So, yes, protein is important and keeps everything in your body on a cellular level running smoothing. It is certainly not just for people who exercise, it is important for everyone, especially as you age because you lose muscle mass as you get older, however lifestyle factors such as how much exercise you do will impact the quantity of protein you need.

How much do you actually need?

There is a great deal of variance when it comes to how much protein to consume, however given typically we get protein from whole or less processed foods, aiming to eat more rather than less is a pretty good approach to take. Unlike processed food, protein is very satiating to the body, therefore we do not have to consume a lot to feel full. Think about a situation an evening of you eating a full packet of crisps in a one’er and not even thinking twice, to the thought of eating 4 chicken breasts at once… just doesn’t have the same feeling.

As a guide, we should aim to eat 1 - 2g of protein per kg of body weight, though as noted above, this can vary based on your goals and activity level. So let’s break that down further with some examples.

Grams of protein per KG of BW Example

1g/kg

Someone with a sedentary, desk-based job who doesn’t exercise regularly would generally aim for the lower end of the protein range, around 1g/kg. However, because protein is highly satiating and can help reduce overeating of more calorie dense foods, increasing intake to around 1.5g/kg may still offer benefits.

The above works as a guide, however individual cases can be more complex. For most, aiming for 1.5-2g will be a good target as it can be a challenge to consume this much protein each day, so if you fall short you will still be getting plenty. Generally, if you have a goal of losing body fat, protein can be great macronutrient to prioritise for the simple reason, it is very satiating, and can therefore be great at keeping you feeling fuller for longer, making it easier for you to maintain a calorie deficit.

How to meet your protein target…

You have now established a guide of how much protein you are going to consume, so how are you going to go about this?

At FN, the general approach we coach our clients to aim for is having 5 opportunities for getting protein in throughout your day. These consist of your three daily meals, plus two additional snacks throughout the day whenever you choose. Based on this approach, let us look at some examples:

For a woman weighing 70kg, who meets the 1.5g/kg based on the above table, they would be aiming to eat 105g of protein daily. Given it is often easier to get more protein at a meal than in a snack, we could break this down as follows:

• 25g of protein at meal times gives a total of 75g (so 30g remaining)

• 15g for each of your snacks would take you to the total of 105g

Now take a man weighing 90kg who falls into the 2g/kg category above, that would be a total of 180g. Following the same 5 intakes as above that could look as follows:

• 40g at each meal time, totalling 120g (60g remaining)

• 30g for each snack

Breaking it down this way can make getting your target more manageable, so with that in mind, how do you go about forming your plate so that you can meet these targets?

Example meals for hitting your protein target:

I think it is important to be honest here and admit that hitting a protein target is not initially easy, however once you built it as a habit and gain more knowledge it will seem far easier. The key is to aim for more protein than you are currently getting and overtime you can look to refine this and get closer to the targets you set above.

Let us now look at a day of eating to hit those protein targets for the 90kg male example who is aiming for 180g/kg.

Breakfast

80g of porridge oats with cow’s milk

The oats and milk combined would come to just less than 20g of protein so you would be looking for another 20g at least.

Option 1 - add a scoop of whey protein powder to your porridge to cover that extra 20g, my favs are ICON and Optimum Nutrition.

Option 2 - Eggs (anyway you like)

An average egg is 6.5g, so having 3/4 eggs would get you up to that 40g target. If you were looking to keep protein up but skip some cals, ditch 2 egg yolk’s and keep the white.

Veggie

Swap the milk in the porridge for an alternative, soya is the highest in protein.

Add a veggie friendly protein, such as a good quality pea or soya alternative to top up to your target. My fav is Awesome supps.

Lunch/Dinner

These meals can vary as much as your palate requires, however the general template to follow would be to pick a lean meat option (chicken, turkey, lean beef mince, certain steak cuts), then from there add your carb source and veggies to form a meal. Following the example above, this meal could be 7/8 Heck chicken sausages, mashed potatoes and peas.

Some really good veggie options to replace lean meats are: ‘this isn’t meat’, ‘oumph’ and ‘Richmond No-Chicken pieces’. Other options do exist, but often are full of fats and carbs and therefore don’t serve so well as a protein source. Being totally transparent, as a vegetarian you will have a harder time hitting protein targets and may have to make use of protein supplements but it is absolutely do-able, you may just have to read labels a little more.

How to identify a good protein source…

Reading food labels can be a challenge. A simple way to identify a good protein source can be to look at the grams of protein per 100g as a proportion of the calories per 100g. For example, take Greek Yoghurt as a potential breakfast (or snack) option for protein.

Sainsbury’s Greek Style yoghurt has 103 calories per 100g of yogurt (often shown as ‘kcal’), of which 4g are protein, so protein as a percentage of the calories is less than 4% (4/103).

Compare that to a higher quality Greek Yogurt, Fage Total 5%. Following the same metrics, grams of protein are closer to 10% of the total calories, which is a significant difference. To get a 30g serving of protein, you would need to eat 750g of the Sainsbury’s yogurt compared with only 333g of the Fage Total 5%. Not only is that a huge volume of food difference, but it will also be a significant difference in calories. You could also opt for 0% fat Greek Yogurt if you wanted to keep volume high and calories lower.

This is just a basic example of how foods that appear the same can be extremely different in protein content. The common trap to watch out for is where a food item has ‘high protein’ stamped on it. Brands realise this is a great way to catch attention and so it is useful to do a quick scan of the label to identify if in fact the grams of protein per 100g is significant or not.

Summary

Protein is important for many reasons, and prioritising protein should be a goal we all aim for when it comes to our nutrition. Rather than getting caught up in the numbers, we want to be aiming to ensure across your three meals and two snack that you have a good quality protein source and this will get you pretty close to your target. And finally, watch out for good marketing promoting items as high protein. Check your labels until you learn what really is ‘high protein’ and what is misleading.