Most people know they should be eating more protein but they’re unsure of how to make it all work. Let’s face it, rocking chicken breasts and salmon all day long gets boring. Learn how to eat 100 grams of protein a day... without feeling like a body builder.
Social media is alive with all the benefits of protein, and with good reason! However, most busy parents are struggling to make eating 100 grams of protein a day practical in their daily lifestyles.
As a Certified Nutrition Coach, and busy mom of three I can tell you that it doesn’t have to be terrible. Make use of quality, high-protein meals and then work some high-protein snacks around them to easily hit 100 grams of protein per day.
If you struggle to get enough protein into your diet know this: there are so many benefits to a high-protein diet that you would be silly not to learn how to eat more protein.
Since we can’t store a lot of protein, we need to ensure we’re taking in adequate amounts day after day. And the easiest way to do this is to have a plan and be on top of meal prep just a bit. Of course, having high protein food staples stocked helps too.
How Much Protein Do You Really Need?
Though the allotted official amount is 50 grams of protein per day, many of us in the sports world know that that amount is just far too low (learn the benefits of protein and why you may want more).
When this number came up, it was based on how much protein we need to survive.. not thrive.
My recommendation for clients is to have everyone eat 1g/pound (one gram of protein per pound) of bodyweight per day.
Quick science lesson: protein is unique in the fact that is contains essential and non-essential amino acids. Non-essential amino acids are ones that our body can make. But the essential amino acids have to come in from food every day.
Likewise, our bodies can only store so much protein. This means that we need to take in amino acids daily to keep ourselves topped up. Think of a sink full of water.. without a plug. To keep it full you need to keep running the water lesson.
A Protein System That Actually Works
When it comes to how to eat 100 grams of protein a day, you’ll want to break it down. Ideally, you should be getting 30 grams of protein at all your “big” meals (think breakfast lunch, and dinner). Then, the remainder of your protein intake should be from snacks.
High Protein Breakfasts
Choose 2-3 high-protein breakfast recipes and just rotate through them. If your breakfast doesn’t come in at 30 grams of protein, add in with a hard-boiled egg, an extra scoop of protein powder or collagen powder, or a quick protein (like spicy chicken etc) you have in the fridge. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Just protein-packed.
I use the following breakfast recipes pretty much on rotation and add in where needed.
- Protein pancake bowl (34 grams of protein)
- Baked protein oatmeal (22 grams of protein)
- Chicken omelet (27 grams protein)
- Overnight protein oats (36 grams protein)
- Beef and egg scramble (28 grams of protein)
Lunch and Dinner Options To Hit 100 Grams of Protein
I find this part of the day the easiest so long as you keep your dinners in check. For dinner, make your protein in bulk with things like teriyaki chicken, spicy meatballs, taco skillet dinner, or steak bites. We love this green chili chicken too.
Once you have that, throwing together meals like salads, wraps, and stir fry is easy for lunch.
The trick is really to make sure you double up on cooking protein. Every time.
Easy High Protein Snacks
If you have your main meals nailed down, you should be getting roughly 80-90 grams of protein per day from them alone.
The next step is to make sure your snacks throughout the day aren’t empty calories. Meal prep one or two of the following for the week so that you have grab-and-go, protein-packed options. Adding in two of these snacks puts you over 100 grams of protein per day. Of course, you could also follow my Strong and Sweet Protein Guide too.
- Nut-free protein bars (7-10 grams of protein)
- Chocolate protein pudding (22 grams protein)
The other option is to make protein-packed snacks on the fly with something like a protein mug cake (18 grams), protein cookies (16 grams), or a Greek yogurt parfait (15 grams of protein).
How To Eat More Protein Without Hating Food
Keeping it simple is always key, so I tend to advise clients to keep their main meals pretty easy and rotate through only a handful of options.
Then, I use snacks to really indulge my cravings while still fueling up.
If you’re like me and have a sweet tooth but want to stay on top of your protein goals and feel in control, try using the snacks in my Strong and Sweet Protein Guide. They all have 17+ grams of protein to make hitting daily intakes EASY and delicious.
Quick Recap
Stop looking at the whole day and getting overwhelmed. Instead, break the 100 grams of protein up into meals to make it more practical.
- Breakfast 25 grams of protein
- Morning snack 15+ grams of protein
- Lunch 25 grams of protein
- Afternoon or pre-bedtime snack 10+ grams of protein
- Dinner 30 grams of protein
More Real-Life Tips for Hitting 100 Grams of Protein Daily
If you want a done-for-you approach on how to eat 100 grams of protein a day, complete with 3 different meal plans plus a template that shows you how to create your own meal plan with 100 grams of protein, check out the Protein Playbook.
- Benefits of a high protein diet
- Foods high in collagen
- How much protein do you really need
- how to save money while you eat more protein
- What is collagen powder
- Protein myths that need to die
What if hitting 100 grams of protein a day didn’t mean tracking macros, eating plain chicken, or chalky shakes?
FAQs
Yes, it’s possible to hit 100 grams of protein without meat, but it does take a bit more planning. You need to build each meal around plant-based protein sources like tofu, tempeh, beans, lentils, and edamame. Then, boost your total with protein-rich add-ins like hemp seeds, chia seeds, and dairy-free protein powders.
Not at all. You can hit 100 grams of protein without counting every gram or using a tracking app. As a Nutrition Coach and busy mom, I teach clients to build habits instead, like adding protein to each meal, prepping high-protein snacks, and using things like collagen or protein powder when it makes sense. It’s more about consistency than math. Once you know what 20–30 grams looks like on your plate, it gets way easier.
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