How much protein should a woman over 60 eat?

On Ep. 242, Linda explains how low her protein had drifted without her noticing. Her cholesterol had been creeping up and she has a family history of it, so she stopped eating red meat and avoided egg yolks. Her lunch protein was often just some egg white on a big salad. She had protein at dinner, and sometimes cottage cheese or yogurt at breakfast, but she says she never recognized how much protein she needed as a woman in her 60s.

Why it matters, in Linda's words: your workouts break muscle down, and you need protein on board to build it back up. She had been doing weight and resistance training and still complaining that she felt old and flabby. With so little protein in her diet, her body had very little to build muscle from. She calls the idea that the workout itself builds the muscle a myth.

The bigger lesson was how her coach handled the change. When Linda proudly got from 45 grams to 70, nearly double, her coach said it still wasn't enough. This wasn't something to glide into slowly. She was asked to think about her protein choices every day, for example adding something like ground turkey instead of relying on an egg white, until it became second nature. Linda says she needed that push and needed to see the gap in her numbers.

The 125 to 130 grams was Linda's individual target, set by her coach, not a universal rule. Your number depends on you. If you are managing something like cholesterol, as Linda was, talk your food choices through with your doctor. And if you've been training hard without seeing results, the likely issue isn't you. It may simply be a plan without enough protein in it.