I Doubled My Protein Intake Without Changing My Workouts—My Body Transformed in 6 Weeks

Ned did not change a single thing about his workouts. He kept showing up. He kept riding. He kept putting in the hours. But six weeks after one simple change to his diet, his recovery was faster, his energy was more consistent, and he performed better than expected at a competitive cycling event.

For years, Ned ate what most people would call a healthy, mostly vegetarian diet. He trained around eight hours a week and still felt sore for days after hard sessions, flat during rides, and slow to bounce back.

He figured it was just part of being an active adult. It was not. His diet was quietly starving his muscles of the one thing they needed most. Here is exactly what Ned changed, what the science says about why it worked, and how you can copy it starting this week.

How Much Protein Does Ned Actually Need? (The Science)

Most people know protein is important. But almost no one knows where the number they are supposed to hit actually comes from. Or that it was never designed with people like Ned in mind.

The standard recommendation you see everywhere is 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. That number comes from the RDA, the Recommended Dietary Allowance. And it was built for one specific group: sedentary adults who do not exercise regularly.

Ned was not sedentary. He was training eight hours a week. That changes everything. Dr. Sam Shepard, a nutrition specialist at Precision Fuel and Hydration, is clear on this: active adults who train regularly need between 1.2 and 2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, not 0.8.

Dr. Tim Podagar, a sports nutritionist who has worked with the INEOS and Bora-Hansgrohe pro cycling teams, recommends approximately 1.8 g/kg as a well-supported target for people who train consistently. That is more than double the standard recommendation for sedentary people.

What the research says:

• A meta-analysis published in Nutrition Reviews looked at 105 studies involving over 5,400 participants. It confirmed a direct dose-dependent relationship between protein intake and muscle protein synthesis. More protein, within a range, means better muscle repair.
• Research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (2018) found that the benefits of higher protein intake plateau at around 1.62 g/kg per day when combined with resistance training. That gives you a practical ceiling to work with.
• The RDA of 0.8 g/kg is a minimum floor for basic function in sedentary people. For active adults, it is not a target. It is a starting point.
• Ned weighed approximately 75 kg. At 1.8 g/kg, he needed around 135 to 145 grams of protein per day. He was eating about 70 grams.

Which brings us to Ned, and exactly where he was falling short.

The Baseline — What Ned Was Actually Eating Before

The first thing Ned did was keep a detailed food diary. That sounds simple. Most people skip it. But without knowing your starting point, you cannot know what needs to change.

Ned wrote down everything he ate for a week, every meal, every snack, every bite. What he found was both surprising and completely typical for someone eating a mostly vegetarian, unplanned diet.

On paper, Ned’s diet looked balanced. There were vegetables, whole grains, legumes, eggs, and dairy. By most common health standards, he was doing fine. But by the standards his active lifestyle actually demanded, he was eating well below what his muscles needed to recover properly.

Eating “healthily” is not the same as eating enough protein. This is one of the most common gaps in plant-heavy and semi-vegetarian diets, and almost no one catches it without tracking.

What Ned’s typical day looked like:

• Breakfast: 1 boiled egg, 4 slices of homemade seeded bread, peanut butter and jam
• Mid-morning: a bowl of cereal with 150 ml of milk
• Lunch: lentil curry with rice and an apple
• Afternoon: a piece of cake
• Dinner: chili, stir fry, or pasta, rarely with a deliberate protein source added

What the numbers showed:

• Total daily protein: approximately 70 grams
• Protein per kilogram of body weight: around 0.93 g/kg
• This put Ned technically above the sedentary RDA. But for an athlete training eight hours per week, it left a gap of 65 to 75 grams of protein every single day.
• That daily deficit was quietly making his recovery slower, his soreness worse, and his body composition harder to shift.

By the numbers, Ned was eating well. By the standards his active lifestyle demanded, he was not eating nearly enough protein. And critically, this is not a personal failure. It is a very common situation. Most active adults eating a similar diet land in exactly the same place.

The Food-First Swap — How Ned Doubled His Protein Without Supplements

Ned did not want to start buying protein powder. He was skeptical of the supplement industry, and honestly, that skepticism is well-placed.

Dr. Sam Shepard makes it clear: whole food protein is more satisfying, more filling, and delivers co-nutrients like iron, zinc, B vitamins, and calcium that supplements strip away. Shakes and bars are often calorie-dense with poor nutrient profiles. Real food is almost always the better choice.

So Ned made five targeted food swaps. He did not join a new gym. He did not overhaul his entire diet.

He added protein-rich foods at specific moments of the day, mostly at breakfast, mid-morning, and before bed, the times when his original diet was weakest. The result was a daily intake of around 145 grams of protein per day, nearly double his starting point, with zero supplements involved.

The 5 swaps Ned made:

Meal / Time	Before	After	Protein Added
Breakfast	1 boiled egg + bread	2 boiled eggs + bread	+7 g
Mid-morning	Cereal + milk	Full-fat yogurt + granola + pumpkin seeds	+20 g
Lunch	Lentil curry + rice	Same (already solid at ~25 g)	No change
Afternoon snack	Cake	Yogurt + homemade seed and fruit flapjack	+25 g
Before bed	Cereal (hungry)	Large glass of milk	+10 g

What made this work:

• Distributing protein across 4 to 5 meals and snacks throughout the day is more effective than loading it all into one or two meals. Your body can only use so much protein at one time. Spreading it out gives your muscles a steady supply.
• Ned’s vegetable chili with sweet potato and lentils became a reliable protein vehicle. Adding more black beans and lentils to existing dinners was an easy, low-effort upgrade.
• Full-fat yogurt at mid-morning delivered around 20 grams of protein. This single swap made the biggest individual difference.
• Dr. Sam Shepard has a useful warning about protein-labelled foods: many products marketed as “high protein” contain only 1 to 2 grams more than the standard version. Always read the label and compare. A meaningful difference is closer to 19 g vs. 12 g per 100 g.
• Ned hit nearly double his original protein without a single supplement. It is achievable with planning, not willpower.

What Honestly Happened After 6 Weeks

The results were not a Netflix transformation arc. Ned did not wake up six weeks later with a completely different body. That is not how nutrition works, and any writer who tells you otherwise is selling something.

What Ned did experience was real, and it showed up in the places that mattered most to him: how he felt on the bike and how quickly he recovered between sessions.

In the early weeks, Ned genuinely felt better. Recovery felt faster. He was less sore between rides and had more sustained energy during sessions. He performed better than expected at a competitive cycling event during the experiment period. And then life intervened.

A cold, a demanding stretch at work, and a gruelling solstice ride disrupted his rhythm. This is not a failure. It is real life. Consistent results over months require consistent habits over months.

What the research says about timelines:

• A 2025 study published in Scientific Reports found significant body fat reduction in just four weeks when protein intake was paired with consistent exercise. Short windows matter.
• A meta-analysis across 49 studies involving 1,863 participants found that higher protein intake significantly increased fat-free mass and muscle strength during sustained training. The effects compound over time.
• A FASEB Journal study found that in a 40% caloric deficit over 21 days, the highest-protein group preserved nearly all of their muscle while losing comparable total weight. The weight lost was almost entirely fat, not muscle.

The honest takeaway:

• Increased protein was not a single magic bullet. Sleep, stress management, and overall recovery habits are bigger levers. But protein filled a foundational gap that was silently making everything harder.
• Six weeks is enough to feel the early benefits. Three to six months of consistent intake is where real body composition changes become visible and measurable.
• Ned plans to continue. The results so far are a signal, not a destination.

Short-term results vary. Ned’s 6-week experience was real, but it is part of a longer story. Consistent protein intake over months is where the high protein diet transformation actually happens. Set realistic expectations. Then keep going.

The Bonus Benefit Ned Did Not Expect — Better Sleep

Ned was not trying to fix his sleep. He was not tracking it, not thinking about it, not treating it as a goal. But when you look at what happens to the body when protein intake increases, better sleep is one of the effects backed by research, and it may explain some of the energy improvements Ned noticed during his experiment.

Protein is rich in tryptophan. Tryptophan is an amino acid that your body uses to produce serotonin and melatonin, two chemicals directly involved in regulating sleep.

When you eat enough protein throughout the day, especially in the evening, you are giving your body the raw materials it needs for natural sleep regulation. Ned’s before-bed glass of milk, which contains casein protein and tryptophan, is one of the most well-supported, food-first approaches to sleep-supportive nutrition.

What the research shows:

• A 16-week study cited by nutrition educator Thomas DeLauer, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found dose-dependent improvement in Global Sleep Score with increasing protein intake. The highest-protein group showed up to 32% better sleep scores compared to the lowest-protein group. That is a meaningful difference.
• A 2016 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that higher-protein diets improved sleep scores in overweight adults compared to lower-protein controls.
• A 2024 cohort study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that total protein intake alone was not consistently associated with better sleep. The source of protein may matter. Plant protein sources appear to be more beneficial for sleep than animal proteins in some research.

Practical things to keep in mind:

• The sleep-protein connection is promising but not fully settled. The research is directional, not definitive. More large-scale trials are still needed.
• Ned’s pre-bed milk habit is a low-effort, food-first way to test the effect for yourself. One large glass provides around 10 grams of casein protein and a natural source of tryptophan.
• More protein at night is worth trying. Just do not expect it to replace good sleep hygiene. It is one piece, not the whole picture.

Should You Use Supplements? The Honest Answer

The supplement industry is a multi-billion-dollar business. It markets loudly, promises a lot, and puts protein bars and powders at eye level in every gym and sports shop. That does not make them bad. But it does mean you should be clear on when they are actually useful before you spend money on them.

Both Dr. Sam Shepard and Dr. Tim Podagar start from the same position: food first. Whole food protein is more satisfying, delivers more co-nutrients, and avoids the over-reliance on bars and shakes that often come loaded with added sugar and calories you did not account for.

Before you reach for a supplement, ask whether you have genuinely exhausted your food options. Most people, including Ned, have not.

When supplements actually make sense:

• When your body size makes food-only targets impractical. A 120 kg rugby player trying to hit 2 g/kg every day through food alone would need to eat an enormous amount of whole food at every sitting. A single protein shake per day is a reasonable, practical addition.
• When there is a small post-workout window and no meal is available within 30 to 60 minutes of finishing training. A fast-digesting whey protein shake can be useful in this specific scenario.
• Whey protein is fast-digesting. Research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that the peak muscle protein synthesis benefit caps at around 20 to 35 grams per sitting post-workout.
• Casein protein is slow-digesting and can deliver a sustained release of amino acids over several hours. A 2023 physiology study found that larger casein servings can be absorbed over a longer window, making it a better option before bed.

What to be careful about:

• Protein bars are often marketed as a health food but frequently carry a similar calorie load to a chocolate bar. Check the full nutrition label, not just the protein number.
• “High protein” labelled cereals, yogurts, and snacks sometimes offer only 1 to 2 grams more protein per serving than the standard version. Read labels carefully.
• Ned hit 1.9 g/kg entirely through real food. Supplements were not necessary. They may not be necessary for you either.

If you genuinely cannot hit your protein target through food alone, a single daily protein shake is a reasonable tool. Use it in addition to food, not instead of it.

Conclusion: What You Can Take From Ned’s 6 Weeks

Ned started at 0.93 g/kg of protein per day. He was above the sedentary RDA, which made the gap easy to miss. He was eating what looked like a healthy, balanced diet. But for an active adult training eight hours a week, he was operating well below what his muscles needed to recover, build, and perform.

By making five simple food swaps, he reached 1.9 g/kg without any supplements. His early recovery improved. His energy on the bike improved. His sleep likely benefited. Long-term body composition changes take months of consistency, not six weeks. But the foundation is now in place.

And the result shows something important for anyone eating a mostly plant-based or vegetarian diet: doubling your protein through real food is entirely achievable. Protein is not a magic bullet. But for active adults, it is likely the single most impactful dietary change available. The high protein diet transformation Ned experienced is not dramatic in week one. It is quiet, steady, and it compounds.

Start here:

Keep a food diary for three days. Write down everything you eat. Then calculate your protein per kilogram of body weight. If you are under 1.2 g/kg, you have just found your most actionable nutrition change. No gym upgrade required. No supplement subscription needed. Just food, tracking, and one swap at a time.

Which swap from Ned’s list are you trying first?