Becoming Obsessed With Protein

cgchow
cgchow Posts: 10 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey, MFP Community!
I'm an early twenty-something female with a conundrum.

I love having some muscle, and engage in really light weight training 3x per week and a light amount of daily cardio. Nothing too strenuous, but I've been building muscle! The thing is, that only started happening once I upped my protein intake to about 1g/lb of bodyweight. I hear that's pretty standard. It was fine at first, but after a while now, I feel super restricted to only eating things that can get me to hit my protein macros (roughly 100g per day). It stresses me out, especially because I get a little tired of not having variety... I get so nervous if I don't hit that number because I'm worried my muscles will break down slowly but surely...

Any advice?

I'm a vegetarian, and my main protein sources are egg whites, greek yogurt, plant-based protein bars, an organic protein powder, and organic tofu. Also nuts!

Thanks for the help!

Replies

  • ForecasterJason
    ForecasterJason Posts: 2,577 Member
    You don't have to stress the protein that much. A protein intake of 1 g/lb is more than enough for building muscle. At your size, even 80g is probably over the bare minimum needed. Although I'm not vegetarian, I'm a male and have put on muscle eating less than 100g a day.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    It should be 1g of protein for every pound of LEAN body mass, not your total body weight.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    It's one gram per Lb of lean body mass, not weight...

    Also, you're only 100 Lbs?

    I rarely actually get 1 gram per Lb of my lean body mass and I'm doing just fine in the muscle department...stop stressing about *kitten* that isn't all that important.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    More legumes! You can get lots of variety that way.

    Why are you eating just egg whites and not the whole egg?
  • cathipa
    cathipa Posts: 2,991 Member
    Beans are an excellent source of fiber.
    And 100g isn't that much protein (there are 26g in a cup of greek yogurt alone).
    And most people stick with 0.8g/TBW for protein calculation (there is an article about why >=1g/TBW protein is not necessary).
  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
    .7 grams per pound LEAN BODY MASS per day is what you need. Figure it out, you are eating too much Protein currently.

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