Sneaky Signs You Aren’t Eating Enough Protein

Sneaky Signs You’re Not Getting Enough Protein

• Trouble building muscle 
• Not seeing progress in the gym or new lift PR’s
• Dry skin, brittle nails, hair is thinning or falling out
• Always feel hungry, never feel full after meals, and/or you regularly crave carbs and sugar
• Constantly tired, have no energy, and feel weak during your workouts
• Experiencing unusual fluid retention and edema
• Constantly sick or injured
• Cuts or wounds seem to take a long time to heal
• Having trouble concentrating and feeling more moody or anxious lately

If you’re not someone who is weighing, measuring and tracking your food in a food tracking app, there’s unfortunately a very high likelihood that you’re not eating enough protein. 

Meat is expensive, can be time consuming to cook, and restaurants often give very small meat portions. So it’s not uncommon to see someone track their food for the first time and realize they’re only averaging something like 40-60 grams of protein a day.

Current protein recommendations for active individuals who wish to build muscle: 0.7-1.0 grams of protein per pound bodyweight. This means that a 150 lb person should be getting 105-150 grams protein per day.

If you’re having 2 eggs at breakfast and 2-3 oz of protein per meal, you’ll be falling very short  (:

The reality is that most females will likely find themselves needing to get something like ~4-6 oz of meat at each meal, while fellas (who are typically bigger and taller) may need something more like ~6-8 oz at their meals.

You may ALSO need to have a high protein snack 1-2x/day. For example: hard boiled eggs, jerky, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, high protein oatmeal, high protein cereal, etc to make the magic happen.

These protein cheat sheets below should be super helpful in helping you understand how much protein you’re eating and also how to get more of it in during the day:

Where To Go From Here

I’m always posting educational content regarding nutrition, fitness, and sharing what I’m up to on my Instagram. You can also follow us on the Paragon Training Methods Instagram for tons of free workouts and more tips to help you look and feel your best!