Vegetarian and workouts

neekmichelle922

I'm trying to lose weight or at least tone up so I go to the gym everyday. Being a vegetarian I eat quest bars which have 20g of protein and Greek yogurt which have a lot too. However I don't know if I'm getting enough nutrition or if I'm eating enough. I'm 120 and 5'3 and I eat around 1500 calories. Always of nutritional food I'm so picky! My question is if I should look into w certain food or nutrient my body might not be getting ? Vegetarianism is healthy I just need help doing so

thatshistorical

I'm a pescatarian, but I eat a lot of vegetarian meals, eating fish maybe 4-5 times a week. Do you eat eggs? Egg whites are great for protein. This morning I had 3 egg whites (one yolk slipped in there though) scrambled with spinach, green onions, tomatoes, and yellow onions. Try kale, either in home made chips or salad or sautéed like greens. Nutritional yeast is super high in protein (3 g for 1 tbsp) so I often make mashed cauliflower with a drizzle of evoo and some NY (steam a head or a bag of frozen cauliflower, add 2-3 tbsp evoo, 4-6 tbsp NY, blend in food processor). Silken tofu is your friend. Make a Greek yogurt smoothie with tofu, skim milk, Greek yogurt and some fruit. Basically I do 1 part each, add some ice, blend. Extra firm tofu is great too. Press the water out before you cook in a pan--slice the brick into 6 slices, place on paper towels, put more towels on top, then a dinner plate, and some canned goods (about 1-2lbs). Let it sit for 10 min. Put in a nonstick skillet with a spritz of cooking spray (although my pans are slick enough that I don't need the spritz?). Brown each side, cut into strips, toss in a stir fry with cooked quinoa (SUPER HIGH IN PROTEIN for 1/2 cup), edamame, peppers, onions, broccoli. YUMMMM. A tiny bit of sesame oil and some minced ginger and low sodium soy sauce makes it amazinnnngggg.

I'd stay away from the protein bars. They don't fill you up as much as real food, and are full of chemicals. I eat a fiber one bar or a small protein bar on occasion, if I know I don't have a chance to eat something before I work out or if I end up skipping a meal by accident.

leggup

Use the MFP settings. It will recommend how much weight is healthy to lose for your height, as well as the number of grams of protein you should get each day. The default is 20% protein.

I'm a lacto-ovo vegetarian. I know that the common nutrients that vegetarians are missing out on/have a harder time getting are:

• protein,
• iron (plant-based iron is not as effectively absorbed),
• vitamin B12,
• calcium (if you don't eat dairy),
• vitamin D2 (since vitamin D3 is more effective/efficient, vegetarians need more D2 to compensate),
• zinc (again, plant-based zinc is not as effectively absorbed), and
• omega-3 fatty acids.

I use the nutrient tracking in the MFP app to track many of those nutrients, although there's no way to track a few of them.