Protein targets on GLP-1 while appetite is suppressed — what works?

[Elgordoboy]

Since starting Reta at the end of January I have gone from 210 down to 185. Before that I had come down from 230 over a year and change. Right now most days are 100 to 120 grams of protein and around 2000 calories. Gym strength is not dropping and on some lifts it may be climbing; muscle mass is holding up, though other factors are at play there too. Sub 1000 test levels with trt and 1.2ish iu gh. My point is that being so adamant about the 185 grams of protein has not proved necessary in my case. The number I eat comes fairly naturally and going beyond it would mean forcing it. Putting muscle on was never hard for me, though keeping the fat off is the troublesome part.

 

[TacoLifter420]

Reaching my daily 185 to 200 grams of protein usually means protein shakes, no sugar added Greek Yogurt and Meat. Hitting that at 1800 calories a day is not hard for me.

For context: male, an athletic build, 190lbs at 5 foot 9.

 

[leonli]

JohannesSweden77 said:

leonli said:

JohannesSweden77 said:

• A coffee protein shake first thing in the morning, with instant coffee added to wake me up.
  
• A breakfast heavy on protein. Egg, yogurt and so on.
  
• Another protein shake.
  
• Lunch, again aiming to maximise protein.
  
• A protein bar.
  
• Dinner the same as lunch.
  
• Casein protein shake before bed.

Something along those lines for me personally. Hard training 5 days a week.

That is a very structured routine. 5 days of hard training on top of that much protein demands real consistency. There is clearly a lot for me to learn from you!

Honestly, it is less work than it sounds. There is an app on my phone I log everything into so I can keep track. The app is called FatSecret, though plenty of similar ones exist.

You just need to look up your daily calorie and protein requirements. Various calculators will do it for you. It comes down to your weight (or goal weight), your height, how much you train, and whether you want to lose more, gain, or hold where you are. Those inputs tell you how much to eat. After that it is simply a case of getting as close to the number as you can.




Macro Calculator



This macro calculator estimates the macronutrient needs of a person based on their age, physical characteristics, activity level, and bodyweight goals.

View attachment 106


www.calculator.net

Wow, an app of this kind is exactly what I need! Thanks for pointing me to it!

 

[PickleWitch]

Monday to Friday, aside from dinner, is boring for me because I repeat the same routine to death. Dinners I mix up, and weekends give me more variety. For 5 days straight I will prep and eat the exact same breakfast, lunch and snack, no problem.

 

[leonli]

5byfive said:

Protein at every meal and snack is the key. Miss one and catching up becomes hard. So for me that means eggs or egg whites in the am, canned chicken or tuna salad fairly often, and lean meat at dinner, usually 93% fat-free beef or turkey. As a snack, a protien shake or a David bar (their prices have come down since Walmart started carrying them), and some high protien Greek yogurt before bed.

210-220 grams a day is my usual. That works out near 1.2 grams per lb of bodyweight, which is higher than most people would want to go, so you could probably be a little less strict — but the idea really is to make sure you are getting a good amount of protien every time you eat.

Shittersfull said:

A chickbreast is my breakfast, eaten at 11am. Around noon comes a can of sardines, then a 60 gram protien drink at 1, and if I can manage it 1/2 pound off beef at 3. Nothing else passes my lips until 11am the next day. Working out happens in the morning — 12,000 steps, 20 flights of steps and some mild resistance band training — before that 11am breakfast. Fasted aerobic workouts are GREAT.

Wow, those are some serious routines. My protein game clearly needs stepping up. Thanks for sharing!

Mood said:

leonli said:

Hey everyone, I've been training a while and have recently started looking into GLP-1s. What I'm curious about is how people handle their nutrition once appetite drops. For those of you who lift or train regularly:

• How do you make sure your protein goals still get hit?
  
• Do you lean more on shakes, smaller meals, or simply adjust when you eat?
  
• Have you noticed any changes in strength or recovery?

What I'm trying to understand is how people balance fat loss while keeping muscle and performance.

Several high protein meals. On reta I can't eat much at a time, so I try to eat more often. Protein has to be in every meal and snack. A few shakes get thrown in too, usually one in the morning and one around any gym sessions. Recovery is good, though I am also on tesa/ipa and trt, so it is not necessarily a fair comparison.

Good point. Keeping protein high while appetite is low is probably one of the biggest challenges. I will try to be more intentional with each meal.

Svartr said:

I asked chat the same thing earlier

My crutch has been convenience protein, and it has not been going well. The powder I have is good — 20g of protein in every scoop — so I am taking 2 scoops of it now. Alongside that: eggs, chicken, and cottage cheese, which is superb and endlessly versatile.

Overthinking is a habit of mine, so this is the list it came back with

£20 shopping list (about 5 days)​#-lb20-shopping-list-about-5-days

• One bag of apples or berries (optional)
  
• Lettuce/cucumber/tomatoes
  
• Frozen mixed vegetables
  
• Frozen broccoli
  
• Cottage cheese
  
• 500 g 0% Greek yogurt
  
• 15 eggs
  
• 1 kg chicken breasts

This shopping list looks simple and realistic; I will definitely take some ideas from it.

Builderman said:

Shakes are useful when hunger is absent and I need a boost. Otherwise it is a lot of lean chicken. Reta has removed the joy from food, so I just pick the lowest calorie Hughes protein option I can find that still makes financial sense.

Mochizuki0124 said:

For the week I usually have one protein source set. Chicken, tuna, lean ground beef or ground turkey — those are my staples. When hunger hits I reach for my protein source first, not a snack, not a drink, nothing else. PROTEIN FIRST.

Plenty of people miss their proteins because they grab whatever is convenient when hunger arrives. On any GLP1, if hunger hits and you grab a donut, guess what? You will be full for half the day with no protein in your body. A lot of people on GLPs drop like 20-30 lbs easily, but it is easy to spot who still eats like crap and does not hit their proteins.

Really good advice. I am starting to realise that with GLPs the challenge is not just eating less but eating smarter. Protein first is something I am going to focus on.

IvanD said:

Hi! Great question — getting enough protein matters a lot for your long term goals (and for keeping your hair!).

To start with, Reta gives me more appetite than Sema or Tirz ever did. That mattered a great deal, since before I simply was not eating enough.

The day opens with oatmeal for fiber, a scoop of whey powder stirred through it, and some Greek yogurt. Fiber gummies come along around dinner, and there is a second scoop of whey before bed.

A million routes to skinning a cat exist, obviously, but this one has done a lot for me.

Great advice, thanks for sharing! The oatmeal and whey combination sounds simple and practical. Something I should try.

joseblo said:

Once the Tirz really kicks in, keeping the food going is hard! Protein shakes became necessary. I actually started adding strait protein powder to my regular protein shakes because they had too much flavor. Some fiber and berries went in as well, to make sure I got something that kept me regular and hydrated! Sometimes that plus a couple of eggs was all I could stomach in the morning, but at least it got me to 80gr on a lean day.

What a smart way of handling it

PAPoots said:

Put your easy protein somewhere you can see it and get to it. My desk has protein bars on it. Out on the kitchen counter sits the protein and creatine powder. The fridge holds premier protein shakes for when I need to grab something and go.

Several pounds of chicken thighs get baked each week, or chicken breasts sous vide, alongside a big insta pot of rice.

A snack usually means opening the fridge and pulling out either a turkey and cheese rollup or a mozzarella stick.

A few grams short of your protein target is not worth beating yourself up over. Maintenance needs less than you would think.

Subtract your body fat from your weight; muscle accounts for 50-55% of the remainder.

I am 5'10" and 207lbs. Strip out 30% percent body fat, take 55% of what remains, and I am left with roughly 80lbs of muscle.

Maintaining that calls for 80-100g; building means pushing it up to 130-145.

So it is less than you would expect. Run your numbers through CoPilot or ChatGPT.

For breakfast, a couple of eggs plus a 30g protein shake could have you halfway there already.

Excellent tip — keeping protein sources both visible and convenient.

Elgordoboy said:

Since starting Reta at the end of January I have gone from 210 down to 185. Before that I had come down from 230 over a year and change. Right now most days are 100 to 120 grams of protein and around 2000 calories. Gym strength is not dropping and on some lifts it may be climbing; muscle mass is holding up, though other factors are at play there too. Sub 1000 test levels with trt and 1.2ish iu gh. My point is that being so adamant about the 185 grams of protein has not proved necessary in my case. The number I eat comes fairly naturally and going beyond it would mean forcing it. Putting muscle on was never hard for me, though keeping the fat off is the troublesome part.

TacoLifter420 said:

Reaching my daily 185 to 200 grams of protein usually means protein shakes, no sugar added Greek Yogurt and Meat. Hitting that at 1800 calories a day is not hard for me.

For context: male, an athletic build, 190lbs at 5 foot 9.

First of all, congratulations to both of you on the progress — those results are seriously impressive! Seeing two different approaches side by side is interesting. The biggest takeaway for me is landing on a protein target you can genuinely stick with over the long term. I am still working out what suits me best, but seeing how everyone structures their diet is a real help.

 

[leonli]

PickleWitch said:

Monday to Friday, aside from dinner, is boring for me because I repeat the same routine to death. Dinners I mix up, and weekends give me more variety. For 5 days straight I will prep and eat the exact same breakfast, lunch and snack, no problem.

A simple routine removes so much decision-making. I may have to steal this idea and prep more of my meals in advance

 

[mybodyisasewer]

There are so many good ideas in this thread. Well-trodden topic or not, live discussions like this are always worth having.

leonli said:

Hey everyone, I've been training a while and have recently started looking into GLP-1s. What I'm curious about is how people handle their nutrition once appetite drops. For those of you who lift or train regularly:

• How do you make sure your protein goals still get hit?
  
• Do you lean more on shakes, smaller meals, or simply adjust when you eat?
  
• Have you noticed any changes in strength or recovery?

What I'm trying to understand is how people balance fat loss while keeping muscle and performance.

See the picture for the world's easiest protein — a cheat code.

IvanD said:

joseblo said:

Once the Tirz really kicks in, keeping the food going is hard! Protein shakes became necessary. I actually started adding strait protein powder to my regular protein shakes because they had too much flavor. Some fiber and berries went in as well, to make sure I got something that kept me regular and hydrated! Sometimes that plus a couple of eggs was all I could stomach in the morning, but at least it got me to 80gr on a lean day.

80g of protein total for the day? What do you weigh? That strikes me as incredibly low.

That is low, agreed, but the last study I read put average Americans at 100g/day, and the government's RDA sits around 56g/day. Chasing 200g/day as though it were life or death might be a slight bias of ours.

 

[lastresort]

T3/T4 for hashimoto in my case, and adding dials the hunger up

 

[sonic_boom]

Textured vegetable protien, or "soya chunks", are a great option in my view.

If cholesterol worries you at all, whey protein isolate (WPI) beats WPC. A well-regarded brand like Optimum Gold protein powder carries far too much cholesterol in my opinion, so take the time to read labels — especially for something you eat every day.

Chicken breasts are of course an excellent route to lean protein.

Going above 0.6, 0.7g per pound strikes me as not improving outcomes much either. Most studies seem to agree.

 

[leonli]

mybodyisasewer said:

There are so many good ideas in this thread. Well-trodden topic or not, live discussions like this are always worth having.

leonli said:

Hey everyone, I've been training a while and have recently started looking into GLP-1s. What I'm curious about is how people handle their nutrition once appetite drops. For those of you who lift or train regularly:

• How do you make sure your protein goals still get hit?
  
• Do you lean more on shakes, smaller meals, or simply adjust when you eat?
  
• Have you noticed any changes in strength or recovery?

What I'm trying to understand is how people balance fat loss while keeping muscle and performance.

See the picture for the world's easiest protein — a cheat code.

IvanD said:

joseblo said:

Once the Tirz really kicks in, keeping the food going is hard! Protein shakes became necessary. I actually started adding strait protein powder to my regular protein shakes because they had too much flavor. Some fiber and berries went in as well, to make sure I got something that kept me regular and hydrated! Sometimes that plus a couple of eggs was all I could stomach in the morning, but at least it got me to 80gr on a lean day.

80g of protein total for the day? What do you weigh? That strikes me as incredibly low.

That is low, agreed, but the last study I read put average Americans at 100g/day, and the government's RDA sits around 56g/day. Chasing 200g/day as though it were life or death might be a slight bias of ours.

Exactly! What makes these discussions useful is the real-world experience. Seeing what suits different people never stops being interesting.

lastresort said:

T3/T4 for hashimoto in my case, and adding dials the hunger up

That sounds genuinely difficult. The degree to which hormones shape hunger and energy is wild

sonic_boom said:

Textured vegetable protien, or "soya chunks", are a great option in my view.

If cholesterol worries you at all, whey protein isolate (WPI) beats WPC. A well-regarded brand like Optimum Gold protein powder carries far too much cholesterol in my opinion, so take the time to read labels — especially for something you eat every day.

Chicken breasts are of course an excellent route to lean protein.

Going above 0.6, 0.7g per pound strikes me as not improving outcomes much either. Most studies seem to agree.

Great suggestions! Chicken breast is very much my thing ’ It is one of the proteins I reach for first.