{"id":250409,"date":"2026-01-18T01:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T01:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/250409\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T01:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T01:24:16","slug":"i-tried-a-high-protein-diet-for-2-weeks-heres-how-my-skin-and-body-changed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/250409\/","title":{"rendered":"I tried a high protein diet for 2 weeks. Here\u2019s how my skin and body changed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ah, protein. Has a food group ever experienced such a rebrand as protein<\/a>? Once synonymous with gym bros mainlining egg whites and blended chicken, the macronutrient has since become a hot favourite among literally everyone, from nutritionists to Gen Alpha TikTokers to mums making protein shakes for their toddlers. Protein fever has accelerated so much, in fact, that the food pyramid has been flipped upside down with – you guessed it: protein right at the top.<\/p>\n

But what\u2019s the deal with protein, anyway? Why can I not escape the word, even in 2026, when other words like \u201cfibremaxxing<\/a>\u201d and \u201cear seeds\u201d are also jostling for attention? Well, it turns out there\u2019s proof in the protein pudding. According to experts, protein is essential for tissue repair, skin benefits, healthy ageing, hormone balance, muscle regeneration and staying full for longer. \u201cMost of us do not get enough protein,\u201d biochemist Jessie Inchausp\u00e9, also known as the Glucose Goddess told us. \u201cWe need roughly a gram of protein per pound of body weight.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of that sounds very convincing. Still, I like to try things out for myself before I start spreading the message and gathering disciples. To that end, to kick the year off, I decided to go on a high protein diet<\/a> for two weeks to see what gives. And while I didn\u2019t count or measure the protein content religiously, I did aim for roughly 75 to 90g of protein per day.<\/p>\n

Days one to five<\/p>\n

The first week was the easiest. I didn\u2019t need persuading to start my days off with two eggs on buttery wholewheat toast with a sprinkle of cheese<\/a> and I looked forward to the evenings, when I could have chicken in various formats (Gochujang chicken and rice, lemon and herb chicken and butterbean mash, jerk chicken with green beans and more rice). By the fifth day, however, I got tired of chicken and went for one of the best beef burgers I\u2019ve had in recent memory (clocking in around 20g of protein), followed by what was essentially a giant profiterole (not very \u201cprotein\u201d of me, but it contained dairy!).<\/p>\n

Days five to 10<\/p>\n

There were two things I noticed at this stage. One was that I didn\u2019t want any more chicken or eggs<\/a> (the latter, especially, started to give me the ick. What even are they?). The other was that I was beginning to feel a bit\u2026 solid. Like a human rock. And also bored. I realised that perhaps I was approaching my high protein diet in ways that were fairly unimaginative and uniform. And so, I started opting for meals based around other types of protein, like salmon, prawns, chickpeas, feta and lentils, with lots of Greek yoghurt<\/a> on the side. At one point, I made a Malaysian curry crammed with cockles (a type of shellfish), an underrated protein source. Going high protein, I realised, didn\u2019t have to involve eating like someone embroiled in the manosphere. High protein diets can also entail plenty of colour and fibre! Thank God.<\/p>\n

Days 10 to 14<\/p>\n

Now that I\u2019d switched up the variety on my plate, my high protein diet became not just easier, but more enjoyable. I also started noticing a few of the benefits, such as: never feeling hungry in between meals<\/a>, having a decent amount of energy by the end of a work day, sleeping through the night and not noticing any new breakouts whatsoever. I was eating less throughout the day, but more efficiently, which meant that I didn\u2019t randomly get hungry at 11pm and raid the fridge for weird cheese snacks. Nor did I have to battle that 2pm slump by shoving candy into my mouth. In fact,\u00a0the slump never arrived.<\/p>\n

One thing I would say is that, aside from a few brisk walks<\/a>, I wasn\u2019t working out a lot during this time, which probably wasn\u2019t ideal. It felt odd to be chowing down on so many muscle-building foods without, you know, building any muscle. There were also times in which I literally just fancied pasta and olive oil or a small salad and didn\u2019t want to tuck into yet another meat, cheese or bean-based meal (let a girl have her crisps and salsa!). Even so, after all of this, I do actually feel swayed to stick to a semi-high protein diet<\/a> from now on, just not with the strictness of the past two weeks. Oh and I should probably move around a bit also. One thing at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ah, protein. Has a food group ever experienced such a rebrand as protein? Once synonymous with gym bros…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[493,103,61,60,446,2682],"class_list":{"0":"post-250409","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-diet","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-nutrition","13":"tag-protein"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}