5 Ways To Eat More Protein

In this article, we are going to discuss 5 ways to eat more protein (and a bit more).

This is a question that I constantly get from online coaching clients and others who reach out asking for my advice.

So in response to this, I’ve decided to write this article to help anyone who needs a comprehensive guide on protein.

Now, maybe you do already know the benefits of protein and just want to know how to get more protein.

Or maybe you don’t and would like to know everything there is to know about protein.

Either way, stick around and read the whole way through and I will tell you what is protein, why it’s so damn important, and how to get more protein in and reap all the benefits it has to offer.

Just as an overview, here’s what we’re going to cover in this article:

• What Is Protein
• Why Is It Important For Building Muscle
• Why Is It Important For Fat Loss
• How Much Protein Do You Need?
• Good And Bad Protein Sources
• 5 Easy Ways To Increase Your Protein Intake

So without further ado, let’s dive in.

5 Ways To Eat More Protein – Wait, What Is Protein Anyway?

Alright, don’t worry, I’m not going to be rewriting a biology textbook for you to read.

I really disliked reading textbooks in school so I sure as hell am not going to put you through the same torture.

As far as this article is concerned, we are going to be talking about protein as it relates to building lean muscle and losing body fat because there is a 99% chance that’s the reason why you’re here.

With that said, we’ll talk about protein as it relates to its more basic form that you’re probably familiar with – amino acids.

On BCAAs, EAAs, & Protein Powder – Are They Legit??

Firstly, what are amino acids, and why are they important?

Simply put, amino acids are the “building blocks” of a complete protein (like whey or casein).

(Fun fact there are 20 different types of amino acids.)

Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) are the smallest group of the three.

There are three BCAAs.

• Leucine
• Isoleucine
• Valine

Why are BCAAs so hyped up? Because these three are the most important amino acids when it comes to triggering muscle protein synthesis – the process that tells your body to repair and build muscle.

However, this doesn’t mean that BCAA supplementation is suddenly going to help you build more muscle faster. (We’ll talk more about this in a second.)

Next, we have Essential Amino Acids – our second biggest group. There are nine of these.

• Leucine
• Isoleucine
• Valine
• Histidine
• Lysine
• Methionine
• Phenylalanine
• Threonine
• Tryptophan

As you can see, the top three look vaguely familiar don’t they?

That’s right! BCAAs are included within the group of EAAs.

These are called Essential Amino Acids because they cannot be created by the body so you must get them from your diet.

(And if you’re a smart cookie, you can probably guess that the other 11 are Non-Essential Amino Acids which means you don’t need to get them from your diet because your body already naturally produces them.)

Now, let’s talk about the last group: complete protein powders (whey, casein, egg white, collagen, plant based, etc.).

The protein examples I listed above can contain any combination of the 20 amino acids in existence.

(A good protein powder should have high levels of BCAAs and/or EAAs to promote muscle building.)

Now, I’m hoping at this point, this is connecting some dots for you.

Because what this means is if you are eating high-quality protein whether that’s through protein powders, meat, dairy, eggs, seafood, etc., supplementation with BCAAs and EAAs is not necessary.

So after knowing all this, why are amino acids/proteins so important?

Simply put, it’s because they are the building blocks of basically everything in your body.

From your muscles to your skin, hair, eyes, organs, etc.

Basically, anything that is made of cells is going to be made up of amino acids and proteins.

And if we want to be able to repair and grow more (especially muscle) of these cells, then we need adequate protein intake.

Alright, so now that we got all that nerd shit out of the way, let’s talk about why you’re really here…

5 Ways To Eat More Protein – Why Is Protein Important For Building Muscle?

Well, like I just said, protein is important for building muscle because muscle is also made up of protein (and other things).

It’s like the same concept as you needing concrete to build buildings.

You need the right materials to build the stuff you want to build.

We’ll talk about how much a bit later, but that’s about all you need to know about how protein relates to muscle building.

I will also note a few things that are also important to know:

• There is nothing special about protein powder. Slamming a protein shake right after you work out doesn’t provide any extra benefits than simply making sure you’re eating adequate protein from whole food sources throughout the day.
• You do need a decent amount of protein per day, but you also don’t need to be eating 5 lbs of chicken breast a day.
• Protein supplementation is not necessary if you are already eating enough protein from other sources. (I have also extensively talked about supplementation in one of my articles which you can check out HERE.)

5 Ways To Eat More Protein – Why Is Protein Important For Fat Loss?

Similar to the previous point, because we know protein is super important for building muscle, we then also know that protein will be just as important in maintaining muscle.

Now, you might be like, “Austin, why is that important? I’m just trying to lose fat.”

Yes, I get that, but maintaining muscle will help your fat loss progress move along so much better because…

• Having more muscle mass will help you burn more calories at rest
• Lifting weights and getting strong is pretty damn fun
• Having muscle helps you much more for getting that “lean, defined, and toned” look you’re after than losing fat
• Protein boosts your metabolism because it has a high thermic effect and is virtually impossible to store as fat because of its chemical makeup.

On top of that, protein helps keep you full while you’re trying to stay in a calorie deficit.

And when you’re full, you’re less likely to go eat random snacks or treats.

At this point, you’re probably like, “Austin, that all sounds awesome and I’m super pumped to eat more protein now. But how much protein should I be eating?”

Let’s talk about it.

How Much Protein Should You Be Eating?

If you’ve done a decent amount of research on fitness and protein intake, then you’ve likely heard about the figure “1g of protein per lb of bodyweight” (or 2.2g/kg for all of you metric users out there).

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this recommendation and it certainly is a solid number to ensure people are getting adequate protein to cover all their bases.

However, after reviewing research along with my personal experience working with clients, the “1g per lb” figure is absolutely not necessary.

In fact, I have changed my mind on this in recent years and actually think it’s too much protein for a lot of people.

But please don’t take this the wrong way…

Am I saying that your body is going to implode if you ate 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight? Absolutely not.

What I am saying is that if you are able to get that much protein in, that is great and you will reap all the benefits I said above.

But also know that you can get similar if not the same benefits by eating slightly lower than that.

Why have I changed my mind on this?

After having gained more experience working with more and more clients, here are a few things I’ve learned.

• Most people who start their fitness for the first time are only eating 40-60g of protein per day.

This likely means it will be difficult for them to go from 40-60g to 100g+ overnight. Setting more attainable goals builds self-efficacy and momentum to accomplish bigger goals. Rather than going from 40-60g to 100g+ right off the bat, setting goals of +10-20g per month seems more realistic and achievable. This also helps them figure out what protein sources are better or worse for hitting both their protein and calories.

• You actually don’t need that much protein to see results and progress.

To reference one of the most notable researchers in the nutrition space, Alan Aragon, even for people who are looking to optimize muscle building and fat loss, protein intake as low as 0.7g/lb of current bodyweight is sufficient for muscle maintenance and growth.

The only people who need to go at or beyond the 1g/lb figure are those who are competing in physique sports and/or at extremely low levels of body fat trying to maintain muscle mass.

He also states that even for the “not-necessarily-athletic-nor-dieting general public” 0.54 to 0.72g/lb is sufficient.

So as a general rule of thumb if you’re after fat loss and/or muscle growth, 0.7 to 1.0g/lb is the ideal range.

One last thing also worth noting is that the leaner you are or the more of a deficit you’re in, the higher on that range you’ll want to be at because your body is more likely to break down muscle when you’re energy deprived.

On the other hand, the more body fat you have or if you’re closer to maintenance or a surplus you’re at, the less protein you’ll need to eat since your body is getting sufficient energy from carbs and fats to maintain/build muscle.

So now that I’ve thoroughly convinced you to eat more protein and have told you exactly how much protein you should be eating, let’s talk about protein sources.

Ways To Eat More Protein – A Sidenote On Animal vs Plant Protein

In regards to animal vs plant protein sources, you’ll often hear two arguments.

The first one is, “Don’t worry about it! As long as you’re eating X grams of protein, you’re good!”

The second one is, “Plant protein sucks! You have to be eating meat to and maximizing your PDCAAS!”

While there is merit for both sides of the argument, here’s what I will say on this matter.

If you’re eating a well-rounded omnivorous diet, it doesn’t really matter what your protein sources are since you’re getting a bit of everything. As long as you’re hitting your protein numbers above, you’ll be good to go.

However, if you’re eating strictly plant-based (and I’ll also add that if you are pretty serious about your muscle-building goals), then you want to pay attention to your protein choices as well.

Here are a few great graphics from Precision Nutrition (<– if you do want more information on plant-based protein, I highly recommend clicking that link and reading their article on it):

“Good” And “Bad” Sources of Protein

First off, in reference to one of my other articles, What To Do After Eating Too Much, if you want a better relationship with food, you have to realize that there are no “good” or “bad” foods.

There are better and worse foods depending on how they line up with your goals at the moment and how they make you feel, but there are no foods that you must or must not eat to achieve a specific result.

So when I define these foods as “good” or “bad” sources, here’s what I mean.

A good protein source will contain relatively plenty of grams of protein for the calories it contains.

A bad protein source will contain relatively few grams of protein for the calories it contains.

“But how do I know the cutoff for a good/bad protein source??”

Don’t worry, I got you.

This is a rule I’ve developed over my years of tracking calories and macros.

If a food item contains at least 10g of protein per 100 calories, then I would consider it a good protein source (with the exception that if you are dieting on extremely low-calorie requirements).

Here is an example.

With that said, here are some protein sources that I constantly hear are getting preached as “good”, but aren’t that great.

Bad Protein Sources

• Peanut butter – 8g protein per 188 calories
• Almonds – 6g protein per 162 calories
• Pinto beans – 8g protein per 130 calories
• Avocado – 3g protein per 234 calories
• Quinoa – 5g protein per 157 calories

The list goes on, but you’d have to eat a ton of calories worth of these foods to even get a decent amount of protein.

Again, let me make this abundantly clear, I am not saying that these foods are bad and that you should stay from them and never let them see the light of day ever.

In fact, these foods are great for overall health and satiety, but I would consider them a good source of fats/carbs rather than protein.

But here’s the thing, especially when you’re trying to lose fat and maintain a calorie deficit while also maintaining a high protein intake, these aren’t going to be the best choices that allow you to do so.

Now that we’re clear on this, let’s move on to the good ones.

Good Protein Sources

• Omnivorous sources + some vegetarian/pescetarian (all meat is according to its raw weight)
  • Chicken breast (boneless, skinless) – 31g per 165 calories
  • Chicken thigh (without skin) – 28g per 206 calories
  • Top sirloin – 12g per 122 calories
  • Shrimp – 20g per 85 calories
  • Eggs – 12g per 144 calories
  • Egg whites – 36g per 170 calories
  • Skipjack tuna – 43g per 203 calories
  • Nonfat Greek yogurt – 26g per 160 calories
  • Low-fat cheese – 14g per 100 calories
• Plant-based sources
  • Tofu – 20g per 188 calories
  • Soybeans/Edamame – 16g per 148 calories

Also, full disclosure, I just used the Google machine to pull these up so if you need more ideas, be sure to use that too.

And then of course there’s protein powder if you absolutely need a low-calorie high protein source that’s convenient and ready to consume at a moment’s notice (if you want to use a high quality, delicious protein powder from a brand you can trust, check out Legion Athletics and be sure to use my code ‘AC’ for a nice discount).

Again, there’s nothing special about protein powder compared to whole foods except that it’s quick and convenient.

Now, knowing all this is one thing, but how do you apply it?

That’s what this next section is going to be about. The actionable steps that you can actually start taking immediately to increase your protein intake and get all these cool benefits we talked about earlier.

5 Ways To Eat More Protein

1. Doubling up on your current protein sources

This is the simplest one out of all of them (which is probably why I put it first huh 😏).

Whatever you’re eating for your protein right now, whether it’s cheese, yogurt, chicken, fish, etc., just simply make twice the amount and eat it.

It’s an extremely simple and easy way to double your protein instantly with little effort.

This method also defeats the “I don’t know what to make” excuse.

You do know what to make. You just need to make more of it.

2. Making your meals more protein forward

Here’s what I mean by this.

Most of the people who tell me “There’s no way I can eat more protein!” this is usually what their meals/snacks look like…

Do you see the trend here now?

While I’m not trying to demonize carbs or fats here, when you make these food decisions that are low protein and aren’t really filling, all you’re doing is shoveling in extra calories that will only lead you to be hungry minutes later.

So instead, start building your meals around protein.

Swap that muffin out for something more high protein like egg white bites or a ham and egg sandwich.

Instead of snacking on chips that will only lead to wanting more minutes later, start snacking on things that will fill you up more like yogurt, fruit, veggies, eggs, meat, cheese, etc.

Rather than having a full plate of just pasta and sauce, replace half the plate with chicken, shrimp, or your favorite protein in there.

By building your protein sources first, you basically know that your meals have enough protein and the rest of the plate can be “filler.”

3. Front loading your protein intake

If you’re someone who frequently goes through the first half of your day not eating much protein and then all of a sudden at the end of the day, you’re like “Oh shit! I forgot to get my protein in!” and now you have to make a mad scramble for 100g of protein eating the weirdest combinations of foods, then this one is for you.

“Frontloading” (a term that I completely made up) is when you eat the majority of your protein earlier in the day (ex: breakfast + lunch or breakfast + lunch + snacks).

Then by the time you end the day, you’re not having to try and make up for your entire day’s worth of protein in one sitting (which sucks btw).

So rather than “worry about it later”, you can actually get it done and not have to worry about it later.

4. Pre-logging your meals

This tip is a double whammy in that it helps those who struggle with the “Oh shit I forgot to get my protein in” and the “Ah I don’t want to eat healthy so fuck it” crowd.

If you are currently tracking your food, this is something you can easily implement into your daily routine.

Rather than waiting until you eat to log everything, simply spend a few minutes at the beginning of the day to log all your meals down for the day.

That way, you 1) already know the nutrition breakdown of your meals for the day and 2) established to yourself mentally that “I’m going to eat and stay accountable to this plan and leave less room to say ‘fuck it’ and go off plan.”

5. Always have quick protein options on hand

Although you can use this tip for all of your protein-rich meals, I would recommend saving this tip as a “last resort” because you should have a plan for your meals as much as possible since we all like structure and all that.

But just in case, for the times in life that cause things to not go as planned, always have readily accessible protein options with you.

Whether that’s:

• Carrying easy to eat protein snacks with you
• Have a couple of protein scoops packed with you
• Picking up/having a place to pick up a protein shake at your local store

Again, this ensures that you have stuff readily available which will less likely lead you to go “fuck it” and go off-plan and eat/drink whatever the hell you want.

Alright, so we’ve covered my 5 best tips to get more protein.

Inevitably, I still get asked tons of protein-related questions, so here’s an FAQ section for that.

Out of all the questions I get, these are probably the most popular.

Protein FAQs

“Do I need to get protein in right after I work out?”

You might have heard that you need to get protein in right after your workout because of the elusive “anabolic window.”

However, more recent research has shown that while yes, there is an anabolic window, it’s much larger than we once thought.

Rather than 30 minutes after working out like we were led to believe, it’s more like 2-5 hours.

But I will say that this anabolic window also depends on what your meals looked like before working out.

If the last thing you ate was 3+ hours ago or you’re training fasted, eating after your workout sooner rather than later will provide more benefit than if you ate an hour or two before working out.

“Does it matter how many meals I eat?”

Yes and no.

For exclusively fat loss and being in a calorie deficit? No.

In the current research, meal frequency has not been shown to affect fat loss when calorie intakes were equal.

But for building muscle? Yes.

You see, whenever you eat a meal that contains at least 20-30g of high-quality protein, it stimulates something in your body called “Muscle Protein Synthesis” (MPS) – which is critical for building muscle.

Because your body constantly goes through MPS and Muscle Protein Breakdown (MPB) cycles and if you want to maximize muscle growth, then you want to stimulate MPS as often as you can.

But this doesn’t mean that you should or need to eat 8 times a day every 2 hours.

The benefits of meal frequency and MPS decrease as you increase your meal frequency simply due to the law of diminishing returns.

For most people, you get most of the benefits of MPS when you eat 4-5 times a day and then it just becomes a hassle at that point when you try to increase it (you gotta waste more time and effort eating, cooking, cleaning, etc.) for a tiny percentage of benefits that barely make a difference.

But for most of my online coaching clients who just simply want to build muscle, lose fat, and live regular lives?

I recommend eating 3-4 times a day to get the benefits of MPS, but the main benefits are to be able to dine normally like everyone else and also to manage hunger levels throughout the day – which can be made worse when you eat 1-2 times a day.

Lastly, on this point, keep in mind that eating doesn’t always have to be a full-sized sit-down meal.

Your protein feeding can also count as a quick 20-30g snack.

“Does it matter how much protein I get per meal? Can I actually digest it all?”

This is also another outdated piece of information.

The idea that somehow if we eat more than 20-30g of protein our body doesn’t use or digest it all and “throws it away.”

This is completely false.

Think about it, if this were true, you would probably be pooping your brains out every time you ate more than 20-30g of protein, right?

However, I do understand the confusion.

My understanding is that the research shows that 20-30g of high-quality protein should be enough to trigger MPS in the body.

So in turn, it was poorly translated to “20-30g per meal is all you need and that any extra is a waste.”

However, as I said above, total daily protein intake matters more than protein frequency.

So even if you’re eating 20g of protein 3x a day, if you’re not meeting your daily protein target, you’re missing out on the benefits.

“Let’s say I needed 150g of protein a day. Would it still count if I went under for one day and overate the next?”

Unfortunately……….the answer is no.

Your protein intake isn’t like your phoneline minutes. It doesn’t roll over to the next day if you don’t eat enough/eat too much.

Protein intake is something that should be met daily.

However, if you do miss one or two days, know that it’s not the end of the world and you’re not going to suddenly lose all your progress.

Just get over it and get back on track.

“I’ve heard excessive protein causes kidney problems, cancer, etc. Is this true?”

Big and hard no (that’s what she said).

There is no current evidence to show that excessive protein causes any disease.

Can eating too much protein make kidney problems worse if you already have them? Sure.

But if you’re already in a healthy state, eating too much protein won’t do anything.

The only thing it might probably put an extra strain on is your wallet.

Final Thoughts On 5 Ways To Eat More Protein

And that’s it!

That about wraps up this comprehensive all-you-need-to-know information about protein.

And I know that was a lot of information.

So if you do have any questions or concerns at all, please do not hesitate to reach out and shoot me an email.

Otherwise, if you don’t really want to figure this stuff out all by yourself, take a look at my online coaching services.

It has done for you:

• Nutrition targets so that you know exactly how much protein, carbs, fats, and calories to eat for your goals
• Training programs so that you know exactly what to do every time you step foot into your gym
• Daily accountability and support so that you actually do what you know you need to do and know that I’ve got your back every step of the way.

But that’s about it. Thank you so much for taking the time to read through this long and comprehensive article.

Until next time,

-Aus