How much protein is actually in your food

When a new client tells me they eat "plenty of protein", I ask them to list yesterday. Two rotis, a katori of dal, some sabzi, rice, a glass of milk. It feels like a lot of real food. It usually comes to 35 to 45 g, which is less than half of what most people need on a fat-loss diet.

That gap is not a willpower problem. It is a numbers problem. Once you know roughly what each food carries, you can see exactly where the protein has to come from.

Protein per serving, the way you actually eat it

Per 100 g charts are accurate but useless at the table. Nobody weighs 100 g of dal. These are per typical serving, rounded, and they vary a little with brand and cooking.

The heavy hitters (15 g or more)

• •Whey protein, one scoop (30 g): 22 to 25 g.
• •Low-fat paneer, 100 g: about 20 g, for roughly 200 kcal.
• •Full-fat paneer, 100 g: about 18 g, for 265 to 300 kcal. Same protein, a lot more fat.
• •Soya chunks, 30 g dry: about 15 g. The cheapest protein in the country.
• •Firm tofu, 100 g: 12 to 17 g depending on the brand.

The everyday middle (6 to 10 g)

• •Besan, 40 g (two chillas): about 9 g.
• •Sattu, 40 g: about 9 g.
• •Dal, one katori cooked: 7 to 9 g, depending on how thick it is.
• •Rajma, chana or kala chana, one katori cooked: 7 to 9 g.
• •Hung curd or Greek yogurt, 100 g: 7 to 10 g.
• •Sprouted moong, one katori: about 8 g.
• •Milk, one 250 ml glass: about 8 g.
• •Peanuts, a 30 g handful: 7 to 8 g.
• •Roasted chana, 30 g: about 6 g.
• •Quinoa, one katori cooked: about 6 g.

The fillers (under 6 g)

• •Curd, one katori (150 g): about 5 g.
• •Oats, 40 g dry: about 5 g.
• •Rice, one katori cooked: about 4 g.
• •Roti, one medium: about 3.5 g.
• •Almonds, 10 pieces: about 2.5 g.
• •Most sabzi, one katori: 2 to 3 g.

How much do you need?

For fat loss with strength training, a good target is 1.6 to 2.2 g per kg of body weight a day. If you are carrying a lot of extra weight, use your goal weight instead. For a 70 kg person that is roughly 110 to 150 g. If that sounds impossible, start at 1.2 g per kg and build up over a few weeks.

A day that gets to about 110 g

• •Breakfast: two besan chillas with 100 g hung curd. About 17 g.
• •Lunch: 100 g low-fat paneer sabzi, one katori dal, one roti. About 32 g.
• •Snack: a scoop of whey in milk. About 30 g.
• •Dinner: soya chunk curry (30 g dry), one katori rice, salad. About 21 g.
• •Through the day: a handful of roasted chana and a glass of milk in tea. About 10 g.

Notice that each meal has one heavy hitter doing the work, and the rotis, rice and dal fill in around it. That is the whole method. Our recipe library shows protein on every recipe, so you can pick meals by the number, and the high-protein vegetarian guide goes deeper on building the day.