Powders, shakes and convenience
Protein bar on a GLP-1: protein, portions and how to actually eat it
About 33 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz), typical bar, representative value, for around 380 calories. One bar, about 60 g (2.1 oz), gives roughly 20 g of protein for 228 calories.
To reach 30 g of protein from protein bar alone you would need about 91 g (3.2 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 protein bar sits on a GLP-1
A protein bar is about 20 g of protein in 60 g (2 oz) for 200 to 250 calories, in a wrapper that lives in a bag for months. It is chewy, dense and sweet, and on a GLP-1 that density is the issue: a bar sits like a brick in a slow stomach, and the sugar alcohols most bars are sweetened with can add bloating on top of what the medication already does. Eaten in halves with a drink, most people manage them. Eaten whole in three bites at a desk, they often regret it.
When your appetite is small
Cut it in half and eat it with a glass of milk or water over twenty minutes. Half a bar is about 10 g and enough to hold a gap; the second half an hour later is the other 10 g. Warm it for ten seconds in the microwave if it is hard, and choose bars with under 5 g of sugar alcohols if bloating is already a problem. If the bloating persists regardless, that is one for your prescriber.
Three ways to prepare it
Half now, half later, with a drink
Split the bar and give each half a drink. Slow is the method with bars, more than with any other food here.
Warmed for ten seconds and eaten with a spoon
A firm bar softened in the microwave eats like a dense brownie. Easier on a jaw and a stomach that do not want to work.
Crumbled over Greek yoghurt
A bar broken over a tub of yoghurt is a 30 g bowl and the yoghurt makes the bar less dry.
What to eat it with
Milk, a coffee, water. A bar and a glass of milk together is about 29 g and is one of the better no-kitchen stops there is.
How it compares
| Food | Protein per 100 g | Energy per 100 g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protein bar | about 33 g | 380 kcal | this page |
| Beef jerky | about 33 g | 280 kcal | See the page |
| Biltong | about 50 g | 300 kcal | See the page |
| Protein pudding | about 10 g | 75 kcal | See the page |
All figures are typical values for the food as eaten, typical bar, representative value, not laboratory figures for a particular brand.
Australian, US and UK names
Protein bars in all three countries. Quest and Barebells are sold in all three, Grenade in the UK, Musashi and Bodie'z in Australia, RXBar and Built Bar in the US. Protein per bar ranges from about 10 to 25 g, so read the bar not the box; the figures here are representative rather than any one brand.
Questions people ask
How much protein should a protein bar have?
Look for 15 to 20 g per bar with under 5 g of sugar alcohols. A bar at 10 g is a snack bar with a marketing label. Eaten in halves with a drink, a 20 g bar is a proper stop; eaten in three bites it can sit for hours on a slow stomach.
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.