Tips to increase protein & general meal prep ideas

[Tree2026]

Hi all, new to mounjaro today, first time of trying anything like this. I'm 42, and 16 stone 4lbs, at 5ft 4. Hoping to lose 5 stone.

I know some of my biggest challenges will be eating enough protein (my recommended amount is 119g a day!), especially if I get symptoms such as nausea (I usually get symptoms from medications).

Any tips for making sure I hit my goal? Any apps or websites you have found useful, especially to assist with meal planning ? (I am UK based, with all major supermarkets in easy distance).

I find not getting too stressed about meeting really high protein goals every day is useful.

Any app that will break down what food you eat into the basic macros will tell you how much protein you've eaten. If you eat meat there are more options than if you are vegetarian or vegan and there are loads of websites that will suggest low cal high protein meals. If you don't mind using AI, they can be useful tools to suggest meal plans if you specify your macro requirements, and any food preferences, as long as you double check its workings for mistakes.

Thoroughly recommend Nutracheck app for tracking food. you get 1 week free, then about £30 for the year, no adverts, and has all UK food available. Have been using for 18 months, can't fault it. Can also track your weight, measurements and BMI

Thanks both. Silenceinside - I know you are right. And getting fixated on not hitting goals are likely to make me want to give you before I've properly started. I guess I have just read a lot about side effects if you fail to eat enough protein etc.

Jabbajibba - thankfully, after a bit of googling before buying a myfitnesspal subscription, I stumbled across Nutracheck this morning! Giving the free 7 day trial a go before I decide for sure

Try making building on small sustainable changes over time.

Increase your chances of getting near a realistic target by trying to incorporate protein in every meal, including breakfast.

Try chatGPT tell it to make you a 5 day menu with your daily calorie, protein and fibre targets, then get it to remove things you don’t like. It’s good for some ideas of how to fit protein and fibre in.

I also recommend Nutracheck, I've been on it 18 months and it's fantastic. Can use it to track your weightloss too, as well as protein/fibre.

I have greek yogurt, blueberries and skinny syrup for breakfast (and sometimes protein yogurt instead). Longely Farm cottage cheese and ready flavoured chicken pieces with a protein bagel for lunch. And all the usual family dinners. If I'm far off my daily goal I'll have a MyProtein clear whey protein drink- my fave is the strawberry lemonade- tastes like squash and is 20g of protein per drink.

I tried online meal prep plans which always seemed to have good reviews but eventually I concluded there is just no way of cooking broccoli in a way that it tastes nice 3-4 days later! I got a pressure cooker and each weekend make a big pot of either chilli or Bolognese with 5% mince and lots of extra veg, or a chicken curry (with no dairy and limiting the oil it's still healthy) or a chicken and veg soup. I put a few portions in the freezer so I build up a stock. I find when I'm not feeling motivated to eat, having something in the fridge that I can microwave but is basically meat + veg is ideal, it's nutritious, keeps well and it's a good habit for future when/if I try coming off the jabs.

Another nutracheck user, and one of the main benefits I've found over other apps is that it's possible to make a batch recipe once, weigh it, and input it into nutracheck. Then I can record 300g or 500g of X meal every time I have it, rather than try to decide what a 'portion' is.

I’d definitely avoid trying to hit the whole 119g in just a couple of meals. Greek yoghurt, eggs, cottage cheese, tofu and protein-rich snacks are easy ways to spread it throughout the day, and batch cooking a couple of meals at the weekend makes it much less effort when you’re busy

Enough protein is vital - but in my experience (1 year of maintenance on Tuesday !), hitting 30g of fibre and drinking loads of water were just as important.
(And cheaper - think bran flakes with bananas and baked beans on wholemeal toast).