Hitting your protein targets on a Thai food diet

The most common thing I hear from members trying to build muscle: 'Thai food makes it impossible.' It doesn't — you just have to order like an athlete.

The heroes are everywhere: kai yang (grilled chicken), moo ping without the sugar glaze, pla pao (salt-crusted fish), larb moo, and eggs in basically everything. A som tam + kai yang + sticky rice lunch lands around 40g of protein if you take the whole bird's worth seriously.

The traps are the dishes that feel substantial but aren't: noodle soups with three thin pork slices, fried rice with a scrambled egg's worth of protein, anything where the protein is mostly batter.

My template for a 70kg lifter: protein anchor at every meal (palm-sized minimum), one deliberate protein snack — Greek yogurt, milk, or a shake from the counter — and don't fear the street stall. The grill is your friend; the fryer is a sometimes-friend.