🥩Protein: All you need to know to grow

Sane, safe, sustainable tips from a strong lady who's been liftin' good and eatin' good for 10+ years.

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s son Patrick, playing a protein-obsessed freak in HBO’s The White Lotus. He would give you bad advice. I won’t. | ScreenRant

Body Type is a newsletter about bodies — how we move in them, nourish them, think about them, and talk about them, for better or worse. I write essays and cultural criticism about all that, and now I’m writing more service journalism-y guides to body stuff, too. Here’s one about protein, that majestic macronutrient people seem a little riled up about lately.

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Here’s where this all started.

I get what’s happening: People who are interested in exercise at all, and especially people who are interested in resistance/strength training, are seeing a lot of algorithmically-driven, related content online lately encouraging them to eat more protein. They’re probably seeing the guidance to eat one gram of protein per pound of body weight (this is standard in the serious strength training world; we’ll get into that).

A lot of people are aghast at this, wondering how in the hell they’re going to choke down those godforsaken grams when they’re used to eating only, like, 50 per day. Cue the melodramatic wall slide to the floor, the pounding of the fists on the tiles, the cursing of the egg prices.

I’m here to give you some relief.

Now, there are some people who surely would benefit from the one gram per pound (OGPP) advice, and maybe that is you, because you’re actively working on building muscle and strength by following a progressive overload-focused weight lifting regimen. The reason I posted the Note above, though, is twofold:

1. I know a lot of people who read Body Type are interested in strength/resistance training but aren’t really doing it yet; there are lots of newbies here (hello, welcome, I love you). I don’t want them scared off from training by thinking it’ll only be worth it if they follow OGPP. That is not true.

2. I know a lot of people might find it difficult to do OGPP even if/when they do start a serious strength regimen. I want to help make your life less difficult, so I’m going to provide some insights into why you can stick to different, less intense protein intake guidelines (at least at first) and still have strength training success.

Basically, I’m sick of bullshitters with no credentials and a nuance allergy going on TikTok to give people the impression that they have to follow one specific rule, every day, forever, or else! If you’re a 130-pound woman, say, who wants to get stronger, you do not need to eat 150 grams of protein per day. Babe, put down the protein cookie that tastes like one of those foam cups that come in your bikini top! You don’t even have to eat 130 grams. You’d do well eating around 100. Even 90 would be swell. We’ll get into why, for you and anyone else reading this.¹

Here’s what you’re going to learn if you keep reading:

• How much protein you, in your unique and marvellous glory, should eat, based on evidence-and science-based information from expert sources

• Exactly how to get more protein in your diet without feeling like you have to choke down a T-bone steak every hour

• My personally-tested and approved, protein-packed meal ideas and product recommendations (want to know the absolute best, guaranteed, you can stop looking, everything else is trash, I’ve tried them all, protein powder? It’s within)
  
  Note, though: My recommendations are for people who eat meat/animal products, because I do, so it’s what I know. I’m sure there are people creating helpful and informed protein guides for vegetarians/vegans. If you know of any, drop them in the comments.

Why should you trust me? Well, if you’re new here:

• I’m a woman in her mid-30s who lifts weights multiple times per week and have been doing so for over a decade.

• I worked for six years as a certified group fitness instructor (with an additional certification in fitness nutrition) and have trained as a competitive powerlifter.

• I know how to eat to get strong. From my mid-20s to my early 30s, I went from totally untrained to being able to deadlift 350 pounds.

• I also know how to eat to cut body fat. Along with going through a binge eating disorder recovery process, strength training (and eating enough protein) helped me lose almost 70 pounds around 10 years ago. When I’m on top of my trainin’ + eatin’ game, I look like this². That’s not to say you’ll look like me or anyone else if you eat/move in the same way, but trainin’ and eatin’ for strength will make you be and look stronger. That is science, my friends.

• I’m writing a book on how weight lifting and getting strong (which included eating enough but not too much protein) changed my life.

Before we get into the nitty gritty, why is protein such A Thing right now? For two reasons, I think:

1) More people are lifting weights lately; check out coverage from CNN and NBC within the past couple of years for more context and background on that. And from this Business Insider article, “We need more squat racks”:

Data from the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, the major trade association for sports equipment manufacturers and fitness brands, illuminates this trend. Since 2019, gym-goers have been ditching the ellipticals and stair climbers, reaching instead for kettlebells and free weights.

Also: This is yet to bear out in any research I’ve seen, but I would not be surprised if more Americans (probably not a ton more, but some) start strength training in the coming years as more people use GLP-1 agonist medications. GLP-1s can lead to substantial muscle loss in addition to fat loss, so some doctors are encouraging users to strength train while on these medications. According to Women’s Health, wellness companies are launching exercise programs marketed to GLP-1 users and the American Council on Exercise just launched a new course for trainers/coaches of GLP-1 users.

2) People have latched onto protein’s benefits for body composition. In other words, it can help you lose body fat and get leaner (as I said, that’s how it worked for me). For better or worse, Americans are obsessed with whatever nutrition-related thing will help them achieve those goals. Low fat, low carb, sugar-free, gluten free, paleo, detoxes, keto — they’ve all had their moments, and now protein is having its own.

I’m willing to bet that some people are going protein crazy right now because they think it’ll help them lose weight more than they care about its muscle-strengthening effects. I get this even though I don’t love it, because American culture has long ignored the benefits of any body-related change besides straight-up scale weight loss. We’ve been taught to care about that above all else, so it’s hard to undo caring about that.

My hope, though, is that anyone getting into strength training primarily because they want to change the shape/size of their body eventually realizes the additional long-term benefits that have nothing to do with aesthetics. I most recently wrote about some of those toward the end of this post about Pilates.

Whatever your reasons, here’s my tried-and-true, stress-tested, no-bullshit Protein Bible: