Maintain Your Muscles Using This Strategy

You work hard for your muscles and to maintain them you probably think about the importance of protein. What you may not realise that how you spread out your protein in a day is equally important.

Research has shown spreading your protein amount throughout the day is more effective at maintaining your muscles than eating all your protein in one meal. Aim for around 10-20g per snack and 20-40g in a meal. Here is an example meal plan to show you the type of structure a meal and snack needs to get these protein amounts:

Breakfast

6 Corn Thins™ slices with ½ (100g) mashed avocado and topped with 2 sliced boiled egg and 1 medium diced tomato. 1 glass (250mls) of milk or fortified plant-based alternative.

24g of protein

Snack

200g of yoghurt with ½ cup of berries.

21g of protein

Lunch

6 Corn Thins™ slices topped with 2 slices (80g) of cheddar cheese and 100g of baked tofu. Sided with 1 cup of cooked vegetables and topped with 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil.

35g of protein

Snack

1 cup of vegetable sticks like capsicum, carrot, celery, and cucumber with 2-3 tablespoons of 100% peanut butter and 2 Rice Thins™ slices.

12-18g of protein

Dinner

1 cup of quinoa/brown rice/whole grain couscous (pre-cooked now readily available in the supermarket in ½ cup portions) topped with Tuna in Springwater 95g and 100g of canned legumes. Simply rinse legumes before adding. Add additional flavour using herbs and spices like chilli and coriander rather than adding salt.

37.6-42.6g of protein

Take home message: Use this strategy to feed your muscles with the optimal amount of protein throughout your day. It is not just about meeting your protein needs but giving them the regular fuel they need just like adding fuel to a fire.