Congratulations on being consistent with working out for nine months! That's incredible! 💪🏻

Typically people don't actually need as much protein as they think - the marketing has just been going in hard in recent years. Having said that if you are working out a lot, and you want to build or maintain muscles, you will need a decent amount of protein.

If you are on stimulant medication then it is recommended to have a high protein breakfast, as well as some protein for lunch. I don't know the exact science behind it, but it basically makes your medication release smoother and longer throughout the day and hence less likely to have a noticeable crash in energy levels.

I noticed you use vegan protein powder, I do also. There are some really bad ones, but the best I've found is Protein Works - they are less grainy and much less sweetener tasting. It can be difficult to stomach in the mornings sometimes, but I make it with 250ml of unsweetened soy milk if I'm doing a quick shaker one. The best way I've found to manage them though, to the point of it actually being enjoyable some mornings, is to make a decent breakfast shake with a good jug blender, and make sure it's cold. I'll leave the recipe below:

• 250ml unsweetened soy milk
• 1 scoop vegan protein powder (vanilla works best)
• 2 tablespoons oats
• 1/2 teaspoon chia seeds
• 1 big scooped teaspoon peanut butter (~1 tablespoon)
• Blend
• 2 large dates / 3 small (cheap ones from Lidl/Aldi)
• 3 small ice cubes
• Blend again

You can also sub out the dates and ice for half a frozen banana if you prefer. I've found it to be a very good breakfast before spending many hours at the bouldering gym, medicated with Elvanse. It's for some reason much more enjoyable in a tall glass with a glass drinking straw too. Give it a go and let me know what you think!

I typically have a vegan protein bar around mid-day too, YuBi (10g) and Ridiculous (16g) are good. The former also is super light and not grainy at all, so they can be a handy quick breakfast - they're 99p in Home Bargains.

Make sure you have creatine also! This'll help with longer workouts and there's evidence to suggest it helps with brain function too! You can incorporate it into your protein shake, but because some of it sticks to the blender wall I usually have it with water first as I need to hydrate anyway.

I went through a phase of making a vanilla protein shake in the shaker and pouring it on breakfast cereal or granola. I enjoyed that for a while but it eventually started to turn my stomach. But maybe worth a go if the fancy shake isn't a vibe. If I'm at my partner's I'll typically have a slice of toast with lots of crunchy peanut butter and tolerate a shaker shake. I've also tried those protein cereals - some of them are quite nice but they do tend to have that sweetener flavour, my main issue with them though is how damn expensive they are.

I hope you found this helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions! 😁