Ok, bottomline is that you do not need special recovery drinks, protein shakes, etc. Most people get enough protein during the day from normal eating even if they are on a heavy lifting routine and require the 2grams of protein per optimal weight kilogram. With me that would be 190grams of protein per day and if I supplement with normal food I can easily get to that.
I don't think a person trying to lose weight requires so much protein. 0.8-1.2 grams per optimal weight kilo should be quite enough and that can be achieved easily from normal food. The body is going to convert unused protein into carbs anyway so why bother with stuffing too much of the stuff.
On recovery, the after workout window is about half an hour after the workout. At that stage the body needs three things in the order of importance: hydration, carbs and protein. Hydration is easy to understand. However why the body needs after workout carbs more than protein is because the body wants to fill the muscle glycogen stores before any significant repair is done. Hence carbs. Protein is of course also required and is good to be had in a recovery drink, but it is less critical since the average person usually has some free amino acids waiting to be used/digested.
Special made recovery drinks hace been shown not to offer any or very little benefit against normal healthy food in recovery or otherwise. Normal people certainly don't need them, even in terms of protein powder since you can always just eat an extra can of tuna or cottage cheese. All the hammer stuff etc. Is just a huge waste of money.
Actually the best recovery drink out there seems to be chocolate milk. And would it not be? It has all the three requirements and tastes awesome as well so one can have another glass. Not so with these gainer pro powders which taste icky.
So, inside half an hour after the workout a pint of chocolate milk and normal healthy food a an hour or few hours after. You can fast before workouts but don't do it after.