Protein for women who lift

The government figure is a floor, not a target

The UK reference intake of 0.75 g per kilogram of body weight per day is the amount that prevents deficiency in a sedentary adult. It was never intended as a performance target, and using it as one is like setting your training plan by the amount of walking required to avoid illness.

For a woman doing regular resistance training the figure supported by the evidence sits between 1.6 and 2.2 g per kilogram per day. For a 65 kg woman that is roughly 105 to 145 g — a meaningful jump from the 49 g the reference intake implies, and the single change that most often unlocks a stalled year of training.

Per meal, not just per day

The response to protein is dose-dependent up to a point and then plateaus. Somewhere around 0.4 g per kilogram in a single sitting gets you most of the available response; well beyond that the extra is oxidised rather than wasted, but it is not buying you more muscle.

In practice this means three or four solid servings across the day beats one enormous dinner. The most common pattern I correct is a breakfast with almost no protein in it, which leaves fourteen hours of the day doing nothing.

The myths worth putting down

Protein does not damage healthy kidneys; that finding comes from people who already had kidney disease. It does not make women bulky; the hormonal environment and the training volume required to gain size deliberately are both considerable. It does not have to come from powder — powder is convenience, not magic.

The one real caution is that protein displaces other things on the plate. If your carbohydrate falls as your protein rises, your training will tell you about it before your muscles do.

• 01

  Put protein in breakfast, which is where it is usually missing

  The biggest win
• 02

  Aim for three or four servings, not one large one

  Distribution
• 03

  Raise protein without letting carbohydrate fall

  The trap