Powders, shakes and convenience
Protein oats on a GLP-1: protein, portions and how to actually eat it
About 20 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz), oats with added protein, dry, representative value, for around 370 calories. One sachet, dry, about 45 g (1.6 oz), gives roughly 9 g of protein for 166 calories.
To reach 30 g of protein from protein oats alone you would need about 150 g (5.3 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 oats sits on a GLP-1
Protein oats are rolled oats with whey or a plant protein already blended in, so a sachet makes a bowl of porridge at about 9 g from 45 g (1.6 oz) dry, roughly double plain oats, and up to 20 g once it is made on milk. They cook the same way and taste the same, a little sweeter and creamier in most brands. On a GLP-1 they remove the step of adding powder yourself, which is worth something at seven in the morning, though the bowl is still oats and still swells, so keep it small.
When your appetite is small
Make one sachet on 200 ml (7 fl oz) of milk rather than water, in a small bowl. That is about 16 g in a serve that looks modest. If the sachet is too much, half a sachet on milk is still about 12 g and is often all that fits on the first morning after a dose step. Plain oats with your own scoop of whey stirred in do the same job for less money, if the convenience is not the point.
Three ways to prepare it
One sachet on milk in the microwave
Milk, sachet, two minutes, stir. Add a spoon of Greek yoghurt on top to cool it and lift it to about 19 g.
Overnight, in a jar with milk and yoghurt
The sachet soaked overnight in milk with a spoon of yoghurt. Cold, soft and ready when you are.
Half a sachet, as a small savoury bowl
Unflavoured protein oats cooked in stock with a poached egg and cheese on top, for the mornings when sweet food is impossible.
What to eat it with
Milk, Greek yoghurt, milk powder, a spoon of nut butter, berries. The oats bring some protein; the milk and yoghurt bring the rest.
How it compares
| Food | Protein per 100 g | Energy per 100 g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protein oats | about 20 g | 370 kcal | this page |
| Oats | about 13 g | 375 kcal | See the page |
| Whey concentrate | about 78 g | 400 kcal | See the page |
| Protein pancake mix | about 30 g | 380 kcal | See the page |
All figures are typical values for the food as eaten, oats with added protein, dry, representative value, not laboratory figures for a particular brand.
Australian, US and UK names
Protein oats or high protein porridge in all three countries: MyProtein and supermarket protein porridge in the UK, Kodiak and Quaker Protein instant oats in the US, and online bulk brands and supermarket own labels in Australia. Protein per sachet ranges from about 10 to 20 g, so the figures here are a representative value; the label on the box is the one that counts.
Questions people ask
Are protein oats worth buying?
If they get porridge made on a morning when you would not have bothered, yes. Plain oats with a scoop of whey stirred in after cooking gives more protein for less money, so the sachets are a convenience rather than a better food. Check the grams per sachet; some are barely above plain oats.
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.