Hitting your Protein Goal

Tips for Hitting your Protein Goal

1. Make sure your breakfast includes protein! Starting off the day with protein will #1 help you feel full longer after breakfast and #2 help you put a big dent in your protein goal for the day. Ideas: Eggs, egg whites, sausage, bacon, turkey or ham added to your eggs, protein powder in your oatmeal.

2. Take your protein macro goal and divide it by the amount of meals you want to eat that day. That is your protein goal per meal. Then plan accordingly. Setting mini-goals for each meal will help keep you from having 9384837482 grams of protein left to eat at the end of the night.

3. Increase the protein serving size for each meal slightly. If you find yourself constantly short of hitting your protein macro goal, you don't necessarily have to add a whole other meal! Eating a sandwich with 3oz of turkey instead of 2.5oz. Making eggs with 1 1/4 cup of egg whites instead of 1 cup. Eating 5oz of chicken instead of 4.5oz. Those little increases all add up and can make it easier to hit that goal. Again, just take a couple moments the day before to plan out your meals in MyFitnessPal, and you're golden.

4. Add in a protein shake when needed. Supplement protein to help bridge that gap (most protein powders offer 20-25g per scoop - and you can use two scoops if needed). But don't rely on protein powder as your sole source. Plan out the main, real foods for your day... and then decide if you need to add in a shake to top it off.

Planning your Daily Protein

Below is a visual worksheet for how to plan out your day to ensure you hit your protein macros! (You can use this method for the other macros as well - but usually we don't have any issue hitting those 😉)

Planning is THE KEY to staying on track and taking the stress away from each day. Setting yourself up for success is vital if you are serious about your goals.

Also included is an example of how you would use this method to plan out your meals. You would use MyFitnessPal to look up the food and adjust the amount to get to your protein goal. Note that some meals are under/over the "meal target" - but it all adds up to hitting that protein goal at the end of the day.

ALWAYS PLAN YOUR TRUE PROTEIN SOURCES FOR EACH MEAL OUT FIRST, THEN FILL IN YOUR DAY WITH YOUR OTHER FOODS.