The search is "how much protein do I need." The useful answer for a busy parent is smaller than a spreadsheet.
Start with a palm of protein at breakfast and a palm at lunch. Eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, a shake, leftover chicken, turkey, tofu, tuna, or beans if that is what you eat. I do not care which. I care that you can buy it again next week and that you will actually eat it. I wrote the breakfast version of this in the easiest nutrition win. This note is the amount question.
If you like a number, a coaching starting point I use is about 0.7 grams of protein per pound of goal body weight. That is a place to begin, not a lab order and not a prescription. If the math makes you quit, ignore the grams and use the two palms. We can get more precise after breakfast and lunch are boring and reliable.
A few ways people misuse this.
They pick a protein they hate and then blame willpower. If you will not eat cottage cheese, do not build the day around cottage cheese.
They add protein on top of everything else and then wonder why fat loss did not show up. Protein is the anchor. The rest of the day still has to fit. More shakes on top of the same dinners is not a plan.
They skip breakfast, call coffee a meal, and try to catch up at 9 p.m. You can eat late. A lot of parents have to. The late meal works better when the first two meals were not empty. That is the point of eating late.
They treat a target like a moral score. Hit it most days. Do not turn a short day into a speech about the kind of person you are.
This is coaching, not medical nutrition. If you have a condition that needs a registered dietitian or your doctor, start there. If you are pregnant or recently postpartum, tell me before you follow a number you found online. The palm is still a reasonable place to start a conversation. It is not a treatment.
If you want the meals written out, that is part of Essentials. Our coaching system builds a custom workout program and meal plan for you, based on what's worked for our clients. Tell me what you like, how long you have to cook, and what the grocery budget looks like. First month is free, then $100 a month.
Tomorrow: one palm at breakfast, one at lunch. That is the whole assignment.