Combat Protein Powder Experience [Review]

Reason for consumption:

My focus is on building strength and decreasing my body fat. As such, I switched up my workouts by increasing my reps of body weight and weight-based exercises. I workout 3-5 days a week for a maximum of 30-minutes. I do one workout a day, either at 6 am or 6:30 am or 8 pm.
To help achieve this goal, I started consuming  Combat Protein Powder (net weight: 2 lbs. cost: $240) in snickerdoodle flavour for the past 3 weeks (Jun 3rd -20 Jun 2015).  My experience thus far includes:

Highlights:

1) Flavour-wise, it is tasty and free of an off putting flavour and after-taste.  It is on the sweet side due to the artificial sweeteners. ☻☻
(note: I mix 1 scoop with 1 cup water and add either 5 balls of frozen spinach and  or 1/4 cup rolled oats)
2) Blends well with a blender, however, manually it requires a lot of shaking to get to a smooth consistency.☻
3) Appetite is suppressed for about 4-5 hours.☻
 On the days I consume the protein shake, I am not hungry as often. 
4) Reduced soreness.☻☻☻
I have not experienced any major soreness post workout since consuming the protein shakes. I will take that as a sign that the protein powder is doing its job.

Downsides:

1) Bloating. ☹☹☹
The bloating I get with this protein powder seems to last for hours. I tried halving the dose of the protein powder and consuming it with a meal (rather than by itself, directly after my workout) and the bloating still occurs. I tried consuming it once a day instead of twice a day and the bloating still occurs.
2) Sugar cravings.☹
Whenever, I consume a protein shake especially in the morning, I get an intense urge for something sweet before lunch (12 pm). This craving is not satisfied with fruit. (The fruits I have been munching on are bananas, julie mango, watermelon and or frozen strawberries)
3) Weight gain.☹☹☹
According to my scale I have gained about 5 lbs in 3 weeks. Honestly, I'm not sure if the weight gain is due to the bloating alone or a slight increase in muscle mass. 
4) Thirsty. ☹
My thirst level increases when I consume a protein shake. Normally, my water intake is usually good seeing that water is my primary beverage of choice; I rarely consume fruit juice, coconut water, carbonated beverages (soda), alcoholic beverages or hot tea (cocoa/malt drinks).

In all, I am not completely satisfied with this protein powder because the bloating is ridiculous. I will be on the hunt for another protein powder without artificial sweetener. In the meanwhile,  I will resume training but without the protein shake.

Thank you for reading! 
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