When women talk about nutrition, the conversation turns to calories surprisingly fast.
How much am I allowed to eat? What do I need to cut out? Are carbs okay in the evening? How much fat does this have? One question, on the other hand, often comes up much later: am I actually getting enough protein?
And yet that's exactly the question that becomes more interesting as we get older. Muscle mass can't be taken for granted indefinitely, and especially in combination with strength training, adequate protein intake plays an important role in building and maintaining muscle.
That doesn't mean we need to walk around with protein shakes after 40. It simply means it can be worth thinking not only about what we should eat less of at our meals, but also about what our bodies genuinely need enough of.
How much protein do I need?
The classic minimum recommendation for healthy adults is roughly 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. For physically active people, and especially with regular strength training, higher amounts are often discussed; depending on your training goal and individual situation, a sensible range might fall somewhere between roughly 1.2 and 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight.
A 70-kilogram active woman, for example, would land at around 84 grams of protein at 1.2 grams, or about 112 grams at 1.6 grams.
These aren't magic numbers where 111 grams is bad and 112 grams suddenly perfect. They're a guide.
The simplest trick: spread protein across the day
For many women, dinner isn't necessarily the problem. Maybe there's coffee and a roll in the morning. Something small on the go at lunch. The real hunger hits in the afternoon, and suddenly a single evening meal is supposed to rescue the whole day's nutrition.
It's more practical to plan protein in from breakfast onward and spread it across several meals. You don't have to calculate anything complicated for this. At a main meal, just ask yourself: where's my protein source here?
