You want to achieve your wildest dreams, whilst feeling strong and full of energy. Sweet! Let’s make eating protein second nature and then we’ll be flying!
Often one of the biggest things that stops us from being consistent is the amount of energy it takes to make decisions and then continuing to make those decisions – especially if we need to work it out every time. So let’s try and make the process as simple as possible!
The first step we want to look at is choosing the proteins we most enjoy eating. Make a list of those.
For example: Chicken, beef, tofu, protein powder, yoghurt, eggs, edamame beans.
From there, we’re going to figure out what a portion looks like. Let’s say for argument’s sake you’re aiming to eat 30g of protein per meal and you want to eat 120g per day. Amazing! You need to eat four times a day.
We’re going to start checking out food labels and making some smart choices about what’s included in our food. Don’t worry though, you can do this from the comfort of your sofa with Netflix in the background.
Head online to your supermarket of choice and start searching for the foods you enjoy eating (list above). When you’ve found the food, search for the nutrition information.
As you can see, per 100g of chicken breast, you’re getting 24g of protein.
So if we’re aiming to hit 30g per meal we want to eat around 120g. Or, as you also see, one chicken breast is 150g and it contains 36g of protein.
This could be a great time to creep the quantities up, allowing for your snack to be a little smaller, or your gains to be bigger! Plus, it reduces waste!
You’re going to work through this same process for as many sources as you can, so you start to build up a bank of go-to quantities!
For example:
- 5% beef mince – 22g/100g (5g fat)
- Cod – 23g (0.5g fat)
- Tofu – 12g (6g fat)
Once you have this, you may want to start thinking about other factors of your goal.
How much fat do I want to consume in a day? How does my body feel when I have this food? Would it be easier for me to get more protein if I went for leaner options? Do I need to try and vary my meat versus veggie sources?
All valid questions!
I’d highly recommend that if you’re looking to cut back on fats and typically eat chicken thighs, or higher percentage fat mince, you could cut down on calories and fats quickly here.
As you can see, the protein amount may not be huge, but the fat content is significantly different, which will lead to a significant calorie difference. If your goal is to lose weight then cutting back on those calories and ensuring your protein stays high could include some really easy changes! Allowing you to eat more without it “costing” so much.
This would allow for more space to add flavours to your meals from oils, nuts, cheese, avocado, etc.
On the flip side, if you’re trying to put on weight, you may want to go for those higher fat, higher calorie options to make it easier for you to eat more without huge effort – calorie dense food!
Try making your own cheat sheet with commonly consumed foods and see how you make your life easier and more effective for hitting your goals!
Need help to do this – set up a coaching consultation with [email protected]
