Dear Sonia,

I feel like I've stepped into a time warp - you probably do too.

If you want an "expert" who'll give you permission to eat more protein, I'll quote Michael Colgan at you again. He says : Strength sportspeople need approx 2.0 gms of protein per kg of bodyweight per day. Athletes who need speed first, then strength, then endurance need about 1.7g/kg/day. Endurance athletes need 1.4g/kg/day. This requirement is based on a high level of training, 3-4 hours a day. If you are only training 1-2 hours a day, your requirement will be less, by approx 0.3g/kg/day. So for me, if I was well enough to be doing my O-type hard exercise and weights, I'd want 62kg x 1.7 = 105gm. As your "Zone" requirement is slightly higher than mine, and you're probably exercising harder, I'd guess we are fairly similar weights. At the moment I'm eating about 90gms per day, sometimes more, sometimes less. But if I was training harder, I'd be eating more like 110gms a day. (And if I felt like more, I'd eat more!)

But that's not really the point. The reason nobody agrees on this subject is that there IS NO RIGHT ANSWER - formula-wise anyway! For you, I believe this whole issue isn't about protein, it's about trusting your own judgement. I love seeing you kicking butt here on the board, but please stop kicking yourself.

Trust your intuition and observations, and kick those old phobias into the dust, where they belong!