I like your healthy attitude around this. Another protein girlie here! And I've seen those articles about anti-protein girlies, while I've seen a lot more articles promoting high protein diets to build and maintain muscle mass, and we need it for our bones too. I started increasing protein and cutting sugar almost two years ago when I started to get serious about strength training.
Then I started tracking my food some month ago, I found I get 130-150g most days in my normal diet. I eat chicken or steak with every meal except for breakfast when I eat 2 eggs and a protein drink with whey (+ carbs), and for lunch and dinner I add mozzarella for calcium now and then (I have bone density issues) and that's quite protein-heavy too. I've tried adding whey powder into yoghurt... yuck.
I found you because of your note about blogging like in 2014, it came up in my feed.. I loved that.
This is super interesting! I’ve been reading a lot about protein because I keep having what I can only describe as hypos - episodes, usually a couple of hours after eating, where my blood sugar just tanks. I’ve seen so many doctors and none of them have found a medical cause for it yet but my gut feeling tells me it has something to do with perimenopause and varying hormone levels. I’ve been investigating ways to get more protein into my diet to try and stabilise my blood sugar naturally so this is a really helpful post. Thank you! 🙏🏻
I've come back to this post, because our GP has recommended that my 16year old and I try a high protein & high fibre diet. I was thinking about signing up for the Training with Ash. But I was wondering on your thoughts and if you could give a ball park ongoing cost. There is nothing on their website.
The general gist of the program is you will spend 2 weeks tracking how you normally eat & weighing yourself daily to get what is essentially your maintenance calories & starting weight. Then you’ll spend 12 weeks reverse dieting & doing the twa weights program 3 times a week. This is where you slowly increase your calories so that your weight more or less stays the same while eating more so that when you got into a fat loss phase you don’t have to eat super low calories. During that time you eat around 130g of protein per day which is a lot if you don’t normally eat much protein (it’s about double what I was eating before the program).
It’s a very different program to any weightloss program I’ve ever followed but has been a total game changer for me in the way I think about food & my body. And it’s not a quick fix if you are looking to lose weight. It’s a slow & sustainable way of doing things.
If all you want to do is eat more protein & fibre I suggest saving the cost of a TWA membership & downloading the free version of my fitness pal & simply tracking your food through that. Aim for around 130-135g protein per day & 25-35g fibre per day.
Hi R, thanks, I feel honoured! So interesting to hear about your experiences, thanks so much for sharing xx
It sounds like you have found a way that really works for you (no wanky at all!), I’m really pleased for you!
Are you able to share the protein powders and waters you use? I need to add more protein to my lunches (an easy first step for me who should be thinking about building muscle mass at my age ha ha).
Does your diet include a lot of nuts?
Your upcoming deficit sounds a little scary, I’ll be following along with interest! The science behind all of this is so fascinating.
Glad you liked it! I actually liked writing it too, made me realise how much I enjoy doing something for myself.
So protein water I like the orange & mango flavour and the cranberry & raspberry flavour from My Protein. Shakes I like the choc ice cream flavour from bulk nutrients & I like that one with milk. I have a few of the macro Mike ones too. They are plant based & very creamy so I only have those with water.
I don’t eat a lot of nuts but I do make a little salad sprinkle with walnuts, flax & almonds. I have chia with my cereal & yogurt.
Any deficit is hard/scary but the way my program works is we drop slowly & we get a “diet break” every 4th week where we eat more calories. Plus, it’s not forever. I’ll reverse back up to high calories again, do another fat loss period if I feel I need it & eventually maintain my weight at a higher calorie level than what I was eating before.
My boy loves that I’m finally on board with all the protein & weight lifting. He’s been telling me for years I’d love it & he’s right!
I like your healthy attitude around this. Another protein girlie here! And I've seen those articles about anti-protein girlies, while I've seen a lot more articles promoting high protein diets to build and maintain muscle mass, and we need it for our bones too. I started increasing protein and cutting sugar almost two years ago when I started to get serious about strength training.
Then I started tracking my food some month ago, I found I get 130-150g most days in my normal diet. I eat chicken or steak with every meal except for breakfast when I eat 2 eggs and a protein drink with whey (+ carbs), and for lunch and dinner I add mozzarella for calcium now and then (I have bone density issues) and that's quite protein-heavy too. I've tried adding whey powder into yoghurt... yuck.
I found you because of your note about blogging like in 2014, it came up in my feed.. I loved that.
This is super interesting! I’ve been reading a lot about protein because I keep having what I can only describe as hypos - episodes, usually a couple of hours after eating, where my blood sugar just tanks. I’ve seen so many doctors and none of them have found a medical cause for it yet but my gut feeling tells me it has something to do with perimenopause and varying hormone levels. I’ve been investigating ways to get more protein into my diet to try and stabilise my blood sugar naturally so this is a really helpful post. Thank you! 🙏🏻
I've come back to this post, because our GP has recommended that my 16year old and I try a high protein & high fibre diet. I was thinking about signing up for the Training with Ash. But I was wondering on your thoughts and if you could give a ball park ongoing cost. There is nothing on their website.
Hey Sally. It costs $100 per month.
The general gist of the program is you will spend 2 weeks tracking how you normally eat & weighing yourself daily to get what is essentially your maintenance calories & starting weight. Then you’ll spend 12 weeks reverse dieting & doing the twa weights program 3 times a week. This is where you slowly increase your calories so that your weight more or less stays the same while eating more so that when you got into a fat loss phase you don’t have to eat super low calories. During that time you eat around 130g of protein per day which is a lot if you don’t normally eat much protein (it’s about double what I was eating before the program).
It’s a very different program to any weightloss program I’ve ever followed but has been a total game changer for me in the way I think about food & my body. And it’s not a quick fix if you are looking to lose weight. It’s a slow & sustainable way of doing things.
If all you want to do is eat more protein & fibre I suggest saving the cost of a TWA membership & downloading the free version of my fitness pal & simply tracking your food through that. Aim for around 130-135g protein per day & 25-35g fibre per day.
If you have any more questions let me know x
Thanks Reannon. That is really helpful. I'll certainly keep TWA bookmarked for the future. I have been impressed with your thoughts on the program.
Hi R, thanks, I feel honoured! So interesting to hear about your experiences, thanks so much for sharing xx
It sounds like you have found a way that really works for you (no wanky at all!), I’m really pleased for you!
Are you able to share the protein powders and waters you use? I need to add more protein to my lunches (an easy first step for me who should be thinking about building muscle mass at my age ha ha).
Does your diet include a lot of nuts?
Your upcoming deficit sounds a little scary, I’ll be following along with interest! The science behind all of this is so fascinating.
Bet your boy is super proud xx
Glad you liked it! I actually liked writing it too, made me realise how much I enjoy doing something for myself.
So protein water I like the orange & mango flavour and the cranberry & raspberry flavour from My Protein. Shakes I like the choc ice cream flavour from bulk nutrients & I like that one with milk. I have a few of the macro Mike ones too. They are plant based & very creamy so I only have those with water.
I don’t eat a lot of nuts but I do make a little salad sprinkle with walnuts, flax & almonds. I have chia with my cereal & yogurt.
Any deficit is hard/scary but the way my program works is we drop slowly & we get a “diet break” every 4th week where we eat more calories. Plus, it’s not forever. I’ll reverse back up to high calories again, do another fat loss period if I feel I need it & eventually maintain my weight at a higher calorie level than what I was eating before.
My boy loves that I’m finally on board with all the protein & weight lifting. He’s been telling me for years I’d love it & he’s right!
That’s so cool!
Thx for all your recs and ideas xx
thanks for sharing this was really interesting
I’m glad it was interesting. A bit different to what I normally share :)