Becoming Obsessed With Protein

cgchow

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!

ForecasterJason

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

It should be 1g of protein for every pound of LEAN body mass, not your total body weight.

cwolfman13

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

More legumes! You can get lots of variety that way.

Why are you eating just egg whites and not the whole egg?

cathipa

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

.7 grams per pound LEAN BODY MASS per day is what you need. Figure it out, you are eating too much Protein currently.