What’s the Big Deal with Protein?

At Stay Fit Mom, we believe that education drives compliance– when you know why you’re doing what you’re doing, you are much more likely to be on board with it!

So let’s talk about protein! 

Seven years ago when I began tracking macros, I couldn’t tell you how much protein I was eating. Nobody was really talking about it yet, and there were significantly less protein products on the market. Now we are living our best protein lives, with high-protein products hitting us in the face from gas stations to Costco to Facebook ads. It’s pretty great!!! The world has caught on to the importance of protein and it is now a mainstream idea.

BUT WHY? Why does it matter? Why do we push it so hard?

Protein is a nutritional building block. Among the many things it does:

• constructs and repairs our bones, muscle, skin, hair and nails
• supports our hormone and immune systems. 
• keeps us full by reducing our appetite and hunger levels.
• builds muscle and strength
• prevents us from losing too much muscle when we pursue fat loss/weight loss
• strengthens our bones by surrounding them with strong muscle
• reduces risk for osteoporosis and fractures as we approach menopause and beyond
• reduces cravings

As if this list isn’t enough, it even boosts our metabolism. Ladies, we can burn calories BY EATING. If that isn’t good news, I don’t know what is! Our bodies have to work to digest our food, and protein makes it work even harder. We can burn upwards of 300 ADDITIONAL calories per day by hitting our protein goals. That’s like an hour long workout, just because we ate!!! 

Protein makes a huge difference in body composition! We can show you client after client who have incredible body composition changes even when the scale hasn’t budged much- the power of less fat and more muscle at work! This is when you start to realize that it isn’t necessarily a number on the scale you’re wanting as much as it is a higher percentage of muscle, and less body fat! 

You want to be aiming for around your body weight/goal body weight for protein intake each day. The suggested range is pretty broad, between .7-1.2g per pound of body weight, but I like close to the 1g goal personally and for my clients. We see the best body composition changes here, along with hunger cues staying nice and stable and reach weight loss goals well in this range (along with having calories in the right place!!).

You may be thinking that 150g a day sounds like a pretty high target, but let’s break it down into some easy tips and strategies!

-eat your protein first! Give each meal a 30-40g building block of protein

-add in a high-quality shake or smoothie into your day

-choose lean cuts of meat: lean ground beef (I like 96% lean best), sirloin steak, chicken breasts, white fish, pork tenderloin etc

-set mini goals for your protein throughout the day! 60g by lunch, 90g by 3 pm etc. 

Here’s a list of foods that are high-protein and fantastic to keep stocked in your fridge or pantry:

• Chicken breast
• Cottage cheese
• Nonfat greek yogurt
• Light string cheese
• Barebell bars
• Fairlife shakes
• Jerky
• Egg whites

You can do this!! It takes intention each day, but the payoff in the long run is so worth it! We are in this together and better together!