Transcript

I’m Jen Coppock, and today we’re going to be looking at the importance of protein while taking Mounjaro or any of the GLP-1 receptor agonists. Let’s break it down. What is protein?

Protein is basically one of the macronutrients, so macro means big nutrients, that we consume in our daily nutrition. There are three macronutrients: carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Carbohydrates and fats kind of work the same. They are slightly different, but on the whole, they both produce energy, so they’re the energy makers. Protein, however, is a separate thing. It’s something our bodies don’t make. Well, I’ll get to that later, but they can’t make protein from anything else. Your body can only take it from what you eat. It’s effectively the building blocks for your body, so it’s not about being there for energy. It’s about needing protein in order to create new cells, new tissue, and build muscle in the body.

Getting enough protein is important for everybody. It’s important for muscle health, immune function, and maintaining a healthy body. It helps with your skin, it helps with your nails, it helps with everything. It’s about creating and replacing cells. It’s important for everyone in their diet. It’s especially important when taking Mounjaro, Wegovy, or any of the semaglutide or weight loss drugs. Why is it important? Well, I’ll get onto a study in the nerd alert section.

When you are losing weight, your body will break down fat stores to create more energy, but you will lose muscle mass or lean mass, which is probably the more correct term to use. When you concentrate on eating protein, you will help to reduce the loss of that lean mass. The worst thing you could do is go on Mounjaro, lose a stone, and it turns out half of that was muscle. You’re now super lean and super skinny, but you don’t have any muscle. Muscle burns energy for you. So, you end up at your target weight, say nine stone, whatever you wanted to be, but you’ve lost all your muscle. Then, you kind of start returning back to normal eating, or maybe not, or making changes and stuff, but you won’t be able to burn the same amount of energy as you did before because you won’t have as much muscle mass.

You’ll have lost a lot of your muscle, a lot of the good stuff. Muscle helps fix metabolism and helps fix metabolic dysfunction. When you lose that, you’re potentially going to be lighter on the scales, but your body could potentially be in a worse state than it was initially when you started. So, you know, what do you want? Do you want weight loss or fat loss versus muscle loss? The ideal scenario is to have the weight loss but build on your muscle, or at least maintain it. If you manage to maintain or build on your muscle and lose the fat, great, you’re going to be in a fantastic metabolic state at the end of your Mounjaro journey. Whether you go on maintenance or whatever, you’re going to be in a better place for it.

The purpose of eating protein is to make sure that your body is getting enough nutrients to recreate the cells, to strengthen the cells, to make more muscle, and to make sure you don’t lose all your hair. I don’t think anyone’s going to lose all their hair, but you know, thinning hair and losing hair is a thing that keeps getting mentioned in the group a lot. Nails, your skin, it’s used throughout the body. One of the problems with Mounjaro and Ozempic is they impact what you feel like you want to eat. It helps stop you from getting hungry, so people stop eating as much food as they ideally should be eating.

I know a lot of people count calories, and I’ll give you all the heads up—I don’t believe in counting calories. I’ve done it way too many times in my life, and I’ve started this journey not counting any calories at all, and it’s so freeing. But if you are counting calories and that’s working for you, stick with it. Find what works for you and stick with that. Own it. Be happy with it. My focus is more on having variety and having nutrient-dense foods. When I started taking Mounjaro, I found that I wasn’t really getting hungry. I was forgetting to eat. It would get to one or two o’clock, and I’d think, “Oh, I haven’t had any lunch; I better go get something to eat.”

I never really had a problem eating whatever I put in front of myself, but I had to make sure that what I was eating—I knew I wasn’t going to have a huge appetite—so what I was eating had to be gold. It had to be really good for my body. I didn’t want to just fill it with bread or crackers or crap, basically. I wanted to make sure that I was getting a wide variety of nutrients in for my microbiome and for my body, really. Protein itself actually gets broken down into what they call amino acids. Then, you’ve got essential amino acids and non-essential amino acids.

Now, don’t be fooled—they are all essential. The reason why the non-essential ones are called non-essential amino acids is because your body can make them through other cells. When your body is replacing cells, rebuilding, recycling cell tissue, muscle tissue, whatever is in the body, when it’s breaking it down, it can strip it back to amino acids and put them back together again as other amino acids. It’s quite interchangeable. It can be reused and recycled. Essential amino acids, on the other hand, you can only get them through eating, and you can only get them by eating a variety of food.

Which is why, instead of counting calories, I’ve focused my efforts on—and you know if you want to copy this, feel free. I’ll put it on some sort of plan at some point. By focusing on variety, trying to make sure that you’re eating different foods throughout the day, trying to change it up a little bit each day. To be honest, I’m quite boring, and I eat the same sort of breakfast and the same sort of lunch every day. My evening meal will change, but on the whole, I do tend to eat the same sort of things.

But I base them around protein, and I try my best to make sure I don’t eat the same food more than once. Western diets, like bread, are key. Bread’s not evil; it’s actually not that bad. White bread, yes, and a lot of brown bread is actually white bread just in disguise. So, I’d watch for that. Bread gets a lot of bad press, but I think it’s not so much the bread; it’s how overly consumed it is. For example, you get up in the morning, and what do you have? You have toast, toasted jam bread. You get to lunch, and what do you have? A sandwich. Mid-afternoon snack? A bagel—bread. It gets to the evening meal, and you have—I don’t know—a chip butty.

You could easily stuff bread into every meal, and then all that does is fuel all the gut bacteria. Your body gets loads of bread nutrients, all the goodness from the bread, but you also get a lot of crap with bread, to be fair, depending on the bread. You’re flooding your system with bread and not getting anything else. One of the things I tried, because I realised I was eating way too much bread, is to try and replace the bread in every meal. I’m not having bread, or I’m only allowed it in one meal. In the morning, you get up, and instead of having toast, you might have oats. All of a sudden, you get all the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals from oats instead of just bread.

Then, at dinner, you think, “You know what? I’m not having a sandwich; I’m going to have a jacket potato.” So, you get all the nutrients from the potato. Then, for the evening meal, you might have bread. Fine, crack on. For a snack, you have Weetabix instead of toast, and you introduce more variety. It’s about trying to get as much variety as you can. I’m sorry, I’ve digressed away from protein, but it kind of goes along the same lines. Protein is a nutrient and is found in most foods. We often say, “Get your meat in, get your beans, your lentils.” Protein is actually found in a lot of stuff. Check any label on the back of anything. For example, oats. I don’t know the amount of protein in them off the top of my head, but there is protein in oats.

Protein helps you with your muscle mass, so it means that you’re not going to waste away and lose all your muscle mass on your weight loss journey. It helps support your metabolism. You’re going to be in a better metabolic state at the end. It helps with your immune system as well, and like I said, it helps your skin, your hair, your nails, all the pretty things. It also helps you feel full. Typically, protein makes you feel fuller for longer. But on the whole, the main thing is that your body needs it. Your body needs it in order to rebuild itself.

Your body is constantly breaking down your cells. It is constantly rebuilding your cells. If you’re starving it of protein and not giving it enough, it’s not going to be able to do the rebuilding optimally. It also means thatyour body is not going to be able to repair your cells as well as it could. It also means that you’re not going to get the muscle mass and you’re not going to be able to burn energy after the diet. You’ll be weaker, frailer, and more likely to get injured. Lots of awful, nasty, horrible things could happen. But they won’t happen because you’re watching this and you’re going to be on it.

We’re going straight into the Nerd Alerts, where we’re going to look at a study. This one was published in 2023. It looked at existing data from trials and studies, so it was more of a review of existing information out there. The link will be in the description. It compared fat and muscle loss among other metrics while taking the GLP-1 receptor agonists. It found that as much as 20 to 50% of weight loss was lean body mass.

I just want to highlight that lean body mass is different from muscle mass. Lean body mass includes your muscle but also water and soft tissue, like your organs. Anything that isn’t basically fat will be counted in this study. So, you’re losing 20 to 50% of non-fat body mass. It’s not the best study because it says that if you go on these medications, you’re going to lose loads of weight, but a lot of it is going to be stuff you don’t really want to lose, like water. Water is a key one because water is included.

You know, I feel a lot less bloated. I don’t know how you all feel, but I feel a lot less bloated and inflamed. There are signs that it reduces inflammation throughout the body, in the joints, and in the brain. It actually reduces inflammation in the brain. So, it’s not surprising that the number is so high. But the 20 to 50% number is comparable to other weight loss methods. For instance, having a gastric bypass, you would expect that the individuals undergoing that will lose 20 to 50% as well. So, it’s not isolated to just GLP-1 receptor agonists. If you lose weight through Mounjaro or Ozempic, you’ll probably lose 20 to 50%, but if you’re at Slimming World or having a gastric bypass, you’re probably going to lose about the same amount.

Because you’re on this weight loss journey, it is more important than ever to get the protein in. As I said, you can’t get it from anywhere else. Your body can’t get it from any other cells in the body. You’ve got the non-essential ones that can strip them down and use them for other things, but there are a lot of essential ones that your body needs, and you can only get them from your diet. By not focusing on protein, you run the risk of having deficiencies or protein deficiency with different amino acids or different proteins.

What about too much protein? How do you know what are the signs that you’re having too much protein? GI distress is one. If you’re having too much protein, it will overwhelm your system. Typically, it will cause bloating, wind, and diarrhoea. So, is it the Mounjaro causing the GI distress that people are feeling, or is it because everyone’s gone mad on protein all of a sudden and you’re overloading your systems? It could be both. Who knows without actually examining individuals? It’s just a general statement, but it’s a valid question. Are we seeing GI issues because of increased protein intake?

Too much protein can cause kidney issues. Now, bear with me, I’m not trying to scare you. If you have too much protein and you overwhelm the system, it gets turned into urine. By turning it into urine, it puts a heavier demand on your kidneys. Most normal, healthy people will probably be fine, but done consistently or if you have kidney issues already—so if you have type 2 diabetes and there’s a strain on the kidneys anyway—you could be adding more strain to them by increasing your protein too much.

I’d like to think that if that’s you and you do have a bit of a kidney issue and you’re a type 2 diabetic, you’re going to have doctor support. You can kind of say, “Don’t worry, Jen, I know all this; I’m looked after.” Cool, great. I worry that some of you may be watching this and thinking, “That sounds like me, and no one’s helping me.” If that’s the case, go to your GP and ask them. Hopefully, they know you’re on Mounjaro or Ozempic, and you’re type 2 or you have kidney issues. Having that discussion, asking, “Can someone help me work out exactly what’s right for my body?” They can look at your body mass, maybe send you for a scan, and work out what’s going to be best and specific for you.

A dietitian can tell you what to eat and give you a meal plan. I am not a dietitian. I do have nutrition qualifications, so I can advise on a healthy, balanced diet, but I can’t endorse fad diets, extreme diets, and I can’t bespoke prescribe meal plans.

Amounts of protein: they normally say 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of weight. If you know your weight in kilos, it’s 0.8 of that. I know that’s a bit of a headache with maths, so with being on Mounjaro or Ozempic, I’d recommend going up to one. That makes the maths easier. If you’re 50 kilos, then you’re going to have 50 grams a day. If you’re 100 kilos, you’re going to have 100 grams a day. It’s relatively easy maths that way. You could go up to 1.5. If you feel like maybe you’re experiencing some lacking—like your hair’s not right, your nails aren’t great, you’re worried you’re losing muscle—you could go up to 1.5. Again, that’s easy maths. Just divide in half and add. If you’re 100 kilos, divide in half, you get 50, so you need 150 grams. Easy peasy.

Some athletes tend to go for two grams per kilo. If you’re on that and it’s working for you, then fine. Stay with it if that’s what you’ve determined is best for you. That’s more the area where you’re probably going to overload your system. If you’ve been having two grams per kilo and you’re finding that you’re having some bloating issues, wind, diarrhoea, it could be linked to that. Maybe just back off, try 1.5 for a bit, and see how you get on. Again, it can cause kidney issues, so maybe if you’re getting some lower backache out of nowhere, it could be linked to kidneys.

I’m not trying to scare you. Any problems, any worries, I’m not a doctor. Go to your GP and get someone to physically look at you. I can give general advice; I can’t give individual advice. Any worries, any problems, go and see a doctor.

Try to spread protein intake throughout the day. Maybe if you’re 100 kilos and you need 100 grams a day, spread it out between three meals. That’s basically like 30 grams per meal. A lot of the protein products push 20 to 30 grams. Aim for 30 grams in each meal—breakfast, lunch, and evening meal. It could be that you have your normal breakfast and then add Greek yoghurt with some berries or a bit of cereal. Maybe instead of having your usual porridge in the morning, try overnight oats and add a load of Greek yoghurt. About 100 grams of Greek yoghurt is normally about 15 grams of protein.

So, you might end up having two smaller meals—your usual meal and a little extra protein-specific one. If you’re not able to add protein to your meal, say you’re having jam on toast, fine, you have your jam on toast. You could add peanut butter. It’s fat, but it does have protein in it. You could have peanut butter and jam on toast. If you think that’s weird, my husband would have that. Or have jam on toast and a little bowl of granola with Greek yoghurt. If you’re worried about calories, I don’t count calories, so that doesn’t matter to me. What matters to me is that you’re getting the nutrients to fuel your body and give it the right protein and what it deserves.

Maybe if weight loss stalls a little, have half a piece of toast. It’s better to keep the protein in and sacrifice a little of the toast or have less jam. But as I said, I haven’t counted calories, and I’ve been fine. Weight loss has plateaued at times, as it does. Your body wants to try and catch up on itself. It’s part of life. Just try to stay hydrated. Make sure you’re drinking plenty. If you tend to go a little lightheaded at times, you do tend to dehydrate a little on Mounjaro and Ozempic. Keeping hydrated will help relieve any strain on the kidneys. If your protein intake is a little high, extra water will help keep your kidneys happy.

I’m more of a fan of whole foods rather than protein puddings. I never thought I’d say that—I was endorsing them two years ago. Protein puddings are the answer to all life’s problems. I’m not really a fan of them now. There’s a brilliant book called “Ultra-Processed People” that talks about heavily processed food. Protein is used in the gym world and for fitness. It’s quite sexy and brandable. But you know, trying to market and brand a steak and say, “Come buy our Madame Moos cut of the month,” it’s not really that sellable. Whole food healthy protein doesn’t sell like UPF (ultra-processed foods) does. It’s basically where profitability has gone ahead of caring about the consumer. The companies that create food typically only care about profit, not about what they’re doing to our waistlines, bodies, and health. All they care about is making money for their shareholders at the end of the month or year.

Protein companies, I kind of see them the same way. If you’re a fan of protein bars and protein shakes, and stuff, you know, I’ve had my fair share, thinking, “Oh great, I’m getting all my protein in here.” But you’re not getting that variety of fibre, vitamins, minerals, the stuff that fuels your body. It’s almost like comparing a Vauxhall Corsa and a Jaguar. They’re both cars, but they’re not the same. Protein from a protein bar and protein from a steak or beans are not the same. In the bar, they’re missing so much goodness. It’s like the mentality that we must still have a chocolate bar at lunch. The Great British dinner of a sandwich, packet of crisps, and a chocolate bar is still the same. We’ve replaced the chocolate bar with a super-duper healthy protein bar, and your whole system deserves so much more. It deserves all the fibre, vitamins, and minerals. You’ve got an entire gut microbiome, like a garden of bugs in your belly. I know it sounds gross when I say it like that.

You’ve got this huge garden of bugs in your belly. There are helpful ones and unhelpful ones. A lot of UPF fuels the unhealthy ones, so they grow in abundance and overwhelm the healthy ones. By focusing on whole foods and avoiding UPF, you fuel and nurture all your helpful gut microbiome, the bacteria that help your metabolism when you come off Mounjaro or Ozempic. That will overwhelm the non-helpful bacteria. The non-helpful bacteria can send signals to your brain and make you crave things. Your cravings could be microbiome-led. The unhelpful gut bacteria are starving and want their chocolate or whatever they’re craving. Studies show they can hijack your brain and make you eat what they want, which is quite scary. You want to look after your gut microbiome so you crave the healthy stuff, not the unhelpful stuff.

Lastly, the UPF bars and protein powders tend to be broken down quicker in the body. That can be handy if you need protein quickly, but it can also flood your system with amino acids, causing GI issues. Powders are already broken down, while whole foods break down slower. For example, if you eat a bean, it starts to break down in your mouth, goes into your stomach, and then your digestive tract. It’s a slow process. If you swallow a powder or protein bar, it’s quicker to assimilate because it’s already mush.

Quickly, examples of high-protein foods: lean meats, chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, dairy, Greek yoghurt, cheese, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, and chickpeas.

How much protein do you need? 0.8 grams per kilo is the bare minimum, but with Mounjaro and Ozempic, I’d say one gram per kilo. You could go up to 1.5 grams, or even two grams per kilo, but I’d worry if someone came to me saying they’re on two grams per kilo. I’d want to know why.

Adding nuts and seeds to salads, porridge, or Greek yoghurt with berries are easy ways to increase protein. You can freeze Greek yoghurt with fruit for a snack. Adding beans to soup or casseroles is also good.

Planning meals around protein rather than carbs or fats is important. For instance, planning to have chicken, fish, or beans as the main protein in each meal. I like the Pinch of Nom books for recipe ideas.

Now, onto the Q&A!

Q&A Section:

Rachel: What are the symptoms of taking in too little protein?
Muscle loss and weakness are key indicators, but unless you’re strength testing, it’s hard to know. Hair thinning, hair loss, skin issues (dry, flaky skin or rashes), brittle nails, weakened immune system, fluid retention, slow healing, mood changes, brain fog, and increased hunger are all symptoms. Unfortunately, these can also be symptoms of taking Mounjaro, so it’s hard to distinguish.

Helen: What is the least heavy way to get in protein when you’re not hungry?
Little things tend to work best: boiled eggs, Greek yoghurt, cottage cheese, bacon medallions in an air fryer or grilled. For vegans, beans, lentils, chickpeas, hummus, nuts, and seeds are good options. Tofu and other vegan protein options can also help.

Helen: What is the best and tastiest protein powder without ingredients like xanthan gum, xylitol, and stabilisers?
I don’t really use protein powder, but I’ve heard of Naked Nutrition, Orgain Organic, and Garden of Life, which are more natural.

Alison: How do you know you’re getting enough protein every day?
Feeling good, healing well, getting stronger, and noticing muscle definition are indicators. A strength test can be useful. Measure your macros and aim for 1 gram per kilo, spreading it out over three or five meals.

Daniel: Why is protein important if you’re just trying to lose fat rather than bulk up?
Protein is essential for maintaining muscle mass, supporting metabolism, and overall health. In the past, people didn’t focus on it because they aimed for a skinny look, but maintaining muscle is crucial for a healthy metabolic state.

Karla: I’m getting bored of chicken and steak on Mounjaro. Any suggestions?
Fish, tuna, prawns, deli meats like salami or pepperoni, cheese, Greek yoghurt, and bacon butties are good options. Pinch of Nom has many chicken recipes to keep it interesting.

Linda: Are protein drinks and bars better than nothing?
They are better than nothing but aim for whole foods when possible. Protein drinks and bars can help in a pinch, but whole foods provide more nutrients.

Michelle: I fast, so I struggle to get protein in one or two meals a day. Any tips?
Maximise your eating window and focus on protein. Spread out your protein intake and prioritise it over other macros. You have fat stores to use for energy, so protein should be the focus.

Jennie: What is the ideal amount of protein?
0.8 grams per kilo is the bare minimum, 1 gram per kilo is ideal, and you can go up to 1.5 grams. Athletes might go up to 2 grams per kilo, but be mindful of hydration and kidney health. Consult a dietitian if you have specific health concerns.

I hope this helps! I’ll do more episodes on protein and maybe film a shopping trip to Aldi for high-protein food ideas. Thank you for tuning in and listening today. I appreciate the comments and feedback. Next week’s episode will be on running to lose weight—will it help and is it safe when overweight? I’ll cover the benefits, issues, and how to get started, including training plans on Training Peaks. Have a nice week, and feel free to ask questions about running for next week’s episode. Take care and enjoy your week!

NERD ALERT! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10439806/ Xiang J, Qin L, Zhong J, Xia N, Liang Y. GLP-1RA Liraglutide and Semaglutide Improves Obesity-Induced Muscle Atrophy via SIRT1 Pathway. Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes. 2023 Aug 15;16:2433-2446. doi: 10.2147/DMSO.S425642. PMID: 37602204; PMCID: PMC10439806.

Enjoy the episode and stay healthy!

Follow me on:

YouTube: / @jcoppockcoach
Instagram: / jencoppock
Facebook: / jencoppockcoach

Listen to the Beyond FEAR Podcast on:
Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jenny-coppock