Most adults eat around 16% of their calories as protein, but research on muscle retention and satiety points to a target closer to 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight for active people — for an 80 kg person that's about 128 grams a day. The problem is rarely knowing the number. It's that protein tends to pile up at dinner and go missing at breakfast, so you end up chasing it at 9pm with a protein shake. A high-protein meal plan that sticks is mostly about distribution and defaults, not motivation.
Figure out your daily target
Start from your body weight and your goal. A common evidence-based range is 1.4-2.0 g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, with the higher end for people in a calorie deficit or training hard to preserve muscle. Convert it to a single daily number you can actually aim at, then forget the formula.
Spread protein across the day
Your body uses protein more effectively when it arrives in moderate doses throughout the day rather than one giant dinner. A useful rule of thumb is roughly 25-40 grams per meal across three or four eating occasions. That front-loads breakfast — the meal where most people fall short.
- Breakfast: eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, or a protein-forward smoothie (aim ~30g).
- Lunch: a palm-or-two of chicken, fish, tofu, or legumes over grains and greens.
- Dinner: a lean protein plus a starch and vegetables — the easiest meal to hit.
- Snack: yogurt, edamame, jerky, or a shake to close any gap.
Make the high-protein choice the default
Willpower is a terrible meal-planning strategy. The reliable move is to remove the decision: plan the week so protein is built into every meal before you're hungry and tired. This is exactly the problem Mise's athlete plans are tuned for — set a protein floor and the week is generated to hit it, with refeed and training days handled automatically. If you'd rather understand the cooking side, our guide to checking doneness keeps lean proteins juicy instead of dry, which is half the battle in eating more of them.
Cook in batches so the plan survives a busy week
The single highest-leverage habit is cooking a batch of protein on a prep day — grilled chicken, a pot of lentils, hard-boiled eggs — so the protein at each meal is a 30-second assembly instead of a cooking project. Pair it with grains and roasted vegetables and the week takes care of itself.
A high-protein plan you'll stick to isn't about discipline. It's about deciding once, distributing sensibly, and prepping so the easy choice is already in the fridge.