A Full Day of High-Protein Meals for Fat Loss After 45

Nikkiey: Protein is one of the most important things you can track, especially after 45. Like most women, I was convinced that eating less was the answer. It wasn't until I finally started getting enough protein that everything changed, which is exactly how I lost over 60 pounds after the age of 45. In this video, I'm going to show you the exact high-protein meals I built my transformation on.

Now, I want to start by being honest with you, because I spent years doing this wrong, and I don't want you to waste the same time I did. Most of my adult life, dieting meant eating as little as possible. I went through almost a year of my life, while training for marathons and triathlons, living off portions of protein bars. I would take four protein bars, cut them in half, put them in baggies, and carry them with me throughout the day. Every two hours, I would eat half of a protein bar, getting about 200-calorie increments throughout the day for a total of 800 calories. That's how I thought I would train harder and be in better shape. And not only did it not work, it made things worse.

After 45, and especially heading into perimenopause and menopause, our bodies start losing muscle mass at an accelerated rate. Less muscle means fewer calories burned at rest. Once I understood that protein was what my body needed, I started building every meal around it.

Let's start with breakfast. Breakfast is where most women sabotage themselves without even realizing it. For fat loss and menopause, breakfast needs to anchor your protein target for the entire day. Here's what mine looks like. I make sure I have a great balance of protein, carbs and fat. One of my favorites: eggs with plenty of egg whites, where I get enough protein without a lot of calories, oatmeal, and always a little bit of fruit.

Next is lunch, which used to be my lowest-protein meal. Nothing built around protein first. And by 3 p.m., I was back in the kitchen. Lunch is now one of my highest-protein meals of the day, and it's the reason my afternoons look completely different than they used to. This is where I rely heavily on what I batch cooked earlier in the week. The trick of having prepped meat in your fridge is you can make anything you're in the mood for. I can throw this meat on a wrap, on some lettuce, whatever it takes. I'm going to have a good balance of protein, fat and carbs.

Today, I'm going to throw it on a bunch of lettuce, a mixed Renaissance blend, and make a big, gigantic, delicious, flavorful salad so that I feel satisfied, have a big volume of food, and am going to feel great for the rest of the day, all the way until dinner.

All right. So I usually am going to add about 100 grams of meat, already prepped. I try to make a pretty neutral flavor so that I can use it for wraps, for salads, any flavors that are going to mix well. Mushrooms are a great way to keep the calories low but add extra volume of food. Love me some good mushrooms. And, of course, black beans are a great source of protein and carbohydrates. And then I always top it off with something very flavorful, because I feel more satisfied when there's a ton of flavor in my food. I use any of these no-sugar or low-sugar dressings, and you don't need a lot because the flavor is so high. So you're going to get a ton of flavor for very little calories.

So this salad has a great combination of protein, fat and carbs: about 35 to 40 grams of protein, about the same of carbohydrate, and about 15 to 20 grams of fat. Even if I want to add a little cheese, I might have a little more leniency to go that way. I feel best when I spread out my protein throughout the day and stimulate muscle protein synthesis while I'm at it.

Okay, let's talk about batch prepping for a minute. Sometimes I'll buy the hugest bag I can find of frozen meat. I throw it all into a slow cooker or my Instant Pot. It literally takes less than an hour to cook a whole four to eight pounds of meat. And it's as easy as throwing a little salsa on the top, throwing it in, and cooking it. I can feed the whole family if they're coming over, or I can use it for four to five days just to make my salads, my wraps, my protein bowls, anything I want. And it's ready to go in the fridge. So if I'm starving, I can grab it and have a beautiful meal made in about five minutes.

Now, this is the exact framework we break down for thousands of women inside the Macro Method. It is what has helped them finally crack the code for fat loss during menopause. If you want the full breakdown behind what I just shared, the exact protein targets, the macro breakdown specific to your body weight, and the step-by-step system that gave me the structure I needed when I was starting from scratch, that is what the Macro Method is. Click the link in the description.

But for now, let's talk about my exact high-protein dinner. At my house, dinner is real food. I try to make something that is going to work for me personally, but if the family stops by, it'll work for them too. One of my favorite meals is protein pizza. I know it sounds crazy, but I make this delicious crunchy crust out of canned chicken. When you add enough flavor and cook it just right, everyone enjoys it. And it's a way to sneak in a lot of extra protein without a bunch of processed carbohydrates and fuel that no one needs. Let's focus on what our body is going to use and get the most out of.

All right, first we start with this easy tomato sauce. I add a few extra Italian spices. Make sure, again, that there's plenty of flavor. A lot of people think that if you're eating clean or eating healthy, it's bland. That's the very last thing I want. The more flavor it has, the more satisfied I feel. So there's always a ton of spices.

Some low-fat mozzarella cheese. Now, I'm fine with full fat, but sometimes if you take out a little of the fat, you actually have room for a little more protein. One of my favorite things: black olives are great, but green olives have a huge punch of flavor. So you're going to get a ton of satisfaction. And then I like a little tanginess too, so some sun-dried tomatoes to give it that little Mediterranean flair. People think I'm fancy when I'm not.

And even though the crust is already made out of meat, we're going to throw on some pepperoni. You can throw on anything you want. You can throw on sausage. You can throw on more chicken. You can throw on beef. Anything you want, it's up to you. But I like to throw on a little turkey pepperoni. A little less fat, and again, a ton of flavor.

This is a great way to end my day. Always fitting in the protein. Always keeping blood sugar stabilized. Always feeling satisfied with a ton of flavor. And by the end of the day, hitting my protein threshold, knowing that I'm giving my body what it needs to survive and be metabolically well.

I lost 60 pounds after 45. Not by eating less, but by eating smarter. By finally giving my body what it actually needed to let go of fat and build the muscle that changed everything. This is just how I eat now, and it makes me genuinely happy. That is what is waiting for you on the other side of this.

So if you want the full framework, the exact protein targets, the macro breakdown for your body weight, and the step-by-step system, that is what the Macro Method is. It is what gave me the structure to start, and it has helped over 20,000 women finally crack the code on fat loss in menopause. Make sure you grab it with the link in the description. It has already helped women like Tina, who was able to lose over 35 pounds in just a few months.

Thanks so much for watching.