Protein for people who eat lunch at their desk

You do not need to meal prep twelve boxes of chicken and rice on a Sunday. You need a protein source at every meal and a plan for the meal you always get wrong.

Most professionals I coach under-eat protein by 40 to 60 grams a day. Breakfast is coffee, lunch is a sandwich or a salad at the desk, dinner is the only real meal. That pattern makes it very hard to keep muscle, especially past 35.

Start with one number

I give clients a daily protein target, usually 1.6 to 2 grams per kilo of body weight, and nothing else for the first two weeks. No calorie counting, no banned foods. Just hit the protein number, and track it in an app for fourteen days so you see where it comes from.

Breakfast is the easiest win. Three eggs with labneh, or 250 grams of Greek yoghurt with berries, gives you 25 to 30 grams before you have opened your laptop. If you cannot face food in the morning, a shake with milk counts.

For lunch, order with protein first. Most delivery apps in Dubai have a grilled chicken or shawarma plate; ask for double meat, skip half the rice. A tuna salad with chickpeas works. A cheese sandwich and a smoothie does not.

The emergency drawer

Keep a drawer at work with protein bars that have at least 20 grams of protein and under 10 of sugar, a tub of roasted chickpeas and a shaker with a scoop of whey in it. On the days a meeting runs through lunch, the drawer is the difference between 30 grams and a vending machine.

Once protein is consistent, everything else gets easier. Clients report fewer cravings by the afternoon, better recovery, and they usually lose the first two or three kilos without trying. Then we talk about calories.