Where to get protein for nutrition: a list of products and their weights

Author: Mikhail Ziborov - author of the site makefitness.pro.
2023-12-08

How Many Grams of Protein Do I Need Per Day

Since we all have different body weights, lifestyles (whether we are physically active or not), and diets, the protein dosage needs to be personalized for you. The easiest way to do this is to use a calculator that takes all your parameters into account.

Based on the provided figures (for example, you calculate that to gain muscle mass, you need 165g of protein per day), you can then use the lists of foods below.

First, find out how much protein you need per day, and only then use the actual food products. The principle of "I will just eat protein-rich food without counting protein" works, but it is extremely inaccurate.

Keep in mind that while protein-rich products are abundant in this nutrient, it does not mean they are 100% protein. For example, 100g of meat does not equal 100g of protein; it is less because other nutrients are present as well.

70g of Protein Per Day

You can reach this amount of protein from:

- 100g of 2% fat cottage cheese – 10.5g of protein;
- 200g of boiled chicken breast (fillet) – 60.2g of protein.

As you can see, just 2 products cover the daily protein requirement for a person whose lifestyle and diet only need 70g of protein.

If your daily requirement is 80 or 90g of protein, just increase the amount of cottage cheese by another 100g (which will increase the protein total to 80g/day) or add 100g of salted mackerel (which will raise it to 90g/day).

100g of Protein Per Day

You can obtain this from:

- 100g of 2% fat cottage cheese – 10.5g of protein;
- 200g of boiled chicken breast (fillet) – 60.2g of protein;
- 100g of salted mackerel – 18.5g of protein;
- 50g of Gouda cheese – 12.7g of protein.

Obviously, you can mix and match the products and adjust the numbers. Don’t like fish? Remove it and increase the share of other protein-rich foods, for example, cottage cheese and cheese, compensating for the mackerel. Thus, you'll achieve the same 100g of protein.

Those who need, say, 120 or 130g of protein can add 150g of boiled eggs – 18.9g of protein (which will get you to 120g of protein per day), or increase the cottage cheese to 200g (which will bring you to 130g of protein per day).

150g of Protein Per Day

You can accumulate your daily norm of this nutrient from:

- 200g of boiled chicken breast (fillet) – 60.2g of protein;
- 150g of salted mackerel – 27.75g of protein;
- 100g of Gouda cheese – 25.4g of protein;
- 150g of boiled eggs – 18.9g of protein (approximately 3-4 eggs).

How you combine these products is up to you.

By the way, if you don't like a particular food (for example, if you prefer salmon over mackerel), you can easily substitute that 27.75g of protein with protein powder. Protein powder is made from whey, a by-product of cheese manufacturing.

Just one serving of protein powder will eliminate the need to eat a disliked protein source. You can choose your flavor at our store FitTraining.

Alternatively, with the help of a protein shake, you can make up the missing 20-30g of protein if your daily requirement is 170-180g of protein. This means adding one serving of protein (as a snack, between meals, or after workouts) to the above list of foods.

200g of Protein Per Day

You can consume the following products:

- 200g of 2% fat cottage cheese – 21g of protein;
- 250g of boiled chicken breast (fillet) – 75.3g of protein;
- 150g of salted mackerel – 27.75g of protein;
- 100g of Gouda cheese – 25.4g of protein;
- 150g of boiled eggs – 18.9g of protein (approximately 3-4 eggs);
- 30g of DobromilFit protein – 24g of protein;
- 250g of 2% fat cow’s milk – 8.25g of protein (which can also be used to mix the protein).

250g of Protein Per Day

It's worth noting that you will also receive some plant protein from your usual foods like buckwheat, peas, beans, lentils, and other foods rich in plant protein that are used as side dishes. Therefore, your diet will, in fact, contain a bit more protein. Do you love nuts? They are also rich in this macronutrient.

- 200g of 2% fat cottage cheese – 21g of protein;
- 250g of boiled chicken breast (fillet) – 75.3g of protein;
- 150g of salted mackerel – 27.75g of protein;
- 100g of Gouda cheese – 25.4g of protein;
- 150g of boiled eggs – 18.9g of protein (approximately 3-4 eggs);
- 30g of DobromilFit protein – 24g of protein;
- 250g of 2% fat cow’s milk – 8.25g of protein (which can also be used to mix the protein);
- 200g of boiled buckwheat – 6.8g of protein;
- 200g of boiled lentils – 18g of protein;
- 200g of boiled peas – 16.7g of protein;
- 50g of walnuts – 7.6g of protein.

The challenge of consuming a large daily protein intake is that physically eating such a quantity of food can be quite difficult. Consider this: the list I provided includes only 3 types of porridge and a lot of other foods. This is precisely why protein shakes were created: to obtain the required volume of protein without overloading your digestion and without spending all day stuffing yourself with food.

By the way, up to 30% of your protein norm can come from protein powder. You should obtain 70% of your protein from solid foods.

If there's a specific food from the list you don’t like (for example, if you prefer salmon over mackerel), just search for "how much protein is in salmon" and calculate how much salmon you need to replace mackerel.

Other articles of mine on the topic of protein: