'I ate high-protein breakfasts for 30 days – the results shocked me'
Throughout my undergrad years, I would often tuck myself in at night and dream of my daily morning blueberry bagel with cream cheese and a mocha latte. (Hey, I needed something to motivate me for that 7:45am lecture.) Now, in young adulthood, I've realised that my bagel habit just wasn’t offering the fuel necessary for a typical workday. Not only did I find myself reaching for a snack at 10.30am, but I dreaded the midday crash.
Thus, my quest for the perfect high-protein breakfast began—a meal that could give me the necessary energy for every meeting and deadline. I decided to try making a quick high-protein breakfast every single day for 30 days straight to not only solidify a healthier breakfast routine in my life, but to also see if all of the supposed benefits of packing more protein in first thing were actually true.
And while bagels are still a nice weekend treat, easy-to-make protein-packed breakfasts wildly transformed my day-to-day life and energy. Here are all the benefits I experienced from 30 days of eating high-protein breakfast recipes.
Starting your day with protein has serious benefits, which motivated me
While researching online the benefits of protein intake and figuring out the easiest way to execute a month of high-protein mornings, I landed on Women's Health UK's high-protein recipe guide, which featured more than 20 recipes, with several options for breakfast, as well as lunch and dinner. I figured this resource was a good place to start.
No matter if you prefer animal or plant proteins, you will reap countless rewards if you have protein with every meal of the day and in your snacks.
Protein isn’t just important for building and maintaining muscle, it can also help boost metabolism, support your immune system, manage weight, and even increase energy levels. I was psyched to get started to reap these benefits... and then some. So I signed up.
At first, I worried that the breakfast meal prep was going to derail my mornings, but I was quickly proven wrong
After quickly skimming the plan, I saw breakfast recipe names such as blueberry protein pancakes, PB&J overnight oats, and egg breakfast muffins - which sounded delicious yet potentially time-consuming. (I’ll be the first to admit that getting out of bed can be tough for me, and I often find myself sprinting out the door to workout classes, breakfast dates, and early meetings.) So, I thrive on meal-prepping in the evenings to make my mornings smooth. But the recipes were actually super easy and took 30-ish minutes, and all of them produced several breakfasts-worth of food.
As a certified quiche lover, the egg muffin recipe in the recipe guide piqued my interest (and, spoiler, it hit every time). I found it easiest to double the recipe, which yielded two full weeks of muffins. This also barely felt like tedious meal prep because it took 35 minutes, at most, to complete and didn’t require grilling chicken, boiling rice, or steaming veggies, for instance.
I whisked these typical pantry ingredients in one bowl, tossed the batter in muffin tins, and finished my Netflix show until the kitchen timer went off. They froze well and reheated in the microwave in a little over a minute. Once wrapped in foil, I could throw them in my bag and eat in the car.
I also got overwhelmed for a hot second that I wouldn't understand how much protein to actually include in each breakfast, and how that would impact the rest of my protein needs throughout the day, but the manual came with a guide to calculating your protein needs (and advice about spacing it out evenly throughout the day). I was around 72kg when I started my experiment, so calculated that I needed about 86-87 grams of protein daily to start.
I set a gentle goal for myself to aim for roughly 20 to 28 grams at breakfast. Since the breakfast recipes generally packed between 20 and 28 grams, I really didn't have to do any thinking about the protein number and knew I was getting what I needed in a serving.
All in all, eating high-protein breakfasts consistently was really not as complicated as I thought – and the positive changes I experienced shocked me.
Within only a few days of upping my protein in the morning, I noticed my alertness was so much better
The midday slump used to be so real for me. I am already a self-described 'sleepy girl,' and when the clock hit around 1pm, my body immediately believed it was nap time. However, after a chocolate peanut butter power shake or an open-face frittata sandwich, I felt satiated well through the mid-afternoon and was no longer yawning after lunch. Considering this was the only lifestyle habit I had changed recently, I chalked it up to my newfound protein goals, as protein helps prevent blood sugar spikes and crashes that lead to a snoozy afternoon.
I was also able to satisfy my sweet tooth in healthier ways, which helped me curb sugar cravings
I would wake up actually craving the chocolate peanut butter power shake recipe from; it was creamy and thick and tasted like a legit milkshake.
I love chocolate and have to have at least a little sweet treat every day, and this healthy alternative helped satisfy a craving right at the top of the morning, yet it included 27 grams of protein at fewer than 400 calories. After scratching that sweet itch, I was no longer yearning for more sweets as the day went on. (Pro tip: I added a shot of espresso to the mix to power me even more on my morning commute.)
Despite making no other changes to my routine, I lost five pounds across the 30 days
Throughout the experiment, I noticed feeling fuller for much longer after breakfast and into the afternoon. Instead of heading back to the kitchen to grab a granola bar or pack of crisps, I didn't have my usual mid-morning snack craving, which was a major win for me, as I was able to be more productive when I wasn't interrupted by hunger or cravings even before lunch. I also wasn't reaching for dessert nightly since the power shake satisfied me in a healthier way in the morning.
To my surprise, these seemingly small shifts to my eating each day appeared to have led to weight loss.
I felt stronger during workouts
I am obsessed with going to cycling classes. In the early autumn, I found myself struggling to stay on beat during 45-minute rides at my local studio. But about 10 days into my high-protein breakfast experience, I found myself keeping up with the instructor, and even going above and beyond in class, adding resistance and hitting the beat of the music with more ease than before.
3 ways to make high-protein breakfast prep even easier
This protein-packed meal switcheroo has motivated me to adjust other habits in my life, and now, I am on my way to getting in better shape and having the energy to reach more personal and professional goals.
Just be prepared to schedule a night when you have a spare half-hour to, say, craft half a month’s worth of quick egg muffins. Or, set your alarm 10 minutes earlier to make a quick grab-and-go smoothie in the am. I know that may sound like a lot of time to lose, but I cannot overstate how good it will make you feel in the long-run. Here are my top tips for making this habit change easier for you too.
1. Don't be surprised if your body needs a few days to adjust to your new breakfasts
Full transparency: The first few days of higher protein counts made my stomach feel bloated and uncomfortable – which is a normal side effect of upping your protein intake suddenly for some people. I found relief within a few days, but making sure I ate fibre-packed lunches (think: grain bowls, roasted vegetables) to keep things moving and drinking plenty of water all day long helped my digestive system hit its stride and adjust to the new boost.
2. Keep your ingredients organised
The first thing I did to make this plan really work for me was get all of my powders in a row, literally. I kept my protein, peanut butter, and cocoa powders, as well as common spices all in one cabinet for easy access while measuring. Then, in my fridge, I reserved a specific corner for my breakfast meal prep eggs, cottage cheese, milk, grated cheese, and other repeated ingredients.
It may sound odd to have 'meal prep eggs' and 'family eggs,' for example, but it worked for me and my sanity – I never opened the box to find only one egg and could reach for ingredients on autopilot. Few things frustrate me more than my things being out of place when I’m on a time crunch.
3. Make a schedule, even if it's loose and flexible
Keep in the back of your mind that you will need to set aside time at night to meal prep, should you choose that route. It was my preferred method and made my mornings a breeze. You don’t have to pressure yourself to be at home every Sunday night, but simply make a plan and put a half hour in your calendar once your freezer stash starts to diminish.
I also made a weekly grocery schedule (again, put all reminders in your phone or calendar so you don't forget!) where I would pick up or have ingredients delivered that didn’t freeze well such as in the case of the silken tofu in the chocolate peanut butter shake.
My 30-day high-protein breakfast challenge gave me the push I needed to really dial in my macros
I genuinely feel committed now to centering my meals around protein. If 30 days can help me lose weight and feel more energetic in my work and personal life, I will be literally unstoppable if I keep it up – and I will. Challenging myself to 30 days of breakfasts also naturally encouraged me to think more about my protein intake at lunch and dinner. So, the healthy habits I developed from this experiment bled into the rest of my meals too. A win-win-win.
From: Women's Health US
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