I struggle to hit my protein target!
What is protein?
Protein is one of the 3 main macronutrients and is mainly responsible for tissue repair and development.
For every gram of protein you consume, it is worth 4 calories. So, if you eat 100g of protein in one day that will make up 400 calories of your intake.
The minimum amount required for most individuals is 0.8g per KG of bodyweight meaning if you weigh 60kg then technically you only need to consume 48g per day.
What we would advise though is a much higher intake to cover all bases.
We would recommend 1.5g-2.2g per KG of bodyweight meaning if you weigh in at 60kg this would be anywhere between 90g-130g per day.
Now we’ve told you all the boring stuff let’s move onto the problem most people have….. struggling to meet their said requirements of protein per day.
Why are you struggling to get more protein in?
This is usually down to habits you’ve developed with your diet over the years, due to so many health foods being pushed over the years.
The problem with these healthy foods that get pushed is that they usually have a high carb or fat content and lack in the protein we need to get in.
We are a VERY carby nation that’s for sure, and this is me not saying that carbs are bad because they are not – they are fantastic (that’s for another blog).
But we do need to balance out how much protein we are having with these carbs and fats. What I’m going to do below is list a few examples of food that are high or moderately high in protein….
Meats (Chicken, Turkey, Steak, Mince, Pork etc)
Fish (Cod, Haddock, Prawns, Tuna etc)
Dairy (Cheese, Milk, Greek yoghurt etc) Moderate sources of protein, also contain fat
Egg whites (using a full egg is fine but the yolk provides the fat content)
Legumes (kidney beans, chickpeas, broad beans etc) these are also moderate in carbs
Protein Products (Protein shakes, protein bars, protein yoghurts etc) use these as your last option
So, as you can see there are plenty of protein options available to us, if you want to increase it quite considerably without adding too many calories then your best options will be meats, fish or protein products.
This is not saying you shouldn’t use the other options but be aware that the others can add a considerable number of calories to your overall daily intake.
If you are veggie or vegan reading this, I am not leaving you out but most of our audience are meat eaters. But if you want to email us or message us on socials, we are more than happy to send over some advice to you.
Task
If you’ve made it this far what I want you to do for me is work out what your daily protein intake should roughly be using the following equation…
Weight (KG) X 1.5-2.2 = Your intake
Once you have worked this out begin increasing the above list of foods into your diet and let us know how you’re finding it.
If you would like to learn about protein on a deeper level and educate yourself further, then head to the following link;
If you feel like you need further help with this then please do not hesitate to drop us an email (info@rikfitdc.com) or DM us on IG (@rikfitdc), we’ll be more than happy to help.
We are here to BREAK THE CYCLE!
Hope you have a great day,
Ben Mannion
Head Coach
RikFit Dynamic Coaching
07727919966
