Strategies For Increasing Your Protein Intake
Protein intake recommendations keep going up--we've been recommending .7 grams/pound of desired weight. Now I'm seeing 1g/pound.
Just aiming to increase intake, particularly in the morning, is a good intermediate goal for many people.
Your body can’t STORE protein (as we can with carbohydrate loading) so we need to eat it multiple times a day.
If you're in weight loss mode....
The bad news: Without adequate protein and strength training, 30% of weight loss is muscle.
The good news: 1) Simply increasing protein can increase your muscle mass.
2) Overeating protein doesn’t result in fat gain. You burn up to 30% of protein calories just digesting and absorbing it!
It’s the most powerful body-changing nutrient.
Here's a template you can tweak
Alwyn Cosgrove, a highly respected fitness professional, recently shared how he gets 237 grams of protein in a typical day.
Breakfast: a shake with two scoops of protein powder (40 g protein) mixed with Fairlife high protein milk (13g protein). Total: 53 g.
Mid-morning snack: another shake post-workout (1 scoop of protein). On a non-workout day he moves this to the afternoon. Running total: 93 g.
Lunch: sandwich with 2 slices “Dave’s killer bread” – 12 g of protein
8 oz turkey: 32 g
1 slice Swiss cheese: 6 g
2 hard-boiled eggs: 12 g Running total: 157 g. of protein
Dinner: Usually 8 oz of steak, chicken, pork, etc. 32 g. of protein Running total: 187 g. of protein
Evening snack: 2 servings Greek yogurt: 30 g. mixed with chopped up Quest protein bar: 20 g. Running total: 237g of protein
If he comes up short on protein, he adds another scoop of protein powder to the mix.
Most of us could hit our goals with half this amount!
Additional tips
👉 Start the day with protein. It's when your body best absorbs it. Try to hit 30g of protein early in the day. A 7 oz serving of Greek yogurt is 20 g. That's a good start!
👉 Build meals around protein. Eggs, chicken, turkey, beef. There are lots of good vegetarian options, too. Protein first – vegetables second, then add any other carbs you want.
👉 The first two bites of food at each meal should be protein. That will significantly impact your blood sugar.
👉 Keep protein snacks available.
👉 Be conscious of how much protein you're getting. Add a protein shake snack or increase your protein servings if you find you're coming up short.
Have you discovered ultra-filtered milk?
I've only recently discovered it!
Ultra-filtered milk, like Fairllife, has twice the protein of standard milk, more calcium, and little to no lactose! (Some brands add lactase to ensure there are no traces of lactose.)
Regular milk has about 8 grams of protein in a cup, while ultra-filtered milk has from 13-18 grams per cup,
It's more expensive but it's got an astounding shelf life--the carton I bought last Friday is good until January 31, 2025!
Fairlife also makes a protein shake that has 30 g. of protein and only 150 calories. I hear it tastes good, too. You can find it at Costco, Wal-Mart, and Amazon.