This is a question I receive a lot, and it is one that I have varied my response to over the years. Some of the reasons why this is a loaded question is because we are consistently learning new information on health and nutrition, as well as nutrition has become a religion to some as much as it is a science. The easy answer to the question would be to just drink more water. The baseline amount would be to take your weight in pounds and then to drink .5 to 1 oz of water for every pound of body weight. For example, a 200-pound person requires 100-200 oz of water per day! We could easily go down a rabbit hole of the types of water you should consume as well as best practices when it comes to timing of hydration, but the point of this article wasn’t to fix your hydration issues—although you are welcome for that tip, but rather to suggest that you start your nutrition journey by eating more! Specifically, my number one tip for beginners looking to improve their health and waistline is to eat more PROTEIN.
Proteins and more specifically amino acids, as you may know, are the building blocks of life. They allow us to rebuild tissues and grow bigger and stronger. They are also essential to our health and responsible for important metabolic pathways. The problem is that some of the most beneficial proteins have been stigmatized as being unhealthy or dangerous, i.e., red meat and eggs. On top of fear tactics, there is also a lot of misinformation and subpar advice that has been perpetuated for years. The average person under consumes protein because they are unaware that they are under consuming it. According to The RDA (recommended daily allowance) protein intake should be .8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. For a 200-pound person (90kg) that means an intake of a whopping 73 grams of protein per day. Here is the problem though, The RDA is not intended to be the recommended baseline and is certainly not the “ideal” amount. Instead, The RDA is defined as the minimum amount needed to prevent sickness or disease. So, what is the recommended amount? This is where you can get lost in the weeds and it certainly depends on some factors like age, body fat percentage, and performance goals. To keep it simple for the standard deviation I recommend 1 gram of protein per 1 pound of body weight. If someone has obesity as proven through body fat analysis that number can lower to .8 until body fat percentage. If someone is extremely active or in a muscle building phase, we may go up to 1.2-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. With, these are the “ideal” ranges and often we need to meet people where they are currently at, and if I can get someone to increase their intake to .75 grams of protein per pound of body weight, I am happy with that. Let’s take the same individual and look at the differences between my recommendations and the RDA, that would 200 grams of protein as my “ideal” range and 150 as a starting range. That starting range is still more than double the RDA and, in my experience, often more than double what the average female is getting when they first start working with me.
How do we put this into practice? First, let’s start the day with breakfast. Or my version of breakfast. I understand that intermittent fasting is all the rage, and there are numerous studies and anecdotes showing its benefits—especially from a blood chemistry standpoint. However, a lot of the weight loss that novices experience from a restricted feeding window is water and glycogen loss as well as muscle mass loss. This means that you are going to perform more poorly in athletic performance as well as you now INCREASED your body fat percentage. Instead, start your day with a minimum of 30 grams of protein and up to 60 grams of protein within the first hour to hour and half of waking. For most individuals that could be time-consuming as well as dauting in the form of the amount of food you have to intake. So rather than load up on steak and eggs (which is perfectly fine by the way, just add some leafy greens) I recommend that you get a solid protein powder and make a smoothie each morning. I recommend using a whey protein supplement and avoiding plant proteins. However, if you have GI issues and get an upset stomach from whey due to the lactose, you can try a 100% isolate whey protein which is a little more expensive or use a plant protein. Studies have shown plant protein molecules to be less anabolic than animal proteins, however a recent study showed that when combined with 5 days a week of high-volume strength training and increased to the 1:1 ratio of grams of protein to pounds of body weight the research found the same results as compared to a control group using whey protein.
Beyond breakfast, each meal should have a dedicated section to protein. I lean towards lean cuts of red meat, pork, or fish, but chicken is fine as well. The easy way to track your protein intake at mealtime is to aim for a meat serving 1 to 1.5 times the size of your fist. A deck of cards size serving of meat is typically 4 oz and 4 oz of steak is roughly 30 grams of protein. The more precise way would be to purchase a food scale and log it with a fitness tracker like myfitnesspal, but that is too daunting for most people. A midday snack or second scoop of protein powder is almost essential and should be once again aimed for at least 30 grams of protein. In the evening after dinner, if you’re finding that you are still low on protein adding in a nice warm mug of bone broth can help to round out your number, however not all bone broths are created equal so make sure that you read the nutrition label! If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, consider enjoying some Greek yogurt.
Helpful resources and references:
https://examine.com/guides/protein-intake/