Fit Myth: Protein

Welcome back to Fit Myth Friday 💪🏼

This weeks topic: Do I really need to eat as much protein as the fitness influencer I follow recommend

Good question! Protein IS important, after all it provides the building blocks for muscle, along with being necessary for many other functions in our bodies. We all need some, regardless of our fitness goals, but how much is enough? 

If you were to google that question you’d see answers anywhere from 0.5 grams to 2.2 grams of protein, per pound of body weight, which might only serve to confuse you further 

 Instead of giving you another random number, knowing nothing about you, your current lifestyle or your goals, let’s talk about a concept you can apply regardless of the scenario

To start take a week to log how much protein you’re eating on an average day. Use an app like MyFitnessPal or take photos of food and google later, or just use a pen/paper. Whatever you choose to do, make sure you’re being accurate and not over/under reporting, the goal is to create a baseline, for that we need accurate information 

After you’ve determined your baseline, you can then take the necessary steps to improve it 

Let’s say on average you’re getting 100 grams of protein everyday, you’d like to improve that number to 150 grams, awesome for an end goal, but we need to break it down even further 

Week one try to increase protein by just 5%, in this scenario that’s just 5 grams, and will be relatively easy to accomplish, which is what we’re looking for here 

Every week aim to improve by 5% until you’ve reached the 150 gram mark. So often we focus on what we “should do” rather than on what we can actually do 

The slow and steady method isn’t as sexy, but with consistency you’ll end up in the same place, but when you get there you’ll have actually built the habit into your life along with the tools and information necessary in order to sustain it 

Remember if the method isn’t sustainable the results won’t be either