50 Grams of Protein a Day Meal Plan – Easy Guide for Healthy Living

In this post, we’ll look at the 50 grams of protein a day meal plan and what it entails. But before that, you need to know that protein is an important micronutrient that’s useful for repairing tissues, building muscles, and promoting good overall health (7).

Different people may need different amounts of protein based on their body weight, age, activity level, sex, health condition, and goals. For a sedentary individual, body weight and goals are the strongest determinants of the amount of protein to consume. So, what is a 50g of protein a day meal plan all about?

What Is a 50 Grams of Protein a Day Meal Plan?

A 50g of protein a day meal plan is a guide that helps you stick to about 50 grams of protein per day across all your meals. To understand this amount of protein, it’s also important to note the daily protein requirements – that is 0.8g of protein per kg of body weight (5).

This means that a person who weighs 50 kg should eat approximately 40g of protein daily to meet this recommended dietary allowance. However, for this diet plan, you eat 50g of protein daily, regardless of your body weight. You’ll find a lot of examples and meal plans in this guide that you can try if you want to stick to 50g of protein a day.

How to Find out Your Protein Intake Goal

While you may want to stick to 50 grams of protein a day as in this meal plan, it’s important to understand that your protein intake goal will be dependent on numerous factors, including the following:

•         Body Weight – When finding out your intake goal, it’s important to understand that body weight affects the amount of protein you should take. For example, if you want to build muscles, you need to take enough protein for your body based on your weight.
•         Activity Level – If you engage in a lot of physical activity, you need to take in more protein than if you lead a sedentary lifestyle.
•         Age – Recent studies have shown that protein requirements increase with age. Older adults, usually 50+ years old, require more protein than younger adults. This is required to maintain their muscle mass and to promote overall health and well-being. This is why it’s recommended for adults who are over 50 to eat 1.2-1.6g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day (8).
•         Sex – The difference in body composition and muscle mass makes it necessary for men to eat more protein than women.
•         Health Condition – Your protein intake goal may also be affected by your health condition. For example, if you have any condition or disease, this may necessitate the need to adjust your protein intake.

What Food Has the Highest Protein?

Chicken breast is one of the foods with the highest protein content. It contains approximately 31g of protein per 100g serving (1). There are also others that are high in protein content, such as tuna, which contains about 26g of protein per 100g serving. It’s important to note that most animal proteins are complete with nine essential amino acids, while most plant-based ones are not.

Therefore, if you’re on a high-protein diet and want to reach your protein goal easily, you should include either chicken breasts or tuna in your diet plan.

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Can I Build Muscle with 50g of Protein?

50g of protein per day may be low when it comes to building weight. It’s just enough to maintain and live a healthy life. Muscle building will require a bit more protein than 50g per day. As earlier mentioned, sedentary individuals or those who don’t engage in a lot of activities require approximately 0.8g per kilogram of body weight.

For building muscles, you’ll need a higher amount of protein per day. Studies recommend about 1.6-2.2g of protein per kilogram of body weight for people engaged in regular exercises or resistance training (9). Therefore, if you’re building muscles, you should aim for at least 1.6g per kilogram of your body weight.

Read more: Are You Tired of Feeling Hungry All the Time? Build a Healthy High-Protein Meal Plan That Actually Works

How Can I Get 50 Grams of Protein a Day?

It’s possible to get 50g of protein a day when you have a diet plan with some strategic food choices. Your plan should include high-protein foods with a balance of carbohydrates, fats, and other nutrients that are essential to your body.

In addition, you need to break down your meals into breakfast, lunch, and dinner and then identify the meals where you’ll include more protein sources. Here are some 50g of protein examples:

Example 1 (50g protein)

•         Breakfast (14g of protein) – 2 boiled eggs, 1 slice of whole-wheat bread, black tea or coffee.
•         Lunch (18g of protein) – grilled chicken breast, ½ cup of cooked rice.
•         Dinner (17g of protein) – ½ cup of tofu and ¼ cup of almonds.

Example 2 (50g protein)

•         Breakfast (18g of protein) – 1 cup of Greek yogurt with berries and granola.
•         Lunch (15g of protein) – 3 ounces of baked tuna with salad and sandwich.
•         Dinner (17g of protein) – 1 cup of cooked whole-wheat pasta with sautéed vegetables and zucchini.

NB: The protein values are just approximate figures. You must adjust your proportions to ensure you get exactly 50g per day.

What Does a 50-Gram Protein Meal Look Like?

At this point, you already know what 50g of protein looks like. Just like in the above examples, you need to break down your meals into breakfast, lunch, and dinner if you’re eating three times a day. If you consume snacks between your meals, you need to incorporate these to ensure the total protein you take per day remains at approximately 50g. Of course, you can break down your meals to suit your lifestyle, for example:

•         Breakfast – 15g of protein
•         Lunch – 17g of protein
•         Dinner – 18g of protein

This is just a breakdown example of the amount of protein you could target in every meal. A real meal plan example would look like the following:

•         Breakfast (15g of protein) – ½ cup of oatmeal with milk and chia seeds.
•         Lunch (17g of protein) – 3 ounces of grilled chicken breast with some hummus and vegetables.
•         Dinner (18g of protein) – 3 ounces of baked salmon with some roasted Brussels sprouts and quinoa.

What Is a 50 Grams of Protein a Day Meal Plan for a Week?

Here’s an example of a 7-day high-protein meal plan that adds up to 50g of protein daily. You should note that these are just examples you can use to make your own diet plan. You can adjust the proportions or replace some foods with similar ones that have approximately the same amount of protein. Let’s take a look:

Day 1 (approximately 52g of protein)

•         Breakfast – 1 slice of whole-wheat bread and 2 scrambled eggs with spinach – (15g of protein).
•         Lunch – 4 ounces of canned tuna with mixed greens and salad – (18g of protein).
•         Dinner – roasted broccoli with 3 ounces of baked chicken breast (19g of protein).

Day 2 (approximately 50g of protein)

•         Breakfast – ¼ cup of berries and ½ cup of cottage cheese – (12g of protein).
•         Lunch – 1 ½ cups of lentil soup with whole-wheat roll – (20g of protein).
•         Dinner – steamed green beans with 3 ounces of baked salmon – (18g of protein).

Day 3 (approximately 51g of protein)

•         Breakfast – 2 tablespoons of chia seeds and 1 cup of Greek yogurt – (16g of protein).
•         Lunch – turkey breast sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes on whole-wheat bread – (17g of protein).
•         Dinner – 3 ½ ounces of tofu stir-fry with mixed vegetables – (18g of protein).

Day 4 (approximately 53g of protein)

•         Breakfast – ½ cup of oatmeal with milk and peanut butter – (14g of protein).
•         Lunch – 3 ounces of grilled shrimp with mixed vegetables and salad – (19g of protein).
•         Dinner – 3 ounces of lean ground beef with zucchini noodles – (20g of protein).

Day 5 (approximately 50g of protein)

•         Breakfast – ½ cup of almond milk with protein smoothie and a banana – (13g of protein).
•         Lunch – zucchini noodles with cooked lean ground beef – (18g of protein).
•         Dinner – 3 ounces of chicken with mixed vegetables – (17g of protein).

Day 6 (approximately 52g of protein)

•         Breakfast – 1 small apple with 2 boiled eggs – (13g of protein)
•         Lunch – ½ cup of chickpeas with avocado and whole-wheat bread – (21g of protein).
•         Dinner – ½ cup of cooked quinoa with 3 ounces of baked cod – (18g of protein).

Day 7 (approximately 51g of protein)

•         Breakfast – nuts with ¾ cup of cottage cheese – (17g of protein).
•         Lunch – quinoa with leftover baked cod – (16g of protein).
•         Dinner – whole-wheat pasta with 3 ounces of turkey meatballs – (18g of protein).

NB: These are just examples that you can alter to suit your personal needs. If you decide to include snacks between your meals, you must adjust the proportions to ensure you still get approximately 50g of protein per day.

Read more: Weekly High-Protein Meal Plan: Balanced Nutrition for Muscle Preservation and Weight Loss

Can I Have 50g of Protein in One Meal?

Yes, it’s technically possible to have 50g of protein in one meal. However, it’s not recommended as it doesn’t go well with protein synthesis, absorption, and utilization. It’s recommended to break your intake of protein into small portions rather than consuming it all at once. Therefore, you need to distribute your protein intake goal into your daily meals at breakfast, lunch, and dinner and even snacks if they are a part of your daily meal routine.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How many eggs do I need to eat for 50 grams of protein?

To get 50g of protein from eggs alone, you need to eat approximately 8 large eggs. One large egg contains about 6.3g of protein (4). However, if your daily goal is to eat 50g of protein, it’s not practical to get that from eggs alone and you’ll need to combine them with other protein sources.

• How can I eat 50g of protein for breakfast?

To eat 50g of protein for breakfast, you must combine a number of protein-rich foods that can include the following:

•         1 cup of Greek yogurt = 20g (11).
•         2 tbsp of peanut butter – 7g (6).
•         2 large eggs – 12.6g (4).
•         ½ cup of berries – 0.7g (2).
•         2 slices of whole-grain bread – 8g (10).
•         1 tbsp of chia seeds – 2g (3).

Total protein content = 50.3g.

• Which vegetable has the most protein?

Lentils and green peas are some of the vegetables that are highest in protein. Of course, there are other vegetables that are good sources of protein, such as edamame, which is a soybean.

• Which fruit has the most protein?

Among the common fruits, passion fruit is known to have the most protein. Its protein content of approximately 5g is relatively high compared to that of other common fruits.

The Bottom Line

It is evident that protein is an essential nutrient you need for building muscles and in the repair of body tissues among other functions. As mentioned, as an average adult with a not-so-active lifestyle, you need to consume about 0.8g of protein per 1kg of your body weight. This is just enough to run your body processes optimally.

Therefore, 50g of protein a day is an average that suits most average adults and it’s possible to ensure that your meals daily are balanced and with adequate protein. You can follow some of the examples of meal plans in this article if 50g per day of protein is what you’re aiming to achieve.