Daily Protein Intake for Women: Why You Don’t Need 200 Grams (And What to Do Instead)

0:00So good, so good, so good. New summer arrivals are at Nordstrom Rack stores now. Get ready to save big with up to 60 % off brands like Rag & Bone, Levi's, Adidas, and Free People. Join the Nordi Club to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first, and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. Good sleep is everything. That's why Oli's science back support is made with a blend of melatonin and L-theanine for both kiddos and grownups. So when your mind won't switch off, you've got something that can help. Erasing thoughts and restless nights won't stand a chance.

0:43Find Oli's sleep solutions for the whole family at Oli.com. That's O-L-L-Y dot com. At some point in very menopause, you probably stopped talking about dating and started talking about protein all the time. I mean, suddenly everywhere it seems the conversations are like, are you getting 30 grams per meal? How many grams did you hit today? How many grams are in your shake? And if you open social media, it sounds like if you're not eating 150, 200 grams of protein, then your muscle is evaporating in real time. So today we are reacting in real time to the protein chaos. And I'm going to give you the actual science on how much protein women need.

1:25and will even hit vegan diets too. Now, before we get into it, I'm Dr. Jolene Brighton. I want to welcome you to the Dr. Brighton Show. I'm a board-certified naturopathic endocrinologist and a nutrition scientist. I used to teach advanced human metabolism. And if you could take a minute to hit the subscribe button or leave me a review, I'd be super grateful for your support. And with that said, let's get into it. So today's video, I'm going to be reacting to some of the most viral videos I have seen online regarding protein. I'm not getting enough protein. There's hardly any protein in here. Listen, when you go to the store, get the tofu with the extra protein.

2:00Can you make hard-boiled eggs today? Did you drink my whey protein soda? There's a grapefruit missing. You can't drink these. Can we please always have hard-boiled eggs in the fridge? I need protein. I don't think you understand how much protein I need. Okay, that video is hilarious. And listen, it is absolutely relatable. I was a vegetarian for 10 years. My obsession with eggs was absolutely real. And now that I'm in perimenopause, I'm definitely chasing protein, structuring my meals, so I get more protein. And why is that? In perimenopause, estrogen is going to decline, then insulin sensitivity is going to shift.

2:31We're less insulin sensitive. Our muscle protein synthesis becomes less efficient, so we can't build muscle as well, and we're more prone to sarcopenia. That is when we lose muscle mass and we have the infiltration of fat. This is why protein becomes so much more important in strength training too, but important does not mean we go extreme. And listen, before we get into it further, if you're looking for tasty recipes and a reasonable meal plan to hit your protein goals as a woman, you can head to drbrighton.com slash plan for a free guide. That's d-r-b-r-i-g-h-t-e-n dot com slash plan. The internet is filled with influencers recommending 150 to 200 grams of protein a day for literally every woman out there.

3:20We're going to watch this video together and then I'm going to give you my take on should you be eating 150 grams a day? If I see another freaking influencer tell a menopausal woman who is 50 plus years old to be hitting close to like 160 grams of protein without the context of understanding that this woman barely is eating 60 grams of protein a day right now and you want her to go and add another 100 grams of protein to her day, How the hell is she going to do that? That is the worst advice coming from a dietician that, of course, pushes protein. She's not wrong. If you're only eating 60 grams of protein a day, jumping to double that, that's not realistic.

3:59So I want to clarify something before we get into this like 150 grams, should I, shouldn't I? The official recommended daily allowance is still 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight, but that number was never designed for optimal health. It was designed to prevent deficiency. It's the minimum to not lose muscle rapidly. So now many experts recommend 1 to 1.2 grams per kilogram for adults over 40 and up to 1.6 grams per kilogram during fat loss or if you are having muscle loss or maybe you are intensely strength training. That's very different from 150 to 200 grams per day. So let me break it down clearly with this example.

4:44So like if you weigh 150 pounds, that's 68 kilograms. 1.2 per kilogram, that's about 82 grams per day, not 160. We have to stop pretending that everyone is a 200-pound bodybuilder in a cutting phase. So no, most women aren't going to need 200 grams of protein, maybe not even 150 grams of protein. This is where nuance matters because very high protein intake can make sense for some people. So if you are resistance training intensely, so let's say that you're somebody who's training four, five days a week, strength training, you are on a program with your personal trainer and you're really trying to put on muscle.

5:32We may need to go up in your protein intake. If you are in a calorie deficit, we may start looking at your macros and saying, okay, you're going to be cutting calories, but we want to maintain your protein and your strength training so we don't lose muscle mass. Everybody on Ozempic, Wagovi, any GLP-1, please hear that. If you are losing weight, we want to make sure that we have protein coming in, strength training happening so that we maintain muscle mass and you're not losing your lean mass. And if you do already have high lean mass, that muscle, and you want to maintain it, then you may want more protein.

6:11But for the average perimenopausal woman, 200 grams is often unnecessary. More protein does not equal more muscle. Muscle protein synthesis plateaus per meal. It's not something that you just keep eating it and then you're going to have more muscle. And And if you start crowding out fiber, phytonutrients, even carbohydrates, with all of that protein you're taking in, you can worsen your health overall, but certainly your hormones. So cortisol regulation, we can see thyroid conversion. If you're not getting enough carbohydrates, your thyroid can suffer. Your gut health can certainly suffer. We want to be hitting 25 to 35 grams of fiber a day.

6:55So if you are pushing so much protein that you can't eat your leafy greens and your raspberries and your avocado, then we've got a diet that has shifted in a way that's not going to be supporting your overall health. So when it comes to how much protein women need, it's going to depend on what you're doing every day. If you're losing muscle, if you're trying to gain muscle, if you're trying to lose weight. But I would say at minimum, it's 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. And that's ideal body weight. We're going to talk about that more coming up. Before we get into that, though, I want to talk about the 30 grams of protein because we are recommending 30 grams of protein at every single meal.

7:43So why is that? 30 grams of protein isn't recommended just to help you reach your total amount of protein in the day. It's also recommended to help you with your leucine threshold, which is around 2.5 grams of leucine, to maximally stimulate muscle protein synthesis, the building of our muscle. Younger women may be able to stimulate that response with as little as 20 grams, But when you are a woman, like me, over 40, it's often closer to 30, maybe even 35 grams of protein at every meal. And the distribution matters. So with the research, it appears that breakfast is the absolute most important time to load your protein in the day.

8:26But I do want to say that if you are eating, let's say 90 grams total, but 70 of it is at dinner, that is not ideal. That's not going to help with protein synthesis. So we've got to spread it out through the day and we've got to be signaling the body that we are taking in enough resources to build that muscle mass. Now, the practical takeaway for you is that for women, we want to aim for 25 to 35 grams of protein per meal. The total intake, again, being like 1.2 to 1.6 gram per kilogram. If you're lifting or you're in perimenopause, we want to prevent the loss of muscle mass. Now, what about if you're trying to lose weight.

9:07This is where things can get a little murky. I've talked about it a little bit, but we're going to go deeper. And before I do that, I will be addressing whether or not you can get enough protein being a vegan or vegetarian. So stick around to the end for that. All right, this video is part two on how many calories you need to eat to lose weight, protein addition. Video in order to calculate how many calories we need to eat per day, we were taking the goal weight and multiplying it by 12. In the example game, 150 calories multiplied by 12 is 180 calories per day. In order to calculate our protein, we're going to take our goal weight and multiply it by 0.8.

9:36If we're using the same goal weight, 150 pounds multiplied by 0.8, you get 120 grams of protein per day. If we're using the same goal weight of 150 pounds multiplied by 0.8, you get 120 grams of protein per day. I like to stick it one step further and break it down by meal. So if you eat three meals a day, you'll need 40 grams of protein per meal. And at four meals a day, you'll need 30 grams of protein a meal. Okay. I love that she broke down protein per meal. I think that's super important. The other thing that's really great is that she said, you want to have your ideal body weight. And that's also important when we're doing these calculations for weight loss, not where you're at, but where you want to be.

10:12However, her calculation wasn't 0.8 grams per kilogram. Her calculation was 0.8 grams per pound, which is very different. And when you do that calculation at 0.8 grams per pound, that puts you at double the RDA of 0.8. So what does that mean, she's actually using a calculation of 1.7 and some change per kilogram. If you are someone who is highly active, if you're trying to be aggressive in not losing your muscle, maybe 1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight is reasonable. And this goes back to what we were saying at the top of this episode. If you're someone who's eating 60 grams of protein and then we're like, double that.

11:01How? How are you going to double that? And odds are you're going to start dropping fiber. And so while protein is super important, I do think that goal is unrealistic for a woman who is currently eating 60 grams of protein, maybe even 80 grams of protein to just jump up tomorrow to 120. And so that's where aiming for the at least 100 grams every day might be the best starting place for you. So if you are someone you're like, I'm eating 80 grams of protein a day, adding an extra 20 is going to have a more positive effect on your sustainable long-term fat loss and your strength training, right? Because we're going to be doing this together.

11:45Then it would be to say, oh, I just need you to double your protein starting tomorrow and figure it out and just go. And I'm not saying that's what this person is saying to do, but I do want to agree with her that protein is super important, especially when you're going through caloric restriction. Protein is going to help with preserving the lean mass, so your muscle. We already talked about that, but it's also going to improve satiety. That means being full longer, not having such an increase in your appetite, you know, that you are driven to like eat snacks before bed. The other thing about protein is that there's a theory that we will chase calories until we meet our protein requirements for the day.

12:23And so when you are meeting your protein requirements, you're less likely to have those cravings. Let's talk about veganism and protein. The most unhealthy thing you can be is vegan because there's no way that you can get the massive amount of protein that you need, which can only be achieved through meat. You'll hear people who say one gram of protein per pound of body weight. So like I'm 215 pounds, I'm six foot four, 215 pounds. So I'd have to have 215 grams of protein per day. That feels crazy. Even half that feels excessive. Half of that wouldn't be bad. You would still be actually, half of that you would still be above the minimum recommended amount.

13:05So you'd still be safe. The minimum recommended amount in grams per kilogram of body weight is 0.8. The idea that you cannot get enough protein if you're a vegan or a vegetarian is simply not correct. And listen, I'm a meat eater. I'm a past vegetarian. And I will tell you that being a vegetarian, I was strength training most days out of the week. And it was a lot of work to meet my protein requirements. Now, I was studying nutrition at the time. So I was just trying to hit the 0.8. I wasn't even trying to hit 1.2 or 1.6 or anywhere in that region. So I do want to just acknowledge that as we dive into this section, yes, you can absolutely meet your protein needs as a vegan.

13:53And yes, it may feel like a lot more work. And sometimes vegans will come into my comments and they will say things to me like, protein's not actually that important. This protein obsession is overkill. Protein just happens like you get it in your foods and they're wrong. Okay, they're just plain wrong. And frankly, that mindset, to me, is a way to justify not having to put in the work that your diet demands. And I get it, a vegan is your lifestyle, but it is also a way of eating. So you must be intentional. And so I'm going to explain some foods to people because I also think it's really important, even those of us who are omnivores, and that's our diet, that we still be getting plant-based protein as well because there are other nutrients in there.

14:38Now, obvious ones are soy products. So tofu and tempeh, those are super rich in leucine. Lentils and grains, that puts together a complete amino acid profile. Seitan is something that is extremely protein dense. Pea and rice protein blends, those can work really well. But I just want to be clear that the problem is not veganism. The problem often is poor planning if you're not hitting your protein requirements. And so I don't think it's fair to say, and let me just say that Mayim was being a little tongue-in-cheek there when she was making that comment. And then my dear friend, Dr. Will Bolshevitz, made the point that, like, you know, if I was to eat one gram of protein, he's over 200 pounds.

15:24Like, that's so much protein to be eating. And it is. And so it is something that we have to consider people's goals. And maybe one gram of protein per pound is absolutely what you need over age 40. But maybe that's skewing your diet in a way that's not giving you the benefits. Now, I want to react to this video about a breakdown because there's a lot of people trying to give protein advice to vegans. And there's some good and there's some bad and there's just some frankly ugly in this. But let's go. One thing I hear from women all the time is that they're struggling with symptoms like hot flashes, sleep disruptions, and brain fog, but aren't sure where to turn to for help.

16:08Menopause is inevitable, but suffering through it isn't. That's why I want to tell you about Alloy. Alloy is a digital health platform that connects you with a menopause-specialized doctor who can create a personalized treatment plan tailored to your needs, all from the comfort of your home. Join the 95 % of women who tried Alloy and saw relief in the first two weeks. Head to myalloy.com and use the code DRBRYTEN. That's myalloy.com, M-Y-A-L-L-O-Y.com and the code DRBRYTEN, D-R-B-R-I-G-H-T-E-N. Share your symptoms and you'll get a fully customized treatment plan and unlimited messaging with your doctor.

16:57Plus, you'll get$20 off your first order today. That's M-Y-A-L-L-O-Y dot com, code Dr. Brighton. If I were a vegan, this is how I would eat 150 grams of protein. I would start the day with a vegan protein shake with two scoops of vegan protein that comes out to 40 grams of protein. Two scoops won't always get you to 40 grams. So please read your labels. We'll use like almond milk and some fruit and maybe some peanut butter. For lunch, I'd have two Boca burgers, which comes out to 26 grams of protein. Throw in a serving of quinoa, which is eight grams of protein and two tablespoons of nutritional yeast is seven and a half grams of protein.

17:35I would definitely shift the foundation of this. Then for dinner, I'd literally have some bonza pasta with sauce, which comes out to just over 50 grams of protein. And all I need to hit 150 is one more snack. And that's going to be a protein bar, which has 18 grams of protein. And all of that was only 136 grams of carbs and only 17 grams of fat. What is this? The 90s? Are we back to hating on fat? Fat is not the devil. It's not bad. Okay, I just like got to set this record straight. But like, my first reaction is that's a lot of processed and ultra processed food. And does it hit the protein target?

18:10Yes. But I would definitely shift the foundation of this. And this is a slippery slope that vegans and vegetarians can fall into? Is that because it's vegan or vegetarian? Therefore, it must be healthy. But no, it's still ultra processed food. If it's tofurkey and vegan bacon, it's ultra processed food. So I got to be clear here though. For a vegan woman trying to hit 100 grams or more of protein in perimenopause, convenience does matter and adherence does matter. And if the alternative is under eating protein and losing lean mass, then this plan would be metabolically superior to a chronic protein deficiency, okay?

18:48Then she's like, here's this plan and you start here. Okay, okay. I could see that as a starting place. Now, 150 grams of protein may be appropriate if you are someone with a larger body or you're training heavy, trying to put on muscle, but those targets might be too much. And I was very unimpressed by how little vegetables there were. And I was like, what is this smoothie with like putting peanut butter and some fruit in it and the vegan protein powder? I'm like, two scoops won't always get you to 40 grams. So please read your labels as well. Because I think sometimes it's easy to hear something like that and be like, oh, vegan protein has like so like this protein powder is going to have so much protein in it.

19:28Always check the labels. And also in this economy, oh my God, our company is like bait and switching us. So check your labels because some of my patients have brought in products that they're like, am I like crazy because I was eating this before and we tracked this and recorded it and it was like two scoops and now they say the stirring is four scoops but I've been underdoing my protein because I've only been doing two scoops. So please always check your labels, never get comfortable with a product. But with that said, let's break down what a day could look like eating whole foods as a vegan to hit your protein requirements.

20:05And I'm not doing this to shame anybody who grabs a protein bar, we all grab a protein bar from time to time, or who is using smoothies or anything like that. I just, you know, we watched that video that was a very processed food heavy diet. Let's go on the other end of things and then maybe you can find what your balance is in the middle. So breakfast, tofu, tempeh, scramble. Let's do it as a bowl actually. So you could do seven ounces of extra firm tofu, three ounces of tempeh, throw two tablespoons of nutritional yeast on that, and let's include veggies. So getting mushrooms, peppers, spinach, it's going to give you a little bit of protein too.

20:45But remember I said soy is higher in leucine density and that fermented tempeh is great for your gut. So it's a little two for one there. And at this point, you would already be halfway to your leucine threshold. I know some people out there are anti-soy, Well, look, I'm talking to vegans and vegetarians right now, okay? And listen, if you were doing soy completely around the clock, it's the only thing you're eating all the time. That could potentially influence your hormones. But we do look at Blue Zone people in Japan. Hi, nod to you, eating tofu. They're thriving, okay? So this is, again, about balance, and we're not going to just hate on soy very flippantly.

21:25Okay, so for lunch, we're going to try to get over 30 grams of protein again. So looking at like lentils and quinoa, because I love that you can make those the night before and then have them the next day. We can do this as a power bowl, like back in the day, early 2000s, or I think everybody called these Buddha bowls. That's when I was a vegetarian. So you're going to aim for like a cup and a half of cooked lentils, a cup of cooked quinoa, add hemp seeds. I think hemp seeds are a way, a great way to like add protein to things. Mixed greens. So put this all on top of mixed greens. Do some like tahini dressing.

22:03Maybe you have like leftover roasted broccoli you could throw in there. So lentils, I think everybody who's trying to hit protein requirements for the day should be incorporating lentils into their weekly routine because they're protein dense, but that fiber is super great for your gut health. Quinoa, that's going to help boost the total amino acids and the hemp adds more leucine and some fat for you feeling full. And again, we're not going to hate on fat. So if you are someone who's like, but I'm a meat eater and you're still listening to the episode, I want you to take away that hemp seeds can be a real power move.

22:41I throw a couple of tablespoons into my smoothies. I top them on top of like granola and my Greek yogurt. I will mix them into all kinds of things just to try to boost that leucine a little bit more. Now, snacks, look at something like a vegan yogurt that is higher in protein. Read your labels. Not higher in sugar, okay? And then add pumpkin seeds. Add like nuts and seeds to that. Throw some raspberries in there so you get a little more fiber. We're still at this point in our day. We haven't done any powders. We haven't done any bars. Now, one of the like unsung heroes of your estrobilone that helps you move out your estrogen from your body and keep your gut healthy all through menopause is chickpeas.

23:28So for dinner, hitting one cup of chickpeas, four ounces of the seitan, doing some broccoli, cabbage, carrots, like this is a great way to support your estrogen metabolism. And so if you're on HRT, if you are somebody who's like riding the perimenopause roller coaster, some days you have like really sore breasts because your estrogen is going high, your metabolism with that estrogen isn't so great, that's a great way to structure dinner and you'll get enough protein. Now, what I would add for vegans and vegetarians is always to ensure at least one leucine-rich source of protein per meal and consider protein density.

24:05So if you're going to choose almond milk versus soy milk, look at those labels. Who has more protein? It's usually soy milk. So in conclusion to this, like how much protein do women need? The protein conversation, we just have to, I just have to say, it's become extreme. And on one side, you get like 200 grams every single day or you're going to wither. And the other side is like, just eat 0.8 grams. Like do the minimum. And that's plenty. And the truth is that for women, the answer on how much protein you need is in the middle of that. Most women will do well at 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram.

24:41When you're younger, you may be able to get away with less protein, but I wouldn't advise it. I would say make sure your protein and your strength training game, you started right at like 15, honestly. We want to spread protein across our meals. We want to combine it with our resistance training. And we want to eat protein in a way that's not completely crowding out carbs and fiber. Because protein is super powerful, but it's not magical. More is not always better. And if you are sacrificing your fiber for all that protein, you're going to end up with other problems down the line. And I will also say that if like protein has become your personality, like I see you and I get it, but let's make it strategic and not obsessive like that first video I showed you.

25:29Now if this episode has helped you, please let me know. I love hearing from you. I love hearing from where you need more support or what's actually helped you get some wins. I really hope that today I was able to help you sort through some of the protein chaos that's happening in an enjoyable way and feel like, okay, I've got this. Like, I can actually go forward with my diet without feeling like all I think about is protein. And of course, as always, if you're ever struggling with your diet, if you're ever struggling on how exactly you should be eating to meet your goals, meet with a certified nutrition specialist, a registered dietitian, like a nutrition expert to support you.

26:14Because there's this idea that like just because everybody eats, we therefore should all know how to do it in the way that's best for us in the very season that we're in. And that's just simply not the truth. I think it's okay to admit that. It's okay to say, listen, I knew what I was doing in my 30s, but now my hormones have changed and I'm not quite sure what I should be doing, what's best for me. Where is my bone density? Where's my muscle mass at? What are my health goals? And meet with someone to support you in that. As always, it is such a pleasure to get to spend time with you. I will see you on the next episode.

26:48Make sure you hit subscribe so that we can hang out next time. This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required. Compatibility and availability varies 18+. This episode is brought to you by Google Health. Stop chasing someone else's definition of health.