Are you eating enough protein?
Eating enough protein is essential for health; it forms the building blocks of your body, it helps to rebuild and repair, it is essential for optimal energy, hormone balance, blood sugar control and to support muscle growth and maintenance.
Did you know as a woman from the age of 30 your muscle mass slowly decreases, unless you actively work at preserving and/or building strong muscles and bones. This is essential for healthy ageing and maintaining a healthy body composition. The way you maintain and/or increase your muscle mass is to exercise, specifically weight training and to eat enough protein to support to repair and building of muscle tissue following exercise.
In my Women’s Health Clinic there has been a lot of talk recently with women of all ages about their protein intake; from new mum’s struggling with afternoon cravings and poor energy levels, women wanting to change their body composition and women transitioning through peri-menopause who want to feel strong in their body and reduce the central weight gain that commonly occurs. These conversations have inspired this blog, so I can help support you to assess your protein intake and tweak if needed.
How much protein do you need?
How much protein you need depends on your body size and activity level, ill share some calculations below.
If this is a new concept to you, I recommend starting with my general rule of thumb of 100g protein for every woman every day.
If you find you are hitting this target and want to refine things further, you can calculate your personal protein target. I recommend 1.8 to 2.2g protein per kg body weight. To keep things simple aim for 2g per kg of body weight. For example a 70kg women is 2 (g) x 70 (kg) =140g protein per day.
How to track protein intake
How you track your protein is a personalised choice. A lot of women have a complicated relationship with food and their body’s; therefore choose the method that will serve you and your mental health best. There are two methods to track your protein intake
Weigh and measure your food:
This method will suit some women and others may find it triggering. For me personally it is providing me with data for my health and I can use this data to optimise the way I am eating and my health. I go through periods when I track my macro intake and it helps me see where I need to make some changes.You can do this using an app like My Fitness Pal where you can easily search for a particular food and then enter how many grams you are eating OR you can use my Protein Guide to see how much protein is in common foods you eat and read the labels for packaged foods eg hummus, tin of salmon etc. and then write it down.
Estimate your protein intake:
Once you know how much protein is within the food you eat, you can estimate how much protein you are eating. You could do a tally in the notes of your phone for a couple of weeks and soon you will have a handle on your intake.To successfully weigh and measure your food, you need to know how much protein is in the food you’re eating. I have put together a guide for the women I work with to support their journey; you can download it here:
Setting yourself up for success
Once you decide on the method you wish to use; the best way to ensure you succeed is to do some planning. The only way you will hit your target is by planning what you are going to eat to some degree. This doesn’t need to be a rigid plan, but doing some meal prep and making sure you have enough food on hand to reach your goal is essential
How to get started
The easiest way to get started is to evaluate what you are currently consuming and make tweaks based on this. You don’t have to completely reinvent the wheel! Here is how to do it:
Write down the 2-3 meals you generally have for breakfast, lunch and dinner
Calculate how much protein are in these meals (without changing it)
Once this is layed out, you can easily see what changes you need to make to get to your protein goal.
Some tips for success:
Most foods contains SOME protein (even broccoli). If you start tracking every single vegetable, this process can soon become overwhelming and time consuming
Instead, focus on tracking amount of protein within the main protein source within your meal eg. the meat, eggs, yoghurt or legumes.
A general rule of thumb is to aim for 30g protein per meal; so with 3 meals per day this will get you to 90g. Then things like the broccoli etc will add up and get you over the 100g.
Consuming 3 meals of 30g protein will suit some women, and for others it may feel like a challenge to eat this much. It is ok to eat 5 small meals per day if this what suits your body and appetite better.
Remember, this is all about finding what works for you. So play, experiment, take it lightly and approach it with curiosity.
Some final thoughts
I can’t remember the last time I had a client who was eating TOO MUCH protein; 99% of the time women discover they are under-eating their protein requirements. So if you do your calculations and it comes as a surprise that you are only having 50-60g per day, I see this all the time.
Once you increase to 100g (or beyond), you will feel:
More full
Experience less cravings
Your energy will be more stable
Your hormones will be supported
You will snack less
You will recover from your training
Your energy levels will be stable.
I hope this helps! If you need more support with your health and hormones, reach out to me!
