No Whey? No Problem! Your path to hit a 150g daily Protein Goal
Discover the effortless path to surpassing 150g of protein without relying on whey supplements
Now I know you’re thinking, “You should just take whey, its cheap and easy”. And I agree with you, but ever since I started hitting the gym about 4 years back, I never felt it was necessary to take extra supplements outside of my regular diet. At the time, I was in university and not really keeping track of my diet but now that I am cooking I have made it a habit to track nearly everything that I eat over the course of the work-week. Plus I am a bit hesitant to start taking whey due to some studies suggesting the amounts of heavy metals and toxins that get included during the manufacturing process — but don’t quote me on this.
Before I begin, this is not health or diet advice and you should consult your doctor or physician before implementing any of the things discussed in this blog post.
Here is a breakdown of my typical meals throughout the day:
Breakfast
2 glasses of water + 6g creatine
Overnight oats — 423 cal, 28g protein
- Rolled oats: 50g
- Skimmed milk: 1/2 cup
- 0% fat greek yogurt: 150g
- Seeds mix: 7–10g
- Peanut butter: 5g
- Honey: 10g
- A handful of berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, etc)
Black coffee with a dash of soy milk
Lunch
I will break down two of my typical lunches, I usually tend to have either beef or chicken as the main source of protein on the weekdays because it is easier to meal prep and usually have fish on the weekends.
Beef and Japanese noodles — 446 cals, 40g protein
- Somen noodles — 83g
- Diced beef (mixed cut) — ~140g
- Mix of vegetables (broccoli, bell peppers, asparagus, baby corn) — not included in caloric estimate
- Half tbsp of peanut, tofu chilli oil — not included in caloric estimate
Rice and chicken breast — 432 cals, 43g protein
- Cooked basmati rice — 200g
- Chicken breast (raw) — ~165g
- Mix of vegetables (broccoli, bell peppers, asparagus, baby corn) — not included in caloric estimate
Snack before gym
If I have time, I’ll prep a tuna sandwich or I’ll grab a protein yogurt from the supermarket. I prefer the sandwich because I get to prepare it rather than rely on a processed snack.
Tuna sandwich — 364 cals, 27g protein
- Canned tuna — 55g
- Wholemeal bread with seeds — 2 slices
- 50% fat reduced cheese — 10g
- Light mayo — eyeball around 2 tbsp
Protein yogurt — 142 cals, 20g protein
Dinner
Usually the same as lunch as I meal prep about 6–8 portions for the week. If I’m below my protein goal by now (which I usually am), I add in 3 eggs to supplement my dinner (20g).
If I have ran out of food at home, I grab a meal deal from the supermarket and that usually adds up to around 65g of protein if I manage to get my hands on the protein snack and drink. That’s usually way more protein than I need in that day so I save the snack or drink for later.
And that’s about it! Some quick calculations below to show the totals and it’s that easy to get in > 150g of protein a day. I am currently trying to maintain around 2200 cals per day but I’m usually a bit below it which is good since I don’t account for some of the things that I add to my meals. MyFitnessPal is a quick and easy to track my protein intake since I have all my recipes logged in there.
I also meal prep about 8 portions of lunch/dinner, 3 portions of breakfast and pre-workout snack under 3 hours every Sunday. Follow, and click the notification button to read my blog post on how I do this.
Breakfast (28g) + Lunch & Dinner (80g) + Snack (27g) + 3 eggs (20g) = 155g
