Nutrition · The Other 95%
Real protein numbers for food you actually buy, portions that don't need a scale, and four things I genuinely cook when there's no time.
A practical guide to protein, training fuel, sustainable portions and eating for strength, running and real life.
Before Any Of It
Not with a dramatic collapse. With a Tuesday.
There was the one built entirely on chicken and broccoli, abandoned around day nine when I realised I was dreading my own dinner. It worked, briefly — in the way anything works when you're paying it enormous attention. Then a week came where a child was ill, or a shift ran over, and the plan required a version of me who had time and calm and a clean kitchen. A diet you cannot run during a bad week is not a diet. It is a holiday from your actual life, and you always come home.
So this page isn't a plan in that sense — no phase one. It's the small number of things that survived every bad week since: numbers worth knowing, portions you can judge with your hands, four meals I can make while someone asks where their PE kit is. If you've failed at this before, you did not lack discipline. You were handed a system that assumed a life you do not have. That's a design problem, not a character one.
Before You Read Any Further
Enough total food. Undereating undermines everything else on this list before it gets a chance to matter.
Enough protein. Spread through the day, not saved for one meal.
Carbohydrate matched to training. More on hard or long days, less on rest days.
Dietary fat and plant foods. Not the enemy, and not optional either.
Fluids and salt appropriate to the session. Especially in heat, or on longer efforts.
Section 01
If you only change one thing, change this one. Not because protein is magic, but because it quietly solves three problems at once.
It keeps you full. Of fourteen controlled trials comparing a protein pre-load against other macronutrients, eleven found significantly higher fullness and the other three found no difference. Higher-protein meals often improve fullness and can make an energy deficit easier to manage.
It costs energy to digest. Protein has by far the highest thermic effect of any macronutrient: 20 to 30% of its calories are used up processing it, against 5 to 10% for carbohydrate and 0 to 3% for fat. Eat 100 calories of protein and you keep roughly 75.
It protects muscle while you lose fat. This is the one that decides whether a fat-loss phase leaves you strong or simply smaller — it's also why protein tends to go up rather than down when you're eating less.
Most active adults can start around 1.4–2.0g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day. Around 1.6g/kg is a useful practical target for many people doing resistance training, while higher intakes may be appropriate during a calorie deficit or unusually demanding training. In resistance-training studies, gains tend to level off around 1.6g/kg for many people — although individual needs, age, training load and dieting phases can justify going higher.
Section 02
| Food | Realistic Portion | Protein |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken breast | 1 medium breast, 150g Cooked | 46g |
| Chicken thigh, boneless | 2 thighs, 150g Cooked | 38g |
| Salmon fillet | 1 fillet, 130g Cooked | 32g |
| Beef mince, 5% fat | 150g Raw | 32g |
| Tinned tuna, spring water | 1 tin, 110g Drained | 28g |
| Whey protein | 1 scoop, 30g Served | 24g |
| Firm tofu | Half a block, 150g Served | 20g |
| Red lentils | 1 large serving, 200g Cooked | 18g |
| Greek yoghurt, 0% | 1 large pot, 170g Served | 17g |
| Cottage cheese | Half a tub, 150g Served | 17g |
| Eggs | 2 medium Served | 13g |
| Baked beans | Half a tin, 200g Served | 10g |
| Semi-skimmed milk | 1 large glass, 300ml Served | 10g |
| Cheddar | A matchbox, 30g Served | 8g |
Two substantial protein portions give the day a strong foundation, but most active people will still need protein across breakfast, snacks or another meal — the yoghurt, the eggs, the milk in your tea. If your day contains no obvious protein portion at all, no amount of careful snacking rescues it.
| Source | Roughly | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Dried lentils, beans, chickpeas | 1–2p | Cheapest by a distance |
| Cottage cheese, own brand | ~3p | Outstanding value |
| Tinned tuna, own brand | ~3p | Excellent |
| Eggs | 3–4p | Excellent |
| Chicken thighs | 3.5–4p | Very good |
| Whey protein | 4–6p | Competitive, and convenient |
| Chicken breast | 5–7p | Good, but you pay for it |
| Tinned beans, branded | up to 10p | You are paying for the tin |
| Protein bars | 15–30p | Convenient, but one of the most expensive ways to buy protein |
A twelve-pack of eggs for under two pounds delivers around 72g of protein. Bone-in chicken thighs are a fraction of the price of breast and taste considerably better. Dried lentils, cooked at home, cost a small fraction of the same lentils tinned. Protein bars are often closer to a snack than a complete protein strategy — nothing wrong with eating one, just don't treat it as your main source.
A PLAN THAT NEEDS A GOOD WEEK
IS NOT A PLAN.
IT IS A MOOD.
Build for the bad Tuesday. The good days look after themselves.
Section 03 · Fuel The Training You Do
I do both, in the same week, which took me an embarrassingly long time to eat properly for. Running raises carbohydrate needs. Lifting makes protein and recovery a higher priority. People who do both need both — the mistake is bringing one sport's habits to the other.
Running and endurance. For sessions lasting around 60–150 minutes, 30–60g of carbohydrate per hour is a useful starting range — longer endurance events may benefit from more, but higher intakes require practice and individual tolerance. Daily needs scale with volume: light or short training around 3–5g/kg, moderate endurance training around 5–7g/kg, high-volume endurance training around 6–10g/kg. That higher range is not for someone doing a few short, easy runs a week. Endurance athletes still need real protein, around 1.8g per kg — but under-fuelling carbohydrate is what ends a long run badly.
Strength and hypertrophy. Resistance training uses carbohydrate too, especially at higher training volumes — protein isn't the only fuel for lifting. The recommendation for strength training sits at roughly 1.4 to 2.4g per kg, spread across the day rather than loaded into one meal. Protein supports repair and adaptation. Carbohydrate supports training quality, volume and recovery.
Same Person, Different Training Week
| Running-led week | Lifting-led week | |
|---|---|---|
| Protein | 1.6–1.8g per kg | 1.8–2.2g per kg |
| Carbohydrate | Higher — up to 6–10g per kg | Moderate, around training |
| Timing | Carbs before and during long runs | Protein spread across the day |
| The failure mode | Under-fuelling, hitting the wall | Under-eating protein, losing muscle |
| What suffers first | Energy and endurance | Strength and recovery |
Carbohydrate figures at the top of that range apply to serious endurance training and race preparation, not a three-times-a-week habit.
If you do both, as I do, the practical version is simple: hold protein high all week, and let carbohydrate follow the running. More on long-run days, less on the days you only lift. That is the entire adjustment, and it took me two years to arrive at something that plain.
Section 04 · Eating For A Goal — Without Under-Fuelling
These two words get thrown around as if everyone was issued a glossary. Nobody was. Underneath the gym vocabulary they describe something simple: you cannot build tissue and remove tissue at maximum efficiency at the same time, so people take turns.
A Deliberate Energy Surplus
Eating slightly more than you burn so training has raw material to build with. The key word is slightly. Novice and intermediate lifters may aim for roughly 0.25–0.5% of bodyweight per week — more experienced lifters usually need a slower rate to limit unnecessary fat gain. The right pace isn't a fixed number; it adjusts based on your bodyweight trend, performance, recovery, changes in how clothes fit, and how experienced you are. Go far beyond a modest surplus and you don't build muscle faster — you just add fat alongside it, because muscle growth has a speed limit food cannot raise.
A Controlled Energy Deficit
Eating slightly less than you burn to reduce fat while holding on to muscle. During a calorie deficit, many active people do well near the upper end of the normal athletic protein range. Very lean, resistance-trained athletes may benefit from approximately 2.3–3.1g per kilogram of fat-free mass, not total bodyweight — with strength training maintained throughout. A slower rate of loss is often more appropriate for leaner people, longer diets and anyone prioritising performance or muscle retention; go too fast and an uncomfortable share of what you lose is the muscle you spent months building.
One exception worth knowing: beginners can often do both at once. New to lifting, returning after a break, or carrying more body fat — your body will happily build muscle while losing fat for a while. It is called body recomposition, and it does not stay open forever.
When A Deficit Has Gone Too Far
Under-eating is not a smaller version of dieting. Drop energy availability too low and the body starts shutting down what it considers optional. Signs worth taking seriously:
These signs can have many causes. If they are persistent, seek advice from an appropriate healthcare professional. Educational content — not medical advice.
Section 05 · The Hand-Size Plan
Weighing food works and I am not going to pretend otherwise. I am going to say that almost nobody sustains it, and that a method requiring no equipment and no app beats a precise method you abandon in March.
Portions Without A Scale
| Use this | For | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| Your palm | Meat, fish, eggs, tofu | 20–30g protein |
| Your cupped hand | Rice, pasta, potatoes, oats | 20–30g carbs |
| Your fist | Vegetables and salad | About a cupful |
| Your thumb | Oil, butter, nuts, cheese | 7–12g fat |
Your hands provide a convenient portion guide that roughly scales with body size. It is not precise, but it is often easier to sustain than weighing every ingredient.
The structure for a meal: one to two palms of protein, one to two fists of vegetables, one to two cupped hands of carbohydrate, one to two thumbs of fat. Start with one of each, then adjust portions based on hunger, bodyweight trend, recovery and training demands — up on running days, down on the days you barely move. That is the whole system.
If you want one habit rather than a system: put a palm of protein on the plate first, then build the meal around it. Most people who miss their protein target are not making bad choices — they are assembling meals where protein was never invited.
Section 06 · Four Bad-Week Meals
Not recipes in the photographed sense. These are the four things that survive a bad week in my house, and between them they cover breakfast, lunch, dinner and the hour after a run.
170g pot of 0% Greek yoghurt, a handful of frozen berries straight from the freezer, 30g oats, a thumb of peanut butter, and a scoop of whey if you have it. Stir, eat. No cooking, no washing up beyond a bowl, and it holds until lunch in a way that toast never has.
Bone-in chicken thighs (2 per person), new potatoes halved, whatever vegetables are going soft in the drawer, olive oil, salt, paprika, a lemon cut in half. Oven at 200°C for 40 minutes. One tray, one wash-up, and it feeds four for the price of a takeaway coffee each.
A tin of tuna (drained), half a tin of butter beans rinsed, a handful of cherry tomatoes, olive oil, lemon, black pepper. Five minutes, no heat, made entirely from cupboard — the meal that exists for the days the plan has already fallen over.
Two medium eggs scrambled with a heaped tablespoon of cottage cheese stirred through at the end — it sounds odd and it makes them extraordinarily creamy — on two slices of thick toast, with whatever else is around. Carbohydrate for the run you just did, protein for the legs, about six minutes including the toast.
Section 07 · Three Things Worth Remembering
This is the whole reason this page exists and the supplements page links to it. Protein powder is a convenience food that closes a gap, creatine is a fuel top-up, vitamin D corrects a genuine UK winter deficit — none of them substitute for a plate with protein on it.
Eating too little doesn't produce a leaner, fitter version of you — it produces a tired one that adapts badly, gets injured more easily and recovers slower between sessions. For most active people, the honest fix has been eating more protein and more food overall, not less. (See "Eating For A Goal" above for the signs a deficit has gone too far.)
Harder exercise genuinely does increase appetite in some people, and it isn't a failure of willpower when a session leaves you ravenous. Plan for it — have the protein-heavy thing ready before you go out — rather than treating your own hunger as an enemy.
Body Composition
It has real limitations — it doesn't distinguish muscle from fat, so a lean, muscular lifter can land in the "overweight" band on this scale alone. It's a population-level screening tool, not a verdict on your body — but it's still worth knowing your number.
Uses the standard BMI formula, which doesn't distinguish muscle from fat or adjust by sex. This is a screening number, not a diagnosis — muscle mass, waist measurement, how your clothes fit and how you feel tell you more about your health than this figure alone.
The Bad-Week Plan
Put an obvious protein source in each main meal — start with it, build the plate around it.
Add more carbohydrate around longer or harder sessions, less on the days you barely move.
Use hand portions when weighing food becomes unrealistic — keep the scales in the cupboard.
Keep two emergency meals in the house — buy protein where it's cheap, because the gap in value is enormous.
Change one variable at a time rather than overhauling everything on a Monday.
Watch recovery, hunger and performance — not only scale weight. Consistency isn't built on your best days; it's built on whether the system still functions on your worst one.
Most active adults can start around 1.4–2.0g per kilogram of bodyweight per day, with 1.6g/kg a useful practical target for many people doing resistance training. Individual needs, age, training load and dieting phases can justify going higher.
Not necessarily. Hand portions and an obvious protein source in each meal work for most people without weighing anything. Counting can be useful short-term for learning portion sizes, but very few people sustain it long-term.
Generally yes, and more than lifters typically need. Daily intake scales with training volume — light training needs less, high-volume endurance training needs considerably more, particularly around longer sessions.
There's no single correct rate for everyone. A slower rate is often more appropriate for leaner people, longer diets, and anyone prioritising performance or muscle retention over speed.
Keep two or three meals in the house that require almost nothing — tinned fish, eggs, Greek yoghurt, dried lentils. The exact meal matters far less than having one ready for the week that goes wrong.
Educational content, not medical advice. Protein and calorie figures are approximate and vary by brand and preparation. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, managing a health condition such as kidney disease or diabetes, taking prescription medication, or have any history of disordered eating or suspected RED-S, please speak to your GP or a registered dietitian before changing how you eat.
AND ONLY THEN, THE LAST FIVE PER CENT.
Supplements That Work → Myth: Protein Makes You Bulky → Lifting →