Reviewed by Ashhana Sakkeer, Head Nutritionist at CurryFit.
The short answer: on a GLP-1 you will eat far less, so the risk is not what you eat, it is what you miss. A large share of the weight people lose on these medications is muscle rather than fat. Protein in every small meal is what protects against that, and dal and rice will not get you there.
GLP-1 medications work by slowing digestion and suppressing appetite. They work well. That is the point.
The problem is what happens inside the weight you lose.
In the semaglutide trials STEP 1 and SUSTAIN 8, around 39 to 40 percent of the weight lost was lean mass rather than fat. In SURMOUNT-1, with tirzepatide, lean mass was closer to a quarter of the total lost. A systematic review of six trials covering 1,541 people found lean mass loss ranging from near zero to about 40 percent of total weight lost.
Important context, because scary numbers travel further than accurate ones. Losing some muscle alongside fat is normal in any weight loss. Dieting does it. Bariatric surgery does it. Published estimates put the usual range at 20 to 50 percent of total weight lost, so GLP-1 results sit inside that range rather than outside it.
What makes these drugs different is not the biology. It is the appetite. When you can only manage a few hundred grams of food a day, it is very easy to eat almost no protein without noticing, and that is what tips muscle loss from normal to serious.
The medication handles the calories. Your job is the protein.
Most diet advice is about protein per day. On a GLP-1 that is the wrong frame, because you cannot fit a normal day of food in.
Think about protein per 100 calories instead.
Grams of protein per 100 calories. Typical published values for ordinary foods.
That is the whole article in one number. If 800 calories is all you can manage today, what you choose decides whether that day delivers 133g of protein or 28g. Nothing else you do matters as much.
A full breakdown of the vegetarian side of this is in our guide to high protein vegetarian food.
The problem with our food on a GLP-1 is that it is built around the carbohydrate. Rice, roti, and a small amount of gravy that carries the protein. When you can only eat a quarter of a normal plate, and most of that plate is rice, you have eaten almost no protein at all.
Flip the plate. Protein first, carbohydrate second, and only if there is room.
| Food | Why |
|---|---|
| Chicken tikka, tandoori chicken | Dry, high protein, no heavy gravy |
| Paneer tikka | Same logic, vegetarian |
| Soya chunks or soya chaap | Very high protein for the volume |
| Curd, Greek yoghurt, hung curd | Easy on the stomach, high protein per bite |
| Eggs, any way | Small, complete protein |
| Dal soup rather than dal with rice | The protein without the volume |
| Grilled fish | High protein, low fat, easy to digest |
One note on soya chaap: it is made with wheat flour, so it is not a gluten free food.
| Food | Why |
|---|---|
| Biryani | Mostly rice. Fills you at the expense of protein |
| Butter chicken, korma, any cream and cashew gravy | High fat slows digestion further, and these drugs already do that |
| Puri, bhatura, samosa, pakora | Fried food is the most commonly reported trigger for nausea |
| Big glasses of lassi or sweet drinks | Takes stomach space with almost no protein |
| Dal and rice as the whole meal | Around 5 to 8g of protein in a katori of dal |
Fried and very fatty food is the one thing almost everyone learns the hard way. These medications slow gastric emptying. Fat slows it further. Heavy, oily food often sits and makes nausea worse. This is widely reported by patients and commonly discussed by clinicians. If it happens to you, tell your doctor rather than just eating less.
Both of these come in under 900 calories with more than 90g of protein. This is what protein per bite looks like on a plate.
Notice what is not there. No plate of rice, no two chapatis, no big bowl of dal. Not because carbohydrates are bad, but because on a small appetite they are the thing that crowds protein out. Add roti and rice back as your appetite returns.
Notice something else, too. The vegetarian day has to use yoghurt twice to get to the same place. That is not padding, it is the actual shape of the problem, and it comes up again further down this page.
Skipping meals entirely because you are not hungry. Hunger is no longer a useful signal on these drugs. You have to eat on a schedule rather than on appetite, or the days with almost no protein add up fast.
Living on shakes and soup. Easy to get down, usually low in protein unless you are careful, and they do nothing for the fibre problem. One properly built protein shake among three small meals is a different thing entirely, and a useful one.
Ignoring fibre. Constipation is one of the most commonly reported effects. Pulses, vegetables, ragi and multigrain rotis, fruit and enough water all help. Increase fibre gradually, because a sudden jump makes bloating worse.
Forgetting resistance training. Protein alone does not protect muscle. Lifting something heavy two or three times a week is the other half. Every clinical review of muscle loss on these drugs points at the same two levers, protein and resistance training.
During weight loss, 1.2 to 1.6g of protein per kilo of bodyweight a day is the range most commonly recommended. For a 75kg person that is 90 to 120g.
The hard part on a GLP-1 is not knowing the number. It is fitting it into a stomach that wants 600 calories.
That is why the protein per 100 calorie chart above matters more than anything else on this page.
Speak to your prescribing doctor if you have persistent vomiting, cannot keep fluids down, have severe abdominal pain, are losing weight much faster than expected, feel faint or unusually weak, or find your muscle strength dropping.
Also speak to them before changing anything about your dose, and before starting any very low calorie approach. This page is about what to put on a plate. It does not replace medical care.
This is the only section on this page with CurryFit specifics in it.
We did not build our food for GLP-1 patients. It turns out to be close to exactly what they need. Small portions, protein density, nothing deep fried, no cream or cashew gravies, and the numbers printed on every dish.
Here is our own menu ranked by the only measure that matters on a suppressed appetite: protein per 100 calories.
| Dish | Calories | Protein | Fat | Per 100 kcal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spicy Pink Chicken Penne Pasta | 406 | 49g | 6g | 12.1g |
| Chicken Tikka Plate | 487 | 58g | 22g | 11.9g |
| Desi Caesar Salad | 368 | 42g | 19g | 11.4g |
| Peri Peri Chicken and Veg | 392 | 43g | 13g | 11.0g |
| Baked Chicken Twister | 427 | 45g | 16g | 10.5g |
| Mexican Chicken Wrap | 424 | 44g | 17g | 10.4g |
| Dynamite Chicken Wrap | 429 | 44g | 21g | 10.3g |
| Chicken Shawarma Salad | 344 | 35g | 16g | 10.2g |
If you only remember one dish, make it the Spicy Pink Chicken Penne Pasta. 49g of protein in 406 calories with only 6g of fat, which is the lowest fat of anything high protein on our menu. On a medication that slows digestion and makes fatty food sit heavy, that combination is hard to beat.
The Chicken Tikka Plate is the other one worth knowing, at 11.9g per 100 calories, and the Achari version of it is marinated differently but built the same way.
| Dish | Calories | Protein | Per 100 kcal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patiyala Omelet with Toast | 413 | 40g | 9.7g |
| Mexican Chicken Bowl | 417 | 39g | 9.4g |
| Chicken Burger with Wedges | 492 | 46g | 9.3g |
| Chicken Tikka Biryani | 482 | 43g | 8.9g |
| Healthy Chicken Tikka Masala Bowl | 434 | 36g | 8.3g |
| Clean Butter Chicken Bowl | 485 | 38g | 7.8g |
| Tandoori Salmon Bowl | 456 | 33g | 7.2g |
| Paneer Tikka Salad | 305 | 22g | 7.2g |
These are all good meals. They just carry rice, bread or a wedge of carbohydrate alongside the protein. If you can finish the bowl, take it. If you know you will only eat half, eat the protein half.
| Dish | Calories | Protein | Per 100 kcal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kadai Paneer Brown Rice Bowl | 418 | 22g | 5.3g |
| Veggie Burger with Wedges | 375 | 17g | 4.5g |
| Chana Masala Rice Bowl | 324 | 12g | 3.7g |
| Masala Oats Porridge | 314 | 11g | 3.5g |
| Rajma Chawal Bowl | 347 | 10g | 2.9g |
| Granola Bowl with Fresh Fruit | 351 | 10g | 2.8g |
| Healthy Bhel Puri | 150 | 4g | 2.7g |
| Vegetable Hakka Noodles | 348 | 8g | 2.3g |
Nothing is wrong with any of these. They are clean, well made food, and when your appetite comes back they are exactly what you want. But on a stomach that will only take 300 grams of food, a rajma chawal bowl spends your entire appetite for 10g of protein. Come back to them later.
| Drink | Calories | Protein | Per 100 kcal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mocha Magic Protein Smoothie | 237 | 23g | 9.7g |
| Berry Blast Protein Smoothie | 239 | 22g | 9.2g |
| Mango Tango Protein Smoothie | 236 | 21g | 8.9g |
We said above that living on shakes is a mistake, and it is. But one of these as a small meal is a completely different proposition. Around 230 calories for more than 20g of protein, 4g of fat, and it goes down on a morning when nothing solid will. If you are vegetarian, these are the highest protein density on our entire menu.
| Dish | Calories | Protein | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morning | Mocha Magic Protein Smoothie | 237 | 23g |
| Midday | Chicken Shawarma Salad | 344 | 35g |
| Evening | Spicy Pink Chicken Penne Pasta | 406 | 49g |
| Total | 987 | 107g |
Three small meals, under 1,000 calories, and over 100 grams of protein. That is the whole problem solved.
We are not going to pretend this works as well if you do not eat meat. It does not, and you would find out in a week.
Once you rank our menu by protein per 100 calories, every single solid dish above 10g is chicken. The best vegetarian solid food we make is the Paneer Tikka Salad at 7.2g per 100 calories. Here is the best vegetarian day our menu can currently build:
| Dish | Calories | Protein | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morning | Mocha Magic Protein Smoothie | 237 | 23g |
| Midday | Paneer Tikka Salad | 305 | 22g |
| Evening | Kadai Paneer Brown Rice Bowl | 418 | 22g |
| Total | 960 | 67g |
Almost the same calories, 40g less protein. If you are vegetarian and on a GLP-1, the honest advice is to use our protein smoothies and paneer dishes alongside Greek yoghurt, low fat paneer and soya chunks from your own kitchen, the way the vegetarian day further up this page does. We are working on a proper high protein vegetarian plate. It is not on the menu yet.
Olive oil, sometimes coconut oil, and nothing else. No reused oil, no vanaspati.
No cream, no cashew paste in any gravy, which is what makes restaurant versions of the same dish sit heavy.
Nothing deep fried. We have a real clay lined tandoor, so the protein is grilled.
No refined sugar anywhere, including the desserts.
Fibre built in. Ragi, millet, quinoa, oat flour and our seven flour multigrain roti, plus pulses across the menu.
Gluten free and dairy free available as add ons.
Every dish carries its own numbers, so you can see the protein before you eat rather than guessing afterwards.
If you are on a GLP-1 and struggling to hit your protein, message us and we will build the plan around it. If you want the portion numbers for food you cook yourself, they are in our guide to calories in Indian food.
Every CurryFit meal is calorie counted and macro tracked, cooked fresh daily in Sharjah and delivered free across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ajman. Tell us you are on a GLP-1 and we will build the plan around your protein target.
See the plans → See the full menu →This article is general information about food and nutrition. It is not medical advice, it does not replace advice from your doctor or dietitian, and it does not cover the medications themselves, their use, dosing or side effects. Always follow the guidance of the clinician who prescribed your treatment.
Where the food numbers come from. The generic food figures are typical published values, including USDA FoodData Central and the Indian Food Composition Tables. The CurryFit dish figures are the ones published on our own menu page, and if a recipe changes this page changes with it.
About the reviewer. Ashhana Sakkeer is Head Nutritionist at CurryFit, where she builds the calorie and macro targets behind every plan on the menu.