Have you ever felt like you weren’t eating enough protein? I’ve known about it for years. At home, my diet is mostly plant-based, and I have to admit that I’ve been a bit lazy about taking a serious look at it.
But in reality, it’s not just a “vegetarian or vegan problem”: even with a conventional diet, we often fall short of the recommended intake.
Why did I become so interested? Because, from the age of 35 onwards, you start to lose muscle mass. As an ex-physiotherapist, I’m well aware of the consequences this can have over the years: less strength, more difficulty in remaining independent in daily life.
Of course, you might think that 35 is too young to worry about it… but in fact, it’s better to start now (and even before!).
In this article, I share how I simply increased my protein intake. We’ll also see how much protein you really need, depending on whether you’re a woman, a man, an athlete or not, and why it’s so important to get enough.
♻️ Last update: November 3, 2025
Written by Nelly Darbois, physiotherapist and scientific editor
Why it’s important to eat enough protein
Protein isn’t just for “building muscle” or for top athletes.
They are used to :
- maintain muscle mass,
- regenerate tissue (e.g. to consolidate a fracture, heal a wound),
- produce the enzymes and hormones we need,
- support our immune system.
Adequate intake also helps preserve your physical strength and independence over the years.
How much protein do we really need?
Needs vary according to several criteria:
- age,
- sex,
- body weight,
- level of physical activity.
General recommendations are around 0.8 to 1 g per kilo of body weight per day for an adult.
However, for active people, or from their thirties onwards when muscle mass naturally begins to decline, it is often advisable to aim a little higher, at around 1.2 to 1.6 g/kg/day.
Example: I’m a 35-year-old woman, weighing 57 kg, walking 7,000 to 10,000 steps a day and doing 2 to 3 sessions of running or walking with a difference in altitude (400 m) a week. I therefore need around 70g of protein a day (1.2*57).
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Estimate your daily protein range based on age, body weight, and activity level.
How do you know if you’re getting enough protein?
To find out if you’re eating enough protein, here’s how I recommend you proceed:
- you change nothing in your diet;
- for one week you record your meals on an application (I use FatSecret, free and easy to use) or a food diary;
- after a week, compare your intake with your estimated requirements.
This makes it possible to become aware of any shortcomings and make gradual adjustments.
How I increased my daily protein intake
As I was saying, I’m starting out with some pretty strong constraints:
- No meat or fish at home (out of ethical and environmental conviction 🌍)
- Limited egg consumption (for the same reasons)
- Not much time to spend in the kitchen ⏱️
- And the desire to stick to my usual local stores (Lidl, Carrefour, Décathlon) without multiplying addresses.
In short, I had to find solutions that were simple, accessible and compatible with my lifestyle.
Protein-enriched products 🥛
At Lidl, I’ve discovered quite a few protein-enriched dairy desserts: between 12 and 15 g of protein per portion, in different flavors. It’s practical and tasty.
👉 The downside: it’s still animal products, so it doesn’t completely fit with my wish to limit this type of food.
Practical snacks 🍫
At Décathlon, I found protein bars (10 to 12 g of protein per bar). I’m a chocolate fan, but there are lots of different flavors.
👉 The downside: these products are often sweet.
I’m realizing that it’s much easier to find “sweet” proteins than “savory” proteins ready to eat, without getting into the kitchen.
Plant-based alternatives 🌱
Fortunately, the shelves have become much larger:
- Soy products (tofu, fermented soybeans),
- Merguez, chipolatas or meatlessvegetable nuggets, quite rich in protein,
- Falafels or preparations based on chickpeas and legumes.
These options are a good compromise, although often a little more expensive 💸. Of course, if you don’t like processed products, it’s possible to cook this type of preparation yourself…
Crustaceans 🍤 and eggs
From time to time, I have shrimp gyozas (crustaceans don’t feel pain) or similar dishes. I also eat eggs regularly.
It’s quick, relatively high in protein, and gives me variety. However, the problem of animal origin is not solved.
Bread 🍞
I’ve always been a big fan of bread. I prefer wholemeal bread with seeds , which is the type of bread that contains the most protein (but I often make exceptions).
My advice: simply look at the labels in your usual stores and identify products that appeal to you and contain at least 10g of protein per 100 grams.
Is there a risk in eating too much protein?
For a long time now, we’ve been hearing that too much protein could “strain the kidneys” or harm the liver.
This fear goes back to experiments carried out over a century ago on rats, which seemed to show kidney damage when fed a very high-protein diet… under very specific conditions (animals operated on, unbalanced diet).
Other studies on rodents have shown the opposite: no harmful effects, and even benefits for liver health.
👉 The real challenge, above all, is defining what we call “too much protein”. According to the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), an intake of 1.4 to 2 g/kg/day is not only safe in active people, but can even improve training adaptations.
Above 2 g/kg/day, we enter what research generally refers to as a “high-protein diet”.
🧪 The most recent data show that, in young, athletic, healthy adults, consuming up to 3 g/kg/day of protein does not cause damage to the kidneys, liver or blood lipids, even over a prolonged period.
⚠️ On the other hand, there are not yet many long-term studies on different populations (elderly, sedentary, or suffering from pathologies). For them, caution remains the watchword.
In short, if you’re healthy and active, aiming for between 1.5 and 2 g/kg/day is safe, and even beyond that (up to 3 g/kg/day), current research shows no particular danger.
***
That’s all I wanted to say on the subject! Any questions or comments? See you in comments!
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📚 SOURCES
Antonio J, Ellerbroek A, Silver T, Vargas L, Tamayo A, Buehn R, Peacock CA. A High Protein Diet Has No Harmful Effects: A One-Year Crossover Study in Resistance-Trained Males. J Nutr Metab. 2016;2016:9104792. doi: 10.1155/2016/9104792. Epub 2016 Oct 11. PMID: 27807480; PMCID: PMC5078648.
Schalla J, Frommelt S, Geisler S, Isenmann E. Is there a beneficial effect of a high-protein diet on body composition and strength capacity in physically active middle-aged individuals-An eight-week randomized controlled trial. Front Sports Act Living. 2024 Apr 30;6:1346637. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2024.1346637. PMID: 38746828; PMCID: PMC11091325.
Kitada M, Ogura Y, Monno I, Koya D. The impact of dietary protein intake on longevity and metabolic health. EBioMedicine. 2019 May;43:632-640. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2019.04.005. Epub 2019 Apr 8. PMID: 30975545; PMCID: PMC6562018.
Written by Nelly Darbois
I enjoy writing articles that answer your questions, drawing on my experience as a physiotherapist and scientific writer, as well as extensive research in international scientific literature.
I live in the French Alps☀️🏔️, where I enjoy the simple pleasures of life (+ I’m a Wikipedia consultant and the founder of Wikiconsult).
