My appetite dropped and now protein is a part-time job

2026-10-09 13:56

Four lifting days a week and a 180g protein target used to be mildly annoying but routine. Two real meals and a shake, wrapped up by 8pm.

These days I can get through maybe two-thirds of a normal portion before I'm just done — nothing sounds good, chewing feels like a task. I meal-prepped a pound and a half of chicken thighs on Sunday, which normally disappears by Tuesday, and I was still picking at it Thursday night.

So now I'm chugging a shake at 10am on purpose, because if I wait until after training I know I won't hit the number. That's not a hack, it's just scheduling around a stomach that stopped sending invitations.

The annoying part is it feels like the whole thing is quietly working against the one piece I actually care about: keeping the muscle I spent years building while the fat comes off.

I'm not mad about the appetite change, I signed up for it. Just didn't expect the tradeoff to show up in my food log instead of my waistline. For the people lifting through this: do you stack protein earlier in the day, or drop the target and let the scale and the bar sort it out?

2026-10-20 13:47

The chewing tax is real. I log protein by grams per minute of chewing, not grams per meal. Chicken thighs score terrible.

Greek yogurt + granola, cottage cheese + jam, tuna salad with mayo, eggs, silken tofu smoothie all beat it. Also split target into 4x45 instead of 2x90; smaller boluses don't trigger the "done" switch as hard. Question: are you tracking weekly average or daily?

I stopped caring about hitting 180 daily and aim for 1,100–1,200/week; adherence went up and lifts stayed the same. The Sunday chicken becomes soup or gets chopped into egg bites — texture change, not more willpower.

2026-10-30 15:18

For what it's worth, hi, brand new here (week one, so please be gentle). This thread is reassuring. One small thing I’m trying: instead of one big protein block, I weigh out 2-ounce portions of whatever I prepped and keep them in tiny containers.

Eating “just one tiny container” feels way less daunting than a plate, and I can stack a couple across the afternoon if I’m up for it. Question for you: does warm protein go down easier than cold for you?

My chicken thighs seem easier reheated with a little sauce than straight from the fridge.