pro Protein Flapjacks 75g 287 18g 38g 7g 5g£19.75 24
Maximuscle Progain Flapjacks 90g 318 22g 45g 8g 4g£19.99 12
Bulk Powders Protein Flapjacks 85g 284-291 21g 39-40g 7g 2g £21.99 18
Reflex High Protein Premium Flapjacks 80g 313 20g 31g 14g 1g£21.99 24
Optimum Nutrition Wholly Oats Bars 77g 280 21g 35g 7g 3g£22.99 12
XL Nutrition High Protein Flapjacks 70g 255 18g 36g 4g 5g£26.99 40
PhD Nutrition Protein Flapjacks 75g 286 19g 42g 7g 10g£30.69 48
Sci-MX Protein Flapjacks 80g 282 21g 38g 7g 3g£33.74 24
NRG Fuel Protein Flapjacks 100g 423 13g 59g 15g 30g£49.99 30

 

Looking at the comparison of ingredients and price for the most popular protein flapjacks above we can see that;

  • All have fairly similar levels of protein per bar
  • Most have similar amounts of calories per bar but the XL Nutrition flapjacks wins the award for the top low calorie protein flapjack
  • We like the look of Bulk Powders protein flapjacks because they are a decent size, fairly cheap, have less than 300 calories per bar and are low in sugar
  • With regards to taste, I have tried 3 of these and would recommend Bodybuilding Warehouse protein flapjacks, Optimum Nutrition Wholly Oats and CNP Pro flapjacks. You might like to read our CNP Protein Flapjacks review
  • XL Nutrition flapjacks are best value for money (40 for just £26.99)
  • Although PhD Nutrition protein flapjacks are high in carbs and sugar, they are also good value for money with 48 available for less than £31
  • NRG Fuel protein flapjacks are best avoided unless you want a high amount of calories, sugar and carbohydrates

 

Protein Bars - Ingredients and price comparison

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
Size Calories Protein Carbs Fat Sugar RRP price Bars per box
Pure Protein High Protein Bars 50g 189 20g 17g 4g 2g£9.95 6
Myprotein High Pro Protein Bars 80g 230 29g 20g 7g 3g£19.99 12
Myprotein High Pro Deluxe Protein Bars 70g 270 29g 21g 8g 5g£19.99 12
USN Pure Protein Bars 75g 301 24g 33g 9g 4g£20.94 12
Sci-MX Protein Duo Bars 60g 222 20g 22g 7g 11g£22.25 12
Garnell Aspire 40 Protein Bars 80g 298 40g 21g 6g 1g£22.49 12
Optimum Nutrition Whey Crisp Bars 50g 164 16g 25g 2g 1g£22.99 12
Reflex Pit Stop Protein Bars 80g 270 34g 27g 6g 7g£23.95 12
Maximuscle Cyclone Protein Bars 60g 211 23g 16g 6g 9g£23.98 12
USN Protein Delite Bars 96g 216 30g 37g 16g 11g£25.99 18
XL Nutrition Xtra Protein Bars 75g 246 25g 15g 9g 4g£27.75 24
Kinetica Milk Pro Bars 60g 207 20g 19g 8g 6g£29.99 12
CNP Pro Bar XS 70g 248 30g 22g 5g 1g£34.99 24
Peak Body Pro 50 Protein Bars 100g 339 50g 10g 7g 8g£36.99 21

 

  • If it's protein you're after, look no further than the Peak Body Pro 50 with a massive 50g of protein per bar. It is also low in carbs although each bar does contain more calories than others because of the size per bar (100g)
  • The Garnell Aspire 40 Protein Bars come a close 2nd in the protein count with a huge 40g of protein per bar. These are a good size per bar at 80g, low in carbs, fat and sugar.
  • The Myprotein High Pro Protein Bar has a decent profile at 80g in size, low in calories, high in protein and low in carbs and sugar. It is also cheaper to buy than others that only offer 12 bars per box
  • If looking to maintain a lean physique, we would probably stay away from the USN Delite Bars although it all depends how much exercise you do and whether you can burn it off. If you can then there are no problems buying these. However they are high in carbs, fats and sugar per bar relative to the other protein bars listed

 

Diet Protein Bars - Ingredients and price comparison

Size Calories Protein Carbs Fat Sugar RRP price Bars per box
Maximuscle Promax Diet Bar / Lean Definition Bar 60g 207 23g 19g 5g 12g £16.99 12
PhD Nutrition Diet Whey Bars 50g 177 25g 14g 5g 1g £18.50 12
Maxitone Scuptress Diet Bars 60g 215 17g 26g 6g 13g £23.99 12
USN Diet Whey Bars 38g 216 15g 11g 7g 5g £25.99 18
Multipower L-Carnitine Bars 35g 112 9g 14g 3g NA £25.99 24

 

  • It is interesting to see that these diet protein bars are actually quite similar to the regular protein bars. They have similar calories, protein, fat and sugar per gram of bar. The only real difference is in the carbohydrates
  • Based on these similarities and the fact you get less than 60g per bar, I would be tempted to just buy a protein bar if you're looking to maintain weight rather than a diet bar to get more bang for your buck
  • The Maximuscle Promax Diet Bars and PhD Diet Protein Bars are cheaper than most regular protein bars but they are also only 50-60g in size whereas protein bars tend to be between 70-80g which might not seem a lot but it is when you compare the two side by side
  • If you do still want to buy a diet protein bar, we would go with the PhD Nutrition Diet Protein Bars because of their low calories, low carbs, low sugars and high protein content