When Should Women Eat Protein?
If you’re a woman that’s sold on the idea of eating more protein, most of us try to have a serving of protein in most meals and hope for the best – and honestly, some days that’s the best we can do so take the win!
However, if building and keeping muscle is your goal most days we want to eat in a way that really supports that and better harness the power of protein.
If you’ve been lifting for any amount of time you’ve probably heard about getting enough protein during the pre and post workout “window” and while that matters, it’s not as important or at least not more important as a few simple habits. You may also have already been savvy on the idea of protein spurring muscle protein synthesis, but you aren’t achieving that state throughout the day so there are a few more nuances to your daily protein intake to tend to.
But first, if you are struggling to get 1g protein per pound of body weight – or that low end minimum of 100g per day, then start there (this article will show you how). Just get it in every day consistently, weekends too – and worry about when you eat it throughout the day next. When you’re ready to level up however, there are strategies to make a bigger impact when it comes to protein intake throughout your day.
High Protein Breakfast For the Win
I know, breakfast is probably the time you are least likely to get adequate protein but turns out it might be the most important time to get it done.
Research has shown that higher protein intake at breakfast led to improved strength and muscle mass in women. It may be that there is a circadian component to how our bodies use protein for muscle growth that we will understand with further research.
Anecdotally though, when women have adequate protein in the morning they see improvements in energy and cravings as well as mood and a host of hormonal issues. Women will also see improvements in blood glucose readings (both fasting and readings taken throughout the day with a CGM) and report better ACES (appetite, cravings, energy and sleep) as well. We know having more stable blood sugar in the morning leads to these improvements via supporting a better balance of cortisol and insulin throughout the day – and we feel better so it’s easier to make good nutrition choices and get in our workouts.
Interestingly, in the research mentioned above this finding proved to be true even when dinner protein intake was lower, so there does seem to be something uniquely important about a high protein breakfast. And like most women, when you look at your day it’s often dinner that’s our highest protein meal with breakfast being where women struggle to get enough.
We’ve heard breakfast is the most important meal of the day and in some ways that is exactly true because it sets the nutritional tone for the day as well as kickstart optimal hormone balance for blood sugar control. All of this sets us up for eating better over the course of the day as well so aim to get 30 or better yet 40g of protein for breakfast.
For how to to that see this article.
The Other Time Is: All The Time
When it comes to building, repairing and maintaining lean muscle, we know that the process of MPS (muscle protein synthesis) gets triggered by adequate amounts of the amino acid leucine (about 3 grams) and the process lasts for about 1.5 to 2 hours.
This means that you need that 3g leucine trigger found in about 30-40g of animal protein, every few hours to stay in that muscle making state.
When we look at our protein intake over a day and we are feeling pretty good about dinner being a big piece of salmon with 30g of protein, but breakfast was a pea protein shake which maybe had 10g of bioavailable, absorbed protein and lunch was a salad with “some” chicken at a restaurant (we’re thinking better than nothing, and it is!) that was actually only 20 grams then we realize that MPS was only triggered at dinner (more on MPS and the science of making muscle in this article) .
Was some protein at these meals better than nothing? Absolutely!
Blood sugar was more balanced and protein calories are always high quality calories and those could’ve come from something less high quality for sure. But again, if we want to really harness the power of protein and we are dialed into the importance of women maintaining muscle especially as we age then we want to trigger MPS more than once a day and ideally a few times per day we need to hit that 100, 120 or other gram goal per day and we also need to spread it out.
This concept is called protein distribution which simply means distributing protein over the course of our eating window each day.
Building muscle is a very energy dependent process and it’s one of the reasons protein is considered such a great food for fat loss. It’s often said that having more muscle burns more calories at rest, so it’s optimal to have muscle mass to lose more body fat, boost your metabolism, etc . What is more accurate though is that it is not so much that muscle is just burning fat while we sit here (although there is some truth to that too), it is that the process of building and repairing muscle is energy heavy. It is this process of repair, regeneration and the making of muscle (AKA muscle protein synthesis) is what burns the extra calories.
At the end of the day though, yes: having more muscle is the best way to “have a good metabolism”.
It can be hard to keep this process humming along when you skip meals, are eating small portions of protein or fast for longer periods of time or do what many women inadvertently do and that’s getting their biggest protein serving at dinner and coming up shy on breakfast.
So while this concept of MPS and this specific amount of one particular amino acid (the 2-3g leucine trigger) can sound tedious here’s the two step practical recap:
#1 To maintain and build muscle you need to hit that 2-3 grams of leucine threshold (found in a 30-40g serving of animal protein) and this process lasts no more than a couple of hours. Because of this, spreading your total protein intake throughout the day so you not only hit the total daily goal but also trigger MPS several times per day is what we want to be mindful of.
#2 Be sure to have a high protein breakfast as one of our main goals each day as it seems if you are gonna get just one meal right, breakfast is it!
You may have heard that you can’t absorb more than 30g of protein per meal and most of this advice is not rooted in real science or physiology, so rather than worry about over doing it instead focus on getting 30-40g serving a few times per day so that you hit 100g or 120g of protein (or whatever your ideal intake is) over the course of a day.
How Important Is Post Workout Protein Intake?
If you’ve been around the fitness scene for any amount of time you’ve probably consumed your fair share of post workout protein shakes and are not new to the idea of “post workout nutrition” for better muscle gains.
To be honest, most women probably need to focus more on their pre workout fueling as many notice a huge improvement in strength and recovery when they stop trying to workout fasted or totally on empty. However, some of you feel great on a fasted workout regimen, and that’s Ok too so long as you don’t feel strength, recovery or muscle mass is suffering because of it. And always remember: female hormones are a moving target, so if this strategy has worked for you in the past it doesn’t mean it always will. Be sure to check in from time to time and be sure that a tried and true strategy in the past isn’t hindering you in the present. If you’re feeling more run down, recovering less well, struggling with inflammation or your ACES (appetite, cravings, energy and sleep) then it might be time to make an adjustment.
After a workout there is a window of time where muscle gain and recovery is spurred by a mix of protein and carbs which has created this focus on post workout nutrition. There’s been much argument through the years on whether you have 30 minutes or closer to an hour to harness the power of the post workout window, but generally you can stress less about the details and just be sure within an hour or so you get a well balanced meal with adequate (at least 30g) of protein to aid in recovery and growth of lean mass. It does not have to be in the form of a protein shake although that’s fine too if you have a protein shake that works for you. Whey being the best choice for this due to it’s complete amino acid profile and adequate leucine content but many women do not tolerate dairy based proteins so a real food meal might be ideal for you if that’s the case.
Women, protein is so important for us. Without it our metabolism, hormones and health really suffer. It can be tedious to track our food all the time but it’s worth it to do a check and see if you’re coming in well under this recommended amount as so many of us are for various reasons or if you need to strategize for a higher protein breakfast or better protein distribution throughout the day. The good news is though, once you figure this out over the course of a week or so you’re good. Just rinse and repeat.
This article gives suggestions on how to make it happen in your day.