How Much Protein Do You Really Need? (+ My Favorite High-Protein Habits)

Are you struggling to hit your protein goals every day? Wondering how much protein you actually need or whether all the hype around high-protein diets is worth it?

In this episode of Isn't She Powerful, I'm sharing exactly how I consistently reach my daily protein goal without spending hours meal prepping or eating chicken at every meal.

You'll learn why protein is one of the most important nutrients for women (especially if you're trying to lose weight, maintain muscle, improve your metabolism, balance blood sugar, reduce cravings, or simply feel fuller throughout the day). 

I also walk you through a simple formula for calculating your own daily protein goal and share the practical habits, foods, and products that make hitting mine feel effortless.

If you've been overwhelmed by all the protein advice online, this episode will help simplify it so you can confidently fuel your body without overthinking every meal.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why protein is essential for women of all ages
• How protein supports weight loss, metabolism, muscle health, hormones, skin, and fullness
• The simple formula to use to calculate your personal daily protein needs
• My favorite high-protein foods and easy meal ideas
• Simple daily habits that make reaching protein goals easier

Whether you're just beginning your health journey or looking for realistic ways to increase your protein intake, this episode will give you practical strategies you can start using today.

If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a friend who's trying to eat healthier or increase their protein intake.

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1. Website: Health Coach for Teachers & Busy, Working Women
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Topics covered in this episode: protein, protein goals, how much protein do I need, protein for women, protein for weight loss, high-protein diet, healthy eating habits, protein and metabolism, protein and hormones, blood sugar balance, muscle maintenance, protein for women over 40, high-protein meals, reducing cravings, feeling full, healthy nutrition, sustainable weight loss, meal planning, healthy lifestyle

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Isn't She Powerful podcast. In this episode, I want to talk to you about protein. Protein is like the it girl right now. Everybody is talking about eating enough protein. Make sure you get your protein in. Like there's protein drinks and protein snacks and protein this, that, and the other. And it's being added into things that aren't necessary for it to be added into, like a protein Pop Tart. Just eat the dang Pop Tart if you want the Pop Tart or eat the real protein. That's how I see it. But that is not the point of this episode. What I want to talk to you today about is some of my favorite ways to get in enough protein. Protein is so important because it is made up of what's called amino acids. And those amino acids are the foundation for so many functions in the body. It's not just uh, oh yeah, you need your protein because it's one of the macronutrients. Yes, that's true, but it goes deeper than that. Protein is the foundation for building strong muscles, which you probably already knew. That's something that we've kind of understood for a very long time. It's been one of those things that's like widely known and accepted that if you are working out in the gym, you need to make sure you're eating your protein so your muscles can get nice and strong. But it's not just about if you're going to the gym. You need to be eating these things to have strong muscles, regardless of if you're going to the gym or not, regardless of if you're working out to make them stronger. This is necessary, especially as we are aging. Our muscles, they're deteriorating every single day if we're not working to make them stronger. And protein is one of the easiest ways to continue to help these muscles be strong and healthy to support your bones, to support you. If you were to fall down, you need to be able to get back up. Like it's in everything that we do, right? So proteins are the foundation for building really strong muscles, building really strong bones, for having nice healthy hair and skin and nails. Protein also acts as an enzyme for our body that allows it to begin using the food that we're eating for fuel. So for our digestion, for our metabolism. So if you want to lose weight, which is why the protein thing is such a big deal right now, because so many of us realize oh, if I want to lose weight and do it in a way that actually feels good, I need to make sure I'm eating enough protein because it boosts our metabolism. It also is a key part of healthy hormones. Our hormones are produced whenever we eat enough healthy fats and when we eat enough proteins. And oftentimes those things go together. We're typically eating them in one in the same. So that is where our hormones are made. And if you're not eating enough protein, then your body is not going to effectively produce the hormones that it needs. So your estrogen might be low, your progesterone might be low, or it might be elevated because it's trying to overcompensate for what you're actually not getting. So it's really important that we are aware of how much protein we should be eating. You can figure out your own personal protein goals by taking how much you weigh and multiplying that times 0.8. So uh eight tenths, 0.8 times however much you weigh. And that is the typical rule for most people. If you are like a super active person, you're working out multiple times a day, you're at the gym multiple times a week, maybe you do like some sort of really physical job, then you might need to multiply that number times one instead of times 0.8. You don't even need to multiply it, right? Like if you weigh 180 pounds, you have a really physical job or something like that, then you need to eat 180 grams of protein. But if you are a normal person, maybe you go on a couple walks every day, maybe you are are more sedentary, then that would be when you multiply it times 0.8. And that is a general rule of thumb for how much protein you should be eating. It's a bio-individual thing. Every single person listening to this is going to have a different protein need, right? So it's important that you know what yours is rather than just listening to a person that you find on social media and they're like, hey, eat this much protein. If you eat, oh, this is what I eat to eat 130 grams of protein, you should be eating this every day too. That might not be true for you, okay? So you need to figure out your own number there. But with all of that said, I want to tell you just a few of the ways that I have been finding it very easy to reach my own personal protein goals that you can start to implement some of these things as well. So with that said, let's get into the episode. Welcome to the Isn't You Powerful Podcast. I'm your host, Laura B, health coach, educator, and founder of the Be Healthy Lifestyle.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

I'm here to bring you all of the health education and motivation so that you can sign off each week feeling equipped and empowered to tackle all of your health goals. Come along with me as I teach you the basics of healthy living so that you can have everyone in your life saying, Isn't she powerful?

SPEAKER_00 4:49

The number one thing that I want to say about that is consistency in your meals. You are going to find that it is so much easier to eat healthy, well-balanced meals, and you're gonna find that it's so much easier to do that on a regular basis when you're repeating some of those meals. So, what I'm talking about here is have like one or two breakfast things that you just kind of rotate between. I typically have two things that I'm eating every week, and I do Monday, Wednesday, Friday is one thing, Tuesday, Thursday is another thing. I might have a couple things different the next week, and then I just go back. So I might have an A week and a B week, and then I just rotate between those things. And I found that having that, especially for breakfast and snacks, that makes it so much easier for me to be consistent with eating enough because I don't have to take the time every day to be like, how much protein's in this? Oh no, I didn't get enough. Let me add a scoop of this or let me add that or whatever. Instead of that, I'm just like, I know that this gets me the amount of protein that I want it to get me. So I'm just able to eat that meal and I eat it regularly. And the consistency in the meals makes it a lot easier to be consistent. So that's if you take nothing else from this episode, that's what you should take. Make a list of a few of your favorite things, make sure they have the protein you want in them, and then from there, stick to eating those things, right? Like I'm not saying that you have to eat it every single day forever. I just told you I rotate between things, but I have a list of like four to five things, and I just rotate between those things throughout my weeks, and that it just simplifies things. So keep it simple. For breakfast, I love turkey bacon and a turkey sausage, and to me, those things are light, they're very easy because I can either the turkey sausage I can prep it the night before or the at the beginning of the week, and then I just heat up whatever I need. And then turkey bacon, I just heat it up in the microwave in the mornings. It takes two minutes, and then I've got my protein. So those two things are something that I really enjoy. Applegate is the brand that I typically choose, and I just find that it comes out good quality every time. It's super easy for me to make in the mornings, and I to me, it just is a no-brainer. Something else that I like to do to add protein in is vegetables. And I know that that sounds crazy, but there are a few vegetables that are actually pretty high in protein quantity. Those things are spinach. Spinach actually has a lot of protein in it. Brussels sprouts has a good amount of protein in it too. Those two are like my go-tos. I will either use those for breakfast or lunch a lot of times because Shane, my husband, doesn't really like to eat especially Brussels sprouts. He's kind of picky about that kind of thing. So I will make those for either breakfast or lunch for me. And it's a really easy way to add in a few more grams of protein while also getting in a lot of fiber, while also getting in some antioxidants and some color, like it has a lot of benefits to eating those things. So I like to try to maximize my protein intake by using those vegetables. Asparagus is another example, and then as well as broccoli, broccoli is also a source of some protein that it comes from the vegetables. So if you're somebody who doesn't eat a lot of meat, having these vegetables like the broccoli, the spinach, the asparagus, the Brussels sprouts, having those things in your meals can really help increase the amount of protein that you're getting in. As well as beans, I've been making a very big effort to have beans at at least one or two meals every single week. This past week it was every single day, and sometimes it was twice a day for lunch. I just opened up a can of beans and I added half a cup of those beans because that's the size, that's like a good amount of beans to have at your meal, right? Like you don't want to eat the whole can. I saw that there's this diet on social media, it's like the bean diet or something, and people are eating like a whole can of beans like three times a day. You don't need three cans of beans a day. That's insanity. But also, beans are just like super inexpensive, they're a very easy thing to add into your meals because you don't really have to do much to them. I literally just get out half a cup of them and I put them in the microwave to warm up. I don't even have to put them in a whole pan or anything. I just put a little season on them, put them in the microwave, and then they're warmed up. So they're very easy to add to your meals. I've been doing that for lunch. I've been doing like navy beans or great northern beans or one of the like white beans. And then for dinner, we have black beans a couple times a month, I would say. Anytime that we're having taco-related things, which is a couple times a month because it's so easy, then we'll add black beans to it. And again, so much fiber, so much natural protein in there. Very easy way to increase that. Again, especially if you're not somebody who eats much meat. Okay, my friends, I wanted to take a quick pause to let you know that down in the show notes, there is a button that says send us a text. It's at the top of the show notes, the very first thing that you see. And by clicking there, you can type out a message directly to me. I cannot see who is sending this message unless you tell me your name in the message. It's completely anonymous. But right now, I want you to go down there and click that button and ask me any questions that you have. They can be in follow-up to what we're talking about in this episode, or it can be something completely random that you need help with. Then be on the lookout for an upcoming episode that answers your questions and gives you the exact feedback that you need to make your health and wellness journey the best that it can be. I look forward to seeing your text. A go-to snack for me has been a yogurt with half a cup of Catalina Crunch cereal. The cereal, I know it's a hit or miss for some people. There's a lot of different things that you could use. That's just the one to me that I find to be the most tasty. And so use one of those, right? There's like a koshi one right now that has a good amount of protein and fiber to it. I did some comparing at the store recently, and I still went with the Catalina Crunch because I felt like it still had the best protein and fiber amounts. But regardless, if that doesn't taste good to you, there's a few other options that you could choose out there. Choose one of those that has some protein and fiber to it. Add it to a cup of yogurt. To me, the strawberry yogurt from Oikos mixed with the protein cereal that's chocolate, perfection. I love that. And if you choose that, I do the Oikos Pro yogurt with the Catalina Crunch cereal. That's 31 grams of protein in your snack. Plus, it has a bunch of fiber in it too. So to me, very easy snack. I get it together in like a couple of seconds. I just find that that's an easy one, and I've been rotating between that and an apple with peanut butter. And I just keep rotating between those two things. I keep it simple. I've been rotating between those two things for like two months now, and I'm happy, and they still taste good every single time. And I'm still like waiting for, oh, it's snack time. Let me go get my Catalina Crunch cereal or whatever it is. For dinner and for lunch, usually, but especially for dinner, since that's the meal that I'm eating with somebody else. The number one thing that we do is plan our meals around the protein. So Shane and I sit down and I'm like, hey, what do you want to have for dinner this week? You know, that dreaded question. The first thing that he says is, What protein are we gonna have? And that he's either asking that because I like to make my proteins match whatever phase of my cycle I'm in. So if I'm on my period, we have beef, or if it's like a couple days leading up to my period, we have beef. And then if it's the week leading up to my period, we'll have turkey. If it's the week and two after my period, then we have chicken. So I try to maximize that as well, match my protein to my cycle. It's called cycle sinking. So he's asking for that reason, and so that we use what we already have. Like if we have chicken in the freezer, we're gonna make sure we use the chicken in the freezer. So no matter what, the first question out of his mouth is what protein are we gonna have? And that allows us to center our entire meal around the protein. That way we know we're getting in protein, we're gonna hit the protein goal because it is the focus of the meal. So make your protein the focus of the meal. Make it to where it's something that like is a non-negotiable, it's gonna be on the plate, and you're gonna hit your protein goals fairly easy if that is the case for you. So I know this was a quick and easy episode. I appreciate you listening. And if this episode supported you in any way in your health and wellness journey, I challenge you to share it with somebody who you know has got some protein goals they're working on hitting right now, and that would mean the world to me. It would also be helpful to them. Thank you so much for being here and a part of the Isn't she powerful podcast? And I can't wait to see you again in the next episode. Thank you so much. I can't wait to see you again next week. And always remember the more you know, the more you grow.