The 5 Protein Mistakes EVERY Woman Over 40 Is Making

00:00Protein on toast for breakfast or having a handful of almonds as a snack, all of these count toward protein grams, yes, on a tracking app, but none of them are actually delivering the complete amino acid profile that triggers you having optimal muscle protein synthesis as an outcome. You can be hitting your protein number on a paper and in a tracking app and still not getting the muscle building response that you want because the sources are not complete. So, the fix here.

00:30Hey, hey, hey. What's going on, everybody? Welcome to another episode of The WarriorBabe Show with your host, Nikkie Stott. What's going on, my friends? So, today, I'm going to talk about my favorite macronutrient and all of the macronutrients. One of the most important ones that matters for more than anything for women over 40. And then I'm going to give you five specific mistakes I see women making with it every single day.

01:02You guys probably already know we're going to talk about protein. You guys have heard me talk about it before. You have probably heard it from every corner of the fitness space at this point. Eat more protein. Protein is important. Hit your protein goal. But here's the thing. Most women over 40 are still not doing it right. Not because you guys aren't trying. You guys are one of the most, like, informed generation of people that are trying to do their best, in my opinion. But it's because nobody has ever really just, like, specifically told you that, hey, like, what are you getting wrong?

01:35So, today, we're going to fix that. I'm going to give you guys what I see are the five mistakes, give you guys clear explanations, and exactly, like, what you guys can start doing differently tomorrow. Okay? So, let's get into the first mistake. And this one's the most common one and the one with the biggest consequences. Most women over 40 are eating somewhere between 40 to 70 grams of protein per day. So, you're not eating enough protein. We just need to do, like, a full stop to this. Now, a lot of women don't even know how much protein they're eating in the day.

02:09They have absolutely no clue. The first step, I would be, like, okay, track. Pay attention. But 40 to 70 grams sounds like a reasonable amount to someone. It's not enough, though. Not even close. This is what happens. Your body becomes less efficient at converting the protein that you eat into muscle tissue, which is called anabolic resistance. The muscle building signal from protein gets blunted in this process. And this is more apparent as you continue to get older, which means that you need more protein to get the same muscle-preserving response that you would have gotten 10 years ago with eating less.

02:47And this research is so consistent. You guys, women over 40 who are strength training and focused on body composition need somewhere between 1 gram to, like, 1.2, sometimes even 1.3 gram per pound of body weight. Or 1.2, 1.3 per pound of body weight per day. You guys have heard me, well, Nikki, I heard you say, like, 0.8 to 1 before. Yeah, that's, like, the women that are, like, on those medications, doing GLP-1s, just starting off, have, like, need just to be able to get, like, more protein into their day, aren't really doing the strength training yet.

03:22But people who are lifting and also the women that are lifting and then going through, like, menopausal symptoms, hormonal symptoms, shifting in that regard, need this support on the back end. So, most women that we work with in Warrior Beam, when they discover they're eating, like, half of that, some less, and that gap between, like, what they are eating and what their body actually needs is doing direct damage to their muscle mass, their metabolism, and their ability to change their body composition no matter how well anything else is dialed in.

03:56So, the fix is, well, how much protein are you even eating in a day? You know, because I've had conversations. I've done weekly trainings at this point, and I've talked to upwards of over, like, 20 women in the last couple weeks by just doing these weekly trainings every single Thursday at 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. And it's so funny because there was one particularly, the one that I had last week was, like, I'm doing everything right. I'm doing everything right. I'm working out. I'm eating healthy. Yada, yada, yada. I'm, like, how much do we know? How much do we actually know how much we're eating on a daily basis?

04:27Like, what does eating healthy look like? And we're just like, well, yeah, I don't know. So, like, that to me is like, okay, we're just probably eating that breakfast, that lunch, that dinner. And, yeah, you're eating healthy. You're making healthy choices, sure. But are you still giving your body what it needs? The only way that you're going to be able to know that is by the data, you guys, not by an emotional response and being like, yeah, I'm eating good. Yeah, I'm doing better. What is the data? And the data is looking at MyFitnessPal, downloading MyFitnessPal and tracking your intake for seven days and seeing realistically where you're at.

05:02And then make it a non-negotiable to get to at least, if you're at 70 grams of protein, okay, step one would be let me get to 100. Step two would be, like, let me get to 120. Step three would be the goal of whatever one gram per pound of body weight is for you or 1.2. That's the goal. So it's, like, working up in those steps. So that's the mistake number one that I see is not eating enough and, more importantly, not eating enough of the protein. And just a full stop has to happen there.

05:33You got – if there's anything you pay attention to, pay attention to your protein intake. The second mistake that I see is backloading all of your protein at dinner. So I see this often and it's one that most women never realize that they're actually making. You eat light during the day. You have that coffee for breakfast. You have a salad for lunch. You do an avocado and toast for breakfast. You have the oatmeal and the fruit. Then you have lunch time, which is, you know, the chicken breast and the salad.

06:03And then dinner is, like, the first real meal. Like, and then there's the protein-heavy one. You have chicken or you have fish or you have beef or you have – and you have a good portion of it, like a solid macro breakdown. And then you feel good about your protein for the day. That's the typical, you know, what I see, what I've heard. Also, what I lived 10 years ago, you guys, when I was also starting my journey too as well, where I thought that I was doing better. But here's the problem. Your body can only use so much protein at one meal to trigger protein – muscle protein synthesis.

06:33The process of you building and repairing muscle tissue. So, roughly, the threshold is 30 to 40 grams per meal for most women. Like, eating 80 or 100 grams of protein at dinner does not produce a proportionally bigger muscle-building response for you. Like, that excess gets used for energy or it's excreted. The muscle-building signal does not just – it doesn't just, like, poof into existence. Like, this is going to help me with my workout that I did today.

07:04You need to be divvying up and spreading your protein across every single meal. So, going back to what I just said a second ago is, like, there are women that are eating maybe 120 grams of protein a day. They're eating 10 grams of breakfast, 20 at lunch, 90 at dinner. This is only triggering muscle protein synthesis once a day. A woman eating the same 120 grams spread across four meals at 30 is triggering it four times a day. You get what I'm saying? You guys tracking with me here? Like, same total protein intake but dramatically different muscle-building outcome.

07:35So, this is where I would say spread your protein across every single meal. Like, breakfast is 30 grams. Lunch is 30 grams. Dinner is 30 grams. A snack in between is 30 grams. And you're aiming for that goal – that gram per each meal. So, and then depending whatever your overall – like, I'm talking on our trainings on a weekly basis around this. It's like so many women are like, well, that seems like so much. I was like, but it's because you probably haven't actually seen what that actually looks like in a day for you. When you see how much it actually is in a day for you, it's really not that much food.

08:08Like, there's an Instagram reel that I posted last week where it's me showing you 110 or 100 grams of what 11 ounces of protein looks like, which is 100 grams of protein. And it's really not that much food. Just think about divvying up that 100 grams of chicken into four meals throughout the day. It's really not that much food. And like, this is what I would also lean in. It's like, you don't know what you don't know yet. So, just show yourself what that actually looks like and your mind will be expanded in that realm.

08:39So, build your day around your protein distribution. You have the protein total. Divvy it up into four meals. Divide whatever your protein target is. Divide it by four or five meals in a day. That's your easiest way of looking like, okay, then I need 30 to 35 grams of protein in each meal. This is an absolute game changer, you guys. Okay? Hey, while you're listening, if you're getting value from this episode, take a moment to tap that review button or share this podcast with a friend. It's a small gesture that goes a long way in helping more women find their way to feeling stronger and more confident in their skin.

09:13I appreciate you so much for taking the time to support this show. The third one is, the third mistake is me. This one's quieter than the other ones, but it's costing women results without them ever really knowing why. It's relying on incomplete protein sources. Not all protein is equal. Specifically, not all protein contains all nine essential amino acids that your body needs to trigger a full muscle protein synthesis response. Protein sources that contain all nine are called complete proteins. Sources missing one or more are called incomplete.

09:47So I talked about this before. I think there's an entire podcast on complete and incomplete proteins. But just to sum it up here really quick for this third mistake is complete proteins are primarily animal based. Like chicken, beef, fish, eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, whey protein, etc. They give your body the full set of the muscle building blocks that it needs. Incomplete proteins are primarily plant based proteins like nuts, beans, nut butters, lentils, oats, most protein plant powders.

10:23They're valuable foods, but they're missing one or more of the essential amino acids that your body needs for the muscle building response. And there's a world that I'm going to talk about in a second where you can make complete protein from plant based protein sources. But this is where a lot of women run into trouble here. Protein on toast for breakfast or having a handful of almonds as a snack or just focus primarily on having oats and fruit as a morning meal. All of these count toward protein grams.

10:56Yes, on a tracking app, but none of them are actually delivering the complete amino acid profile that triggers you having optimal muscle protein synthesis as an outcome. You can be hitting your protein number on a paper and in a tracking app and still not getting the muscle building response that you want because the sources are not complete. So the fix here. I actually have a few. In order for you to make, if you are primarily plant based, this is where you've got to be more intentional too with your intake, you guys, is you can make, you can put two incomplete protein sources together and they will make a complete protein source.

11:34So you could put nuts and oatmeal together and they'll make a complete protein source. You can add two of those together and they will give you a complete protein. And then my second fix for you guys would be just making sure you're anchoring every meal around a complete protein source. So having eggs, having chicken, having fish, having Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, lean beef, whey, like those that focus primarily on eating animal sources, this is going to be more of a positive outcome for you guys. I'm not saying that it's not going to be more of a positive outcome for anyone that's plant based.

12:08It just, again, makes you have to look at your nutritional intake on a daily basis a little bit more intentional. Okay, so that's the third mistake. The fourth mistake that I see is not accounting for leucine. And this one is not, this one is one that not a lot of women talk about. This one gets absolutely no airtime or no talk time or no conversational whereabouts happening in the fitness space. And it's one of the most important amino acids in the entire muscle building conversation.

12:38Leucine is a specific amino acid that is most responsible for triggering muscle protein synthesis. So think of it as like a key that starts the engine. Your body needs a minimum leucine threshold. Roughly it's two to three grams per meal to fully activate that muscle building response. Below that threshold, the signal, it just gets weak. But above it, it's going to fire properly and it's going to produce that muscle protein synthesis outcome. Animal based proteins are naturally high in leucine.

13:12So whey protein is especially rich in it, which is one of the reasons whey has such a strong muscle building response compared to other protein sources. Again, favorable. Animal based proteins are high in this. This is where we need to get a little bit more intentional. Again, if you are just primarily eating plant based, they're significantly lower in leucine, which means that a woman getting most of your protein from plant sources,

13:42even if you're hitting your target gram protein for the day, may not be reaching that leucine threshold that is required to fully activate muscle protein synthesis at each meal. So for women over 40, where the muscle building signal is already being blunted, like I talked about by anabolic resistance, this matters even more. You need this signal to fire as cleanly and as possible every time that you eat protein. So it's like thinking about it, like if I could sum this up in a matter of like one point,

14:16is as you get older, your body's ability to effectively use protein like it did 10 years ago has a lighter, has a smaller chance, which is why it makes it all the more important to be eating protein and to making sure that if you are making these mistakes to fix them. So the fix for this one is prioritizing those leucine rich protein sources, getting in whey, getting in eggs, getting in chicken, beef, fish, especially in your post-workout meal. If you're plant based though, I would consider this is where I would get like essential amino acids as a supplement

14:50because you're going to be and drink that throughout the day because it's going to help still in making sure that you're firing off that leucine gram amount needed per day. So adding in a leucine supplement or blending plant protein sources to increase that leucine content per meal, really important. This is why like a lot of women that are plant based, when I talk about creatine, it's like you guys aren't getting natural creatine that you get from eating animal sources

15:22because anything that has a mom and a dad will make natural creatine sources. Plant based proteins don't do that. So it's like all the more, I mean, everyone in my opinion should be taking creatine, but all the more reason to take the creatine, especially if you are plant based. So that's the fourth one. So, so far we've talked about not eating enough of the protein and just full stopping that. The second mistake is backloading all of your protein at dinner.

15:53So making sure that you are spreading your protein out through the day with 30 grams of protein per meal. And then the third mistake is relying on incomplete protein sources. So making sure that you're getting complete protein sources and anchoring every meal around those types or blending two incomplete together to make it complete. And then the last one we just talked about is paying attention to the leucine and make sure that you are, you're getting enough leucine content per meal.

16:28The fifth one, and this one, this one surprises a lot of women when I talk about it. And it's one of the most common mistakes that I see in the training and nutrition space is I get asked all the time, well, I just had surgery or I have an injury or, you know, I'm resting on this day. Should I reduce my protein intake? Your muscles do not rebuild during your workout. They rebuild after. So, and even if you have an injury or you had surgery, protein helps with repairing wounds.

17:01And rest days, like during recovery, during sleep, you're rebuilding after your workout. The training creates the signal. The rebuilding happens in the 24 to 48 hours after. And the rebuilding process requires that protein as that raw material to help to build the muscle. Which means that your rest days are actually the days that your body needs most, needs most of the protein to do the work. So, reducing your protein on these days, on the days you do not train, eating lighter because you were not active,

17:32is removing the material at the exact moment your body's actually trying to use it. Most women think of protein as just like workout fuel. It is actually recovery fuel. And recovery happens on the days that you rest. So, the fix here is your protein target does not change on rest days. You hit that same number every single day of the week. Even if it, even if, if it's a, if it's post-surgery, even if you're recovering from an injury, you still keep that protein intake on a daily basis.

18:03Training days, rest days, travel days, holidays, recovering from a surgery, recovering from injury every day. So, quick recovery all five. Mistake number one, not eating enough. Focus on getting enough protein in on your day. Every day. Mistake number two, backloading at dinner. Spread, spread your protein across every single meal. Mistake number three, relying on incomplete protein sources. Anchor every meal around a complete protein source. Animal-based, full amino, full amino acid profile. Mistake number four, ignoring leucine.

18:35Prioritizing leucine resources is your fix. Then mistake number five, reducing protein on those rest days or if you're having surgery or you have an injury, your muscles are rebuilding on rest days and they're rebuilding and helping with wounds or injuries. So, keep that protein the same every day of the week. Fix these five things around how you work in summing your protein and your protein will finally start doing what it's supposed to do. It's going to help protect your muscle better. It's going to support your metabolism. It's going to produce a body composition change that you've been working so hard for. I dive even deeper into talking about like macronutrients as a key to help you understand why you may be stuck

19:12and ways to help you out of that in a weekly training on Thursdays at 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. I'm linking that link in the description below. I highly recommend you guys go register and be at the next one. All right. I'll see you guys in the next podcast. Peace out. Hey, really quick before you go, I have one small favor to ask. If this episode brought you value or sparked something in you, take just a moment to hit that review button. Your rating and review make all of the difference. Helping more women discover the tools they need to transform the fitness and their confidence.

19:47It takes less than a minute, but it can change the path of someone else's journey. Thank you so much for leaving that review. I appreciate you so much.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.