Protein is the one thing I end up talking about with almost every client I work with in Dublin 12. Not because it’s complicated — it isn’t — but because most people are eating far less of it than they think, and it’s holding their results back.
Walk into any gym and you’ll see people training hard, then going home to a bowl of pasta or a sandwich and wondering why they’re not making progress. The training isn’t the problem. The food is.
What Protein Actually Does
Your body uses protein to repair and build muscle tissue after training. Every time you lift weights, you create small tears in your muscle fibres. Protein is what the body uses to rebuild those fibres — and when it does, they come back slightly stronger. No protein, no repair. No repair, no progress.
But it’s not just about muscle. Protein is the most satiating macronutrient, meaning it keeps you full for longer than carbohydrates or fat. If you’re trying to lose body fat, eating enough protein is one of the most effective tools you have — not because of any magic, but because you’re less hungry, you eat less overall, and you hold on to muscle while the fat comes off.
How Much Do You Actually Need?
This is where people get confused because you’ll see different numbers everywhere. The official government guidelines are set at around 0.75–0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day. That’s the minimum to prevent deficiency in a sedentary adult. It has nothing to do with training.
The International Society of Sports Nutrition — one of the most respected bodies in exercise science — recommends 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram of bodyweight for people doing regular resistance training. If you’re in a calorie deficit trying to lose fat while holding onto muscle, you want to be at the higher end of that range.
So if you weigh 80kg and you’re training with me three times a week:
- Government minimum: 64g/day (not enough if you’re training)
- What you actually need: 130–180g/day
That’s a significant gap. And for most people eating a typical Irish diet heavy on bread, cereal, and pasta, 130g is genuinely difficult to hit without thinking about it.
Are You Getting Enough?
A quick way to check: track everything you eat for one day on an app like MyFitnessPal. Just one day — not to obsess over it, but to see where you actually stand. Most people are shocked. They’re hitting 60–80g on a good day and thinking that’s fine.
Signs you might be undereating protein:
- You’re always hungry, even after meals
- You’re training consistently but not gaining strength
- You’re losing weight but also losing muscle — getting lighter but not leaner
- You’re sore for days after sessions and not recovering well
Where to Get It
You don’t need shakes and supplements. Real food does the job. Here’s roughly what you get from common sources:
- Chicken breast (150g): ~45g protein
- Salmon or white fish (150g): ~30g protein
- Lean beef mince (100g): ~26g protein
- Eggs: ~6g each
- Greek yogurt (200g): ~20g protein
- Cottage cheese (200g): ~24g protein
A day that includes two solid protein sources at meals and eggs or yogurt at another gets you most of the way there without any supplements at all.
Protein shakes are a convenient top-up, not a replacement for real food. If you’re consistently hitting your target from food alone, you don’t need one.
Does Timing Matter?
Somewhat. Spreading your protein across three or four meals is more effective than eating most of it in one go — your body can only use so much at once for muscle protein synthesis. Aiming for 30–40g per meal across three meals gets you most of the benefit without having to think too hard about it.
The “anabolic window” — the idea that you must eat protein within 30 minutes of training or the workout is wasted — is largely overblown. Getting enough protein across the day matters far more than exact timing.
Keep It Simple
I’m not a fan of overcomplicating nutrition. For most people I work with in Dublin 12, the single biggest dietary change they can make is simply eating more protein. Not less carbs, not cutting out food groups, not buying expensive supplements. Just more protein at every meal.
Build your meals around a protein source first. Then add vegetables and whatever carbohydrate fits your calorie target. Do that consistently and your results — in terms of body composition, energy, and strength — will improve.
If you want help putting together a nutrition approach that actually fits your life and training schedule, drop me a message. It doesn’t have to be complicated.