Protein generally comes up very early on in most people’s wellness journeys. You’ll no doubt have seen adverts for protein shakes featuring incredibly buff-looking people, and as a result, you may have decided that protein is only for bodybuilders and weight lifters.
The truth is that protein is incredibly important for everyone’s well-being, and you should be meeting some basic targets every day – especially if you’re an active person. Here, we take a look at what those protein goals might look like, and how you can go about achieving them.
Rough guidelines
First of all, it’s important to be aware that protein intake recommendations will differ slightly based on your weight. Depending on your activity and fitness goals, you will likely want to get between roughly 1.2-2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight.
That means that a 50kg individual could aim for between 60-100 grams per day, while someone who weighs 90kg might opt for between 108-180 grams. The point is that your intake is strictly personal; don’t try to just match what your friends are eating, or what you’ve seen an influencer set as their goals on Instagram.
Breaking it up
Second, you really want to try to spread your protein intake out throughout the day. Your body can’t process massive amounts of protein all at once – instead, you want to make sure that there is protein available pretty consistently, so that your body can use it to rebuild itself as the day and night go by.
For a 120 gram daily target, for example, that could mean aiming for 30 grams of protein in each of your three meals, with a 30 gram protein top up at some point in a healthy snack or protein shake.
When you break it up like this, it also suddenly becomes a whole lot more manageable. You absolutely don’t have to tackle it all at once.
Find easy, healthy sources of protein
To make your protein goals more accessible, it’s important that you find sources of protein that are easy to integrate into your diet. You don’t only have to go for steaks and protein shakes – protein is found in a whole host of whole foods, including all meats, most nuts, eggs, and a lot of grains.
Finding easily accessible, healthy, affordable sources of protein, such as tinned fish from John West, makes meeting your protein goals a whole lot easier. If you can have some of these staple foods stocked up in your home at all times, and come up with a range of tasty, quick meals to put them in, you’ll have done the majority of the hard work already.
Meeting your protein goals shouldn’t be too hard. Work out how much you think you should be getting each day, break it up into multiple different portions throughout the day, and then start exploring some healthy options. Keep on mixing it up, and remember that the main goal should be to keep it fun and tasty, with the numbers side of things fast fading into the background.
Marissa is a Pediatric Occupational Therapist turned stay-at-home mom who loves sharing her tips, tricks, and ideas for navigating motherhood. Her days are filled starting tickle wars and dance parties with three energetic toddlers and wondering how long she can leave the house a mess until her husband notices. When she doesn’t have her hands full of children, she enjoys a glass (or 3) of wine, reality tv, and country music. In addition to blogging about all things motherhood, she sells printables on Etsy and has another website, teachinglittles.com, for kid’s activity ideas.
