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#106 - 3 Steps To Never Struggle Getting Your Protein Again
19 Plays3 days ago
You want to build muscle, cut hunger, and look your best? You need protein. In this episode I’ll show you exactly how to hit your protein goal target today using this 3‑2‑1 method. In this episode we'll discuss
- Why protein gives you the most results for your time and effort
- Surprising perks of extra protein you didn’t know about
- The crazy simple 3‑2‑1 plan
- Easy steps to plan, prep, and put this method into action today
Let's get into to!
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Transcript
Introduction to the Fit-ish Project
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome back to the Fit-ish Project with your host as always Lathan Bass where we make fitness and health simple for regular people like you and I. We got another weekly episode coming at you before I get into the episode. If you have not already, if you could leave a review, just continue to help get this out to more people.
00:00:19
Speaker
I appreciate that.
The Importance of Protein
00:00:21
Speaker
But with this week's topic, so I wanted to talk a little bit about something that a large majority of people struggle with. I had asked a question on my social media about people who struggle to get enough protein versus people who don't have any issues hitting their protein goal.
00:00:37
Speaker
And it was quite a few more people who struggled to hit their protein, which is also my experience with working with different clients. One of the things that almost every single client struggles with when they start to implement these changes is to get enough protein, because for a lot of people, the amount of protein that you should be eating is a lot more than what people really realize if you do want to be getting all the benefits that protein give you. And so There's a big difference between getting enough protein to where you're not malnutritioned or malnourished versus actually getting enough protein to where you are optimizing your health, feeling your best, looking your best and all those different things.
00:01:15
Speaker
So if hitting your protein goal is something that you found really frustrating in this episode, I'm going to give you the simplest way that I know a three step method to make that feel way easier and actually doable in your real day to day life.
00:01:28
Speaker
Before getting into that, I wanted to briefly just touch on why protein is so important because once you understand the importance of protein, you'll realize that it's actually worth your time to prioritize getting enough protein within your
Muscle, Protein, and Aesthetics
00:01:40
Speaker
day. Because if you've been in the fitness space at all, you've likely heard of people talking about high protein this, high protein that, lots of high protein recipes. There's just a huge emphasis on protein.
00:01:51
Speaker
And there's some really good reasons why that is. And the way that I think about it when it comes to fitness, like I want to focus my attention and my time on the things that are the highest leverage activity. So things that are going to give me the most benefit for the least amount of time is the way that I look about it because I'm a convenient person. I like convenience. I like to get results.
00:02:12
Speaker
And so that's the way that I look at fitness. And I try to keep those things that are super high leverage that are going to give you the most benefits. At top of mind and protein is one of those things. And since I know you have limited time and attention, you're a busy person, you have a lot of other stuff going on, maybe you don't want to get into as much detail and learn about this stuff quite as much as I do.
00:02:33
Speaker
I want to simplify all that for you and make hitting your protein goal super simple. Some reasons why protein is so important and why you should actually focus on it. When people come to me for fitness help or weight loss help or to hit any kind of like fitness goals, typically their goals fall under two really basic categories. They want to look a certain way or they want to look better and they want to feel better.
00:02:55
Speaker
It's really that simple. Now you can dig a little bit deeper into those things from a physical standpoint, from an emotional standpoint, all those different things. But in general, those are the two things that people want. They want to look better and they want to feel better.
00:03:07
Speaker
When it comes to both of those goals, muscle plays a critical role in both of those goals which means protein is ultimately going to play a big role in both of those goals because protein not only helps you build muscle but it also helps you hold on to muscle it's going to affect how you look it's going affect how you feel it's going to affect your metabolism it's going to affect your strength it's going to affect your quality of life all those different things are going to play a role in how you feel and how you look Because a lot of people will often think that they just want to lose weight, but that's not really the case. A lot of people do have extra fat tissue, like they are wanting to lose some body fat.
00:03:44
Speaker
But a large majority of people are also very under muscled, meaning they don't have enough muscle on their frame.
Muscle Mass and Lifestyle Benefits
00:03:50
Speaker
And what happens when you start to lose weight or even lose fat and you don't have enough muscle, you do not really like the way you look.
00:03:57
Speaker
A lot of people will talk about wanting to look more toned. They want to look more lean. They want to look more athletic. And the way that that happens is by losing body fat, but also having enough muscle mass. If you've ever heard the term skinny fat, this is what people mean as they talk about skinny fat. Like you lose weight. You're seeing that scale go down. You're getting smaller, but you get down to this weight that you thought was going to make you look a certain way and you don't look the way you want it to look.
00:04:24
Speaker
And that's because you're under muscle. You do not have enough muscle. And so when it comes to this role of protein, it's super important. I know for me personally, when I was doing this and I lost a bunch of weight the first time around, I got down to a body weight that I thought was going to be like my goal weight. I thought that when I got there, I was going to look this certain way.
00:04:42
Speaker
And I didn't look bad. Like I, my health improved. Like I was pretty happy about where I was, but I did not look the way that I thought I would look based on what I thought that scale was going to say. And I think this is an important point to make because for so many people, that number on the scale just has a hold over you for whatever reason. Like we just get so attached to the scale and we think that hitting this certain number is going to solve every single problem that we have.
00:05:05
Speaker
And oftentimes that's just not the case. Like I've seen it Time and time again, people hit a certain weight on the scale and they think, oh, I'm going to look this way or I'm going to be happy when I hit this weight or whatever the case may be. And a lot of times that's just not the case. Because again, when you go back to our main goal, we want to look a certain way and we want to feel a certain way.
00:05:23
Speaker
The number on the scale does not tell you either one of those things. It might help you to make a more educated guess as to what that might look like. But at the end of the day, a number is not going to tell you that. And so just a side note to not get too attached to what that scale says, especially when it comes to losing body fat, because that number only can give you so much data.
00:05:43
Speaker
And so you want to make sure that you are focusing on building muscle. And an important part of that, as I stated, is getting enough protein. When it comes to how you feel, muscle mass also plays a pretty big role because when it comes to like your quality of life, when it comes to having enough strength and being functional, and also things just like preventing injury and even like preventing disease, people with more muscle mass, they just have better health outcomes. They live longer.
00:06:08
Speaker
Their quality of life is better because they can do all the things they want to do. They can play with their kids. They can go on hikes. They can work their job, they can do their hobbies and activities, they can be active. And that is all based on having enough muscle and having enough strength and being an active functional person.
00:06:25
Speaker
And on top of that, more muscle means that we also have a faster metabolism, which means you have more flexibility with food, which is also makes this whole health thing a lot easier. And so there's lots of different reasons that you want to make sure that you are prioritizing.
Improving Nutrition Through Protein Focus
00:06:39
Speaker
Building and maintaining muscle and getting enough protein within your day is going to be crucial to making sure that that happens. The second reason that I really like focusing on protein and having people focus on protein, and it's one that I don't think a lot of people really think about, is it naturally improves your food quality and your food quantity. So it naturally will start to improve how much you are eating, like the number of calories you are taking in, and it also is going to start to improve the quality of foods that you're eating. So you are you start to eat more whole foods when you're focusing on getting more lean proteins.
00:07:14
Speaker
You will also start to probably eat more fruits, more vegetables, more complex carbs, more healthy fats. And so you start taking in more of these whole minimally processed type foods, which is going to naturally start to improve not only how you feel, but how you look, make hitting all your goals a little bit easier.
00:07:30
Speaker
And so Focusing on getting enough protein, like i said, this is a lot of protein for most people. They are not used to getting this much. And so what that does is it forces you to prioritize and plan out your meals and to think ahead. Because if you try to just wing this, you are always going to struggle to hit that protein number because it's just so out of the normal of what you're used to. And so This, focusing on more protein, will force you to think ahead, okay, what am I going to have to eat for this week? Like, what are my meals going to look like tomorrow? What kind of snacks am I going to have? And by doing that, you are naturally going to notice that you start to make better choices overall. And so I really like it for that reason, because it's kind of a sneaky way that forces you to start planning and prioritizing your meals.
00:08:10
Speaker
Plus, again, when you start eating more protein, you're going to notice that your food quality also starts to get better as well, because you're probably not going to be pairing like a steak with like a so bowl of cereal. I mean, like if you do, that's your thing. And, you know, if you've been listening to me for any amount of time that like I'm not against processed foods, you can have anything in moderation.
00:08:29
Speaker
But in general, I think we want to be focusing on that 80%, 85% of our diet coming from those whole minimally processed foods because it's easier to manage. You're going feel better. Digestion is going to be better. It's going make hitting all your goals a lot easier. And so want to be focusing on those mainly and focusing on protein is going to naturally start to make you do that by thinking ahead and by improving your food quantity and improving your food quality.
00:08:53
Speaker
And then the third reason that I really like protein is because it reduces your hunger and increases your satiety, which if you are somebody who is focused on losing weight or you're focused on maintaining your weight, then being less hungry and being more full and satiated is going to make this whole dieting thing, this whole fitness thing, this whole like eating a quality diet thing much easier because protein is the most filling macronutrient.
00:09:20
Speaker
And on top of that, by eating more protein, your body naturally has to work a little bit harder to break that down through what is called the thermic effect of food. So there's a little side benefit of eating more protein actually causes your body to burn more calories, which is kind of nice.
00:09:33
Speaker
But with that being said, the main thing is that it's just really filling like you don't see a ton of people just overeating on protein like If you've ever eaten a whole entire big like chicken breast or you eat like a steak or something like that, it's filling.
00:09:44
Speaker
Like you're not like reaching for another chicken breast or you're not like gonna going to go in down like three or four steaks or have an abundance of protein. And so it's kind of like... self policing in a way like where in with some other foods, it's extremely easy to overeat. Obviously, like highly processed things are super easy to overeat and they're made that way. They're super tasty and they are nice combinations of sugar and salt in that sweetness and all that like different type of stuff where it's just engineered to be very easy to overeat.
00:10:15
Speaker
Natural whole minimally processed foods and specifically protein are not the same way. You're just not going to find yourself really overdoing it to a maximum extent when you are focusing on these things and on these whole foods.
Recommended Protein Intake and Methods
00:10:27
Speaker
And then with that increasing satiety, reducing hunger, it's going to help with those cravings and it's just going to make being in a calorie deficit or even just maintaining your weight easier by focusing on protein. And so those are some of the main reasons that I really think focusing on protein is so beneficial.
00:10:45
Speaker
It's also important to know like how much protein do you actually need because you hear these recommendations all over the place. And for most people, it's going to be somewhere between 0.7 grams to one gram per pound of body weight.
00:10:57
Speaker
This is based on the science. This is based on all the studies. There's studies that say you can get away with a little bit less. There's studies that say if you do a little bit more, you'll get some of the benefits. But 0.7 to one gram is typically what I see most common. And so that's kind of the range that I go with.
00:11:11
Speaker
As I said, for a lot of people, this is going to be very difficult to hit at first because this is likely two to three times more than what most normal people are consuming. and so it's going to be hard. And so that's exactly why I made this podcast. But understand that it's okay to start on the lower end and kind of build your way up gradually. doesn't have to be perfect. You just want to start to prioritize protein and then you can build on it, start to increase it in different ways. Because if you're listening to this podcast, there's probably a good chance that you struggle to hit your protein goals. So I'm going to help you fix that as we get into this.
Strength Training and Protein
00:11:44
Speaker
And the last thing I will mention before actually getting into these three steps is that it should go without saying, and I'm sure you probably already know this, but eating a high protein diet is important, but you're not gonna get these maximum benefits if you are not strength training.
00:11:57
Speaker
And so you think of protein, a lot of people will say like protein are the building blocks of the body. But you also need somebody to who put those blocks together. And if you're not sending the stimulus, if you're not doing the work, if you're not strength training, then those blocks aren't really being put to use. Like you have a bunch of protein in your body, but if you're not giving your body a stimulus to change, to grow, to build muscle through good strength training, then you're not going to be seeing these results. You'll still get some of the other benefits with like reducing your hunger and satiety and things
The 3-2-1 Method for Protein Goals
00:12:26
Speaker
like that. But all of the like muscle benefits that we really want to get as far as like looking a certain way being functional those sorts of things like you really need to be strength training regularly and on a good program to get and to maximize these benefits and so just a little side note there something that i'm sure you already understand but it does can't go without saying that strength training is vitally important to this whole process as well if you want to get all the benefits
00:12:51
Speaker
All right, so getting into this method, the three to one method is what I call it. Super simple. The very first thing that you should do, and you should do these steps in this order. So the three stands for three lean protein focused meals per day. You are likely already eating protein at at least a couple of your meals, if not all of them.
00:13:10
Speaker
If you are not eating protein at every single meal, that would be the first place that I would start. Try to get some sort of lean protein source at each meal because if you're not getting protein at each meal, it's going to make it very difficult to hit that higher protein target. And so if you're not getting that protein at breakfast, at lunch, at dinner, start right there.
00:13:28
Speaker
And we want to make sure that these are leaner sources of protein, especially if you have weight loss goals. If you're in maintenance goals or even if you have maybe some like really high strength building goals and like maybe you're in a surplus, you actually want to gain weight, then you don't need to focus on these leaner sources as much.
00:13:45
Speaker
But the reason we want to make it leaner is because leaner sources of protein means that we are getting more protein with less calories. If we're getting fattier sources of protein, think of like fattier cuts of meat or just protein sources that are like full fat, like full fat dairy, things like that.
00:14:00
Speaker
you're still getting some protein with those things but you're also getting an excess of calories and if we're getting an excess of calories that's going to make things like weight loss and sometimes even maintaining weight more difficult so lean sources of protein is typically what i like to stick to so that you can get more protein maximize that protein with less calories and so some examples you know at breakfast could be like eggs or some sort of dairy for lunch and dinner it could be chicken it could be turkey it could be beef it could be seafood It could be any types of those things that are just higher in protein. And again, just trying to stick to a leaner source.
00:14:34
Speaker
So if you're already eating leaner sources of protein at each meal, the most simple and basic thing you can do to hit your protein target is to increase the amount of protein that you are having in your meal. I know it seems extremely obvious, but most people never think of this.
00:14:50
Speaker
and so if you're for example let's say you're eating breakfast and you have eggs most morning maybe you only have two eggs and then maybe you have like some fruit with that or something like that well the simplest thing you can do is just add maybe some egg whites and that is going to increase your protein amount so let's say you have two eggs every morning if you add just 75 calories worth of egg whites you just added an easy 15 grams of extra protein So now your little two eggs that was 12 grams of protein just went to over 30 grams.
00:15:20
Speaker
Simple, just like that. You barely had to change anything. Or let's say for lunch, maybe you're having four ounces of chicken with a salad or something like that. Instead of having four ounces of chicken, increase that to six ounces of chicken, you just went from 35 grams of protein to 50 grams of protein, just like that. Super easy.
00:15:37
Speaker
Maybe for dinner, you're having like a taco bowl and you have like some beef in there, some vegetables, a little taco sauce, that kind of stuff. Let's say you only have three ounces of ground beef in there. Double that and now you just went from 20 grams of protein to 40 grams of protein just by simply adding in a little bit more protein to your meal.
00:15:55
Speaker
And again, this is super simple. And if you do this for one of your meals, two of your meals, maybe all of your meals, just simply increase the amount of protein that you're eating at each meal.
00:16:06
Speaker
you're probably going to solve this problem almost instantly overnight. And the reason why I love this is because you don't have to find a bunch of new high protein recipes. You don't have to change a bunch of stuff. You don't have to take any extra time or effort.
00:16:18
Speaker
You just have to increase what you're already doing and just build on it. It's that simple. Honestly, if you do that one simple thing, you just start increasing the amount of protein, like increasing the portion of your lean protein source in each meal. And you're getting protein at three meals throughout the day you're probably already gonna be hitting your goal right there.
00:16:36
Speaker
You could probably stop listening to this right now and you'd be good to go. But let's say that you're still coming in a little bit low on your protein goal, or maybe for whatever reason you skipped a meal a certain day, or you're just still coming in low on your protein goal.
00:16:50
Speaker
Step two is this. So this is the two out of the three to one method. Get two high protein snacks in per day. This can be super helpful. It kind of helps you bridge the gaps. And this can also be helpful to like if you're on the run or you're just somebody who likes snacking, like I'm like somebody who I enjoy having snacks throughout the day.
00:17:07
Speaker
And so I like to have one to two high protein snacks every single day. And this is a super simple way to kind of add in some extra protein. without much effort at all so for example if you add in just a hundred calories of let's say greek yogurt or cottage cheese maybe some deli meat jerky tuna any of those sources that are higher protein just by adding in 100 calories you can add in an extra 10 to 20 grams of easy protein per snack so You're adding in two of those snacks per day.
00:17:36
Speaker
You just added in anywhere between 20 to 40 grams of protein within your day by adding in these two little simple snacks. If you wanted to even go a little bit higher, get a little bit more protein, you could go for something like a protein bar or a protein shake.
00:17:49
Speaker
And you want to try to keep that around 200 calories or so because some of those protein shakes and some of those protein bars can get super high in calories super quickly, which is kind of similar to like the fattier sources of lean protein.
00:18:00
Speaker
You don't want to be taking in a bunch of extra calories just to get protein. And so we want to try to keep those sources a little bit leaner. But any of those things that I just listed are pretty low in calories and have a good amount of protein content. And so adding in two of these snacks within your day, again, it's going to easily add 20 to 40 grams of protein to your total number.
00:18:20
Speaker
And again, these are, these are things that like, it takes almost no effort. Like these, these are not things that you have to cook or prepare or like do a bunch of prep work or anything like that. You can take them with you to work.
00:18:31
Speaker
You can take them on the go. It's just, they're very low effort and super convenient. And so it makes it super easy to up your protein because I like convenience. You probably like convenience. So this is step two of the three, two, one method. Again, if you do the first thing and you do this second thing, you're It's probably already at your goal. Like going have no issues hitting your protein in a single day.
00:18:54
Speaker
But let's say for whatever reason, you're still not at that goal. Maybe you have a high protein goal. You're still struggling a little bit. This is the third and final step, the last thing that you can do. And this is the one within the method.
00:19:06
Speaker
Find yourself a protein supplement. So take one protein supplement per day. And what I mean by this is just like whey protein. So find yourself a whey protein powder and just have a scoop whey protein throughout the day.
00:19:17
Speaker
This is kind of like your safety net. So like if you need a little bit extra protein, still want to keep those calories low. Protein shakes are a really easy and convenient way to do this. You could have this after a workout. You could have this on busy days or like when you're on the go, maybe you don't have time to prep or cook any kind of food.
00:19:34
Speaker
but you still want to make sure that you're getting enough protein protein shakes can be an easy way to keep on top of those protein goals and so in 60 seconds you just got 20 to 30 grams of protein just like that it's really hard to beat and so again very low effort super convenient easy way to up your protein You don't necessarily need to have a protein powder, but there's also nothing wrong with having protein powder. It's something that I use just about every single day.
00:20:02
Speaker
I'll have anywhere from one scoop to two scoops per day, just kind of depending on what my meals look like for that day. So as I said, you could use it in a shake. Like it could be like a post-workout shake, or maybe you just make like a blended protein shake or something like that. But you can also mix it in with food, which is something that I do quite a bit. So like in the morning, if I have oatmeal, I'll sometimes just throw a scoop of whey protein powder in there.
00:20:24
Speaker
and you just took that oatmeal that maybe had four or five grams of protein in it and now it's got 25-30 grams of protein in it from just throwing a scoop of protein powder in there. Greek yogurt is another really easy, good one. So like you have 100 calories of Greek yogurt, that's like 15 to 20 ish grams of protein. But now you just throw in a scoop of protein powder and now it's 35 grams of protein. And so super easy way to add in some extra protein is just by using a whey protein powder supplement. I also really like using this with ice cream. If you follow me on any of my socials, you know that I love ice cream.
00:20:57
Speaker
And so within my ice cream, I just throw a scoop of protein in there. And now I have a high protein ice cream that tastes great. And I'm getting 25 grams of protein at the end of the night, which is awesome. Some people will use whey protein powder in like baking different things like cookies or brownies or cakes or breads or different things like that. So that's also another option. So you can either just make it in a shake super quick, or you can actually start to mix it in some of your foods in order to increase the protein content.
00:21:24
Speaker
When it comes to your protein sources, like when it comes to your protein powder, there are some differences in these things because like the supplement industry isn't regulated that much. And so some protein powders are not very good and your gut will tell you pretty quickly whether or not that protein powder sits well with you because some of these are a little bit cleaner and have a little bit less like fillers and additives and things like that.
00:21:45
Speaker
So if you try a protein powder and your gut is saying no, like if you're having some digestive issues or like you're bloated or gassy or something like that, that's probably not going to be a good protein source for you.
00:21:55
Speaker
So when it comes to protein powders, I like to try to stick to some of the cleaner stuff. I've been using this brand called Levels for a pretty long time, and they're starting to grow even more. they're pretty cost-effective as far as like cleaner proteins go, and I know they actually just started stocking their product in Costco, so they're only growing and getting bigger.
00:22:13
Speaker
And so Levels is the one that I use and typically go with, but I know that Legion and enforce First Form are also really popular and like cleaner type of brands. A little bit more expensive, but They're pretty well and established and lot of people really like their stuff and they're a little bit cleaner protein. So those are also some options.
00:22:31
Speaker
Thought I would just throw that in there just in case you are somebody who is looking for a protein supplement. But again, that can be kind of your safety net. It's a really simple, simple way to add in some extra protein throughout your day is just to grab yourself a protein
Consistency and Planning for Success
00:22:44
Speaker
supplement. And so that is it. That is the simplest way that I know the 3-2-1 method to hit your daily protein goals. Like I said, if you do the first one,
00:22:54
Speaker
If you just increase your lean protein in your meals, you're probably almost going to be there. If not already be there, you go to number two. If you're not there, you add in two high protein snacks within your day.
00:23:06
Speaker
And then if you're still not at your goal, you go to number one and you add in a scoop of whey protein powder. You're going have no issues hitting your protein, but also keeping your calories relatively low. If you do have some weight loss goals or if you have just some weight maintenance goals and you don't want to be just ingesting a bunch of extra calories.
00:23:25
Speaker
This is a really, really easy, actionable way and something that's also super simple and easy to remember. And so if you're struggling with this, try it out, help to build up some consistency.
00:23:36
Speaker
And also one tip that I would give you is to recognize when you do have these high protein days or you find high protein meals, high protein snacks that just really work well and that you really like.
00:23:48
Speaker
Think about those things and you don't need to reinvent the wheel every time you try to go eat, like use these meals, use these days that you have high protein and just keep using them over and over again because consistency is what's going to help you build this habit and help making hitting that protein goal super simple.
00:24:04
Speaker
And so if you can start to do that and be consistent with it, you're going to get all the benefits that we talked about in the beginning of the episode. And so keep it simple. Like you find stuff that you like and that works really well, just continue to do that. And then if you want to try some other things down the line, then by all means, go ahead and do that. But A little action step that I would give you in order to actually put this into play next time you go grocery shopping, pick three protein sources. So think about what kind of protein source you want to have for breakfast, what kind you want to have for lunch, what kind you want to have for dinner that week or for multiple days that week.
00:24:34
Speaker
then pick two high protein snacks that you want to have so whether that's greek yogurt whether that's cottage cheese whether that's protein bars whether that's tuna whether that's jerky something that's high in protein pick two of those that you really like and then if you want or you need find a protein powder that you like and get it because if you have those items it's going to make hitting these goals and putting this plan into place much easier and so There you have it. Hopefully that helped. If this was helpful, you can always share this with somebody else who you know really struggles to get protein because this is a common, common thing that I hear from a lot of people is that they really struggle to hit their protein target. And so I just wanted to break it down and just make it as simple and actionable as possible.
Coaching and Conclusion
00:25:15
Speaker
If you're somebody who you want help, like building this plan out and actually fitting this into your life and the whole application side of it, that's what I do with people in one-on-one coaching to make this as simple and as easy as possible.
00:25:27
Speaker
So you can always check the show notes if you are interested in that. But that is all I have for you this week. I really appreciate you listening and we will see you next week.