Do I Eat Enough Protein? Most Don’t.

Thoughts on diet, exercise and lifestyle.

Two and half months ago, I asked an athletic friend what could be the reason for my gym performance not increasing over time. After all, I had been going to the gym since 2015, while more or less following the Slow-Carb Diet throughout the period.

Yes, at first everything seemed to work. I was following the workout regime from The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss, meanwhile only eating lean meat, beans and veggies. No white foods like sugar, pasta, rice, bread or cheese on most days. And the weight + strength seemed to be increasing.

But over time, the process seemed to slow down and basically stop. I was still going to the gym and eating well. Even tried to change the exercise regime a bit. Yet, this did not seem to be enough. And when the results stop coming then the motivation starts to fade as well.

His answer was somewhat surprising, as I did not think he would be one to care about the food going in. Especially as his breakfast tends to be a bar of chocolate and some shady energy drink — no supplements, tho. But there he was, recommending me to start counting calories, which he apparently also did.

So on January 2nd, I downloaded MyFitnessPal, an app that asks you to enter all the foods you eat through the day. Either scan the packages or search for them individually — even most Estonian brands can be found from there. And now I have been using it for the last 2.5 months.

The app itself is great as it lets you choose the desired result and calculates the needed daily calorie intake, dividing it between carbs, fats and proteins. If you were to pay for it, then it even suggests the meals to eat. However, that is not necessary.

My first discovery after using it for a week was that I did not fulfil even the bare minimum of daily suggested protein intake. Not just the minimum to grow muscle but the minimum to even function as a healthy person.

Apparently, people should consume 1 gram of protein per 1 kilogram of their weight, daily. Meanwhile, to grow muscle, this should be increased to 2–2.5 grams per kilogram. However, I was constantly getting only 0.85–0.9 grams per kilogram, even though I thought I was eating enough. No wonder that the results were not increasing.

Looking into it, the research shows that most people have the same problem. We talk about eating too many carbs and fat. But the big issue is that we do not eat enough protein!

Anyway, after fixing this, I started to see an increase in the size of weights I can lift, as well as how fast I recover. Basically, I have almost doubled the weights since, while my Oura ring says that I sleep much better.

So what have I changed in eating since? Not much else but the quantity of meat and other food. In fact, most of my protein intake comes from eating chicken, cottage cheese, curd cream, kidney beans and an occasional protein shake. I also try to eat more eggs but have not done too much of that, so far.

However, I have realised that eating out is a no-no. Not because it would be hard to count the calories there but because the amount of protein per meal is not sufficient. And if anything then Subway seems to be one of the best places to get the protein from — but it also comes with so many carbs that it does not make sense.

As a bonus, I also realised that I did not get much of anything out of breakfast. I could, of course, eat 3–4 eggs and get a lot of protein. But until now, I have not been a big breakfast eater. So after hearing a bunch about the intermittent fasting where one only eats during an 8-hour window, I decided to test it out. Let’s see whether it helps anything…

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