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Cottage cheese cups on a GLP-1: protein, portions and how to actually eat it
About 11 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz), single serve tub, representative value, for around 95 calories. One tub, about 150 g (5.3 oz), gives roughly 16 g of protein for 142 calories.
To reach 30 g of protein from cottage cheese cups alone you would need about 273 g (9.6 oz). On a small appetite that is often more than one sitting allows, which is why we pair it rather than chase the whole target from one food.
How cottage cheese cups sits on a GLP-1
Single serve cottage cheese cups are the same food as the big tub, portioned at 150 to 200 g (5.3 to 7 oz) with a lid and sometimes a fruit or chive layer. The point of them on a GLP-1 is that they remove the decision: a cup is one stop, about 16 g, cold, mild and salty, eaten with a spoon from the fridge or a lunch box. The lumpy texture is the same as ever, and the flavoured ones add sugar for not much gain.
When your appetite is small
Keep three plain cups in the fridge and one in the work bag with an ice brick, and count each as a half stop. Add a fork of tinned tuna, a few cherry tomatoes and pepper to a plain cup at your desk and it is a 40 g lunch that took thirty seconds. If the lumps bother you, a spoon of Greek yoghurt stirred through smooths it out.
Three ways to prepare it
Plain, with pepper and tomatoes at a desk
Open the cup, add pepper and a few tomatoes, eat it with a fork. About 16 g and no kitchen.
With a tin of tuna stirred through
Cottage cheese and tuna together in the cup is about 40 g, cold and mild, and needs a spoon and nothing else.
With pineapple or peaches on top
The sweet version for a flat afternoon. Fresh or tinned fruit in juice rather than a pre flavoured cup, which is usually sweeter and lower in protein.
What to eat it with
Tinned tuna, smoked salmon, tomatoes, pepper, hot sauce, chives, or fruit in juice. A cup and a boiled egg is about 22 g and travels anywhere.
How it compares
| Food | Protein per 100 g | Energy per 100 g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cottage cheese cups | about 11 g | 95 kcal | this page |
| Cottage cheese | about 11 g | 100 kcal | See the page |
| High protein yoghurt | about 10 g | 65 kcal | See the page |
| Protein pudding | about 10 g | 75 kcal | See the page |
All figures are typical values for the food as eaten, single serve tub, representative value, not laboratory figures for a particular brand.
Australian, US and UK names
Single serve cottage cheese cups are a US supermarket staple, Good Culture being the well known brand, and small 200 g (7 oz) tubs do the same job in Australia and the UK. Protein per cup ranges from about 12 to 19 g depending on size and fat level; the figures here are representative.
Questions people ask
How much protein is in a cottage cheese cup?
About 16 g for a 150 g (5.3 oz) cup on our representative figure, and up to 19 g for a 200 g (7 oz) tub of the low fat kind. Plain cups carry more than the flavoured ones, so buy plain and add your own fruit or tuna.
Your number comes first
Knowing what is in a food only helps once you know how much you are aiming for. The target is 1.2 to 1.6 g of protein per kg of your goal weight, not your current weight, which for most people is 90 to 140 g a day.
Work out your protein targetMore on eating well when your appetite is small: high protein foods for a small appetite, how much protein on a GLP-1, and every food we have written up. The whole system in five documents is the Keep Muscle Kit, A$47 / US$29 / £23.
EverStrong provides nutrition and strength coaching and education. It is not medical advice and does not replace your prescribing doctor.