How do you get enough protein?

SammiG01

I had lentils, bean and eggs for breakfast and salmon for dinner and Greek yogurt for a snack, and that was still not enough protein. How do you manage to get enough in a day?

Gallowmere1984

AnnPT77

How much are you trying to get? The daily goal in your diary looks unusually high, though I know some folks intentionally target high amounts.

Generally, what I did to get mine up while losing was review my diary regularly, looking for foods that had quite a few calories, but little protein, then I reduced or eliminated those in favor of other foods I liked that gave me more protein.

This was a great resource for identifying candidate foods:

Carbs and Fats are cheap. Here's a Guide to getting your PROTEIN's worth. Fiber also...

But I was only targeting 0.6-0.g of protein per pound (no I don't mean kg) of healthy goal weight (no, I don't mean LBM) while losing. That was reasonably easy, even as a vegetarian.

TavistockToad

SammiG01 wrote: »

I had lentils, bean and eggs for breakfast and salmon for dinner and Greek yogurt for a snack, and that was still not enough protein. How do you manage to get enough in a day?

What are your stats, how much protein are you trying to get?

AnnPT77

AnnPT77 wrote: »

How much are you trying to get? The daily goal in your diary looks unusually high, though I know some folks intentionally target high amounts.

Generally, what I did to get mine up while losing was review my diary regularly, looking for foods that had quite a few calories, but little protein, then I reduced or eliminated those in favor of other foods I liked that gave me more protein.

This was a great resource for identifying candidate foods:

Carbs and Fats are cheap. Here's a Guide to getting your PROTEIN's worth. Fiber also...

But I was only targeting 0.6-0.g of protein per pound (no I don't mean kg) of healthy goal weight (no, I don't mean LBM) while losing. That was reasonably easy, even as a vegetarian.

Quoting myself to correct, since it's too late to edit: 0.6-0.8g of protein, in that last paragraph. Oops.

JB035

Schedule more meal times or add to what you already have. Protien shakes are a quick way to jump up until you get used to eating more through out the day.

kommodevaran

First decide what "enough protein" is, then find out what foods contain protein, then experiment to compose a diet that suits you.

What's the reasoning for your macro split? It looks like the Zone Diet. Have you tried MFPs default? If so, why didn't that work?

Unknown

This content has been removed.

HeliumIsNoble

SammiG01 wrote: »

I had lentils, bean and eggs for breakfast and salmon for dinner and Greek yogurt for a snack, and that was still not enough protein. How do you manage to get enough in a day?

Generally by going over my calorie goal. *sighs*

Sorry, you wanted something a bit more positive, yes? I think you should have a look at what's in the lentil and bean bites, other than lentils and beans. It looks to me like there wasn't much lentil in them, as 100g of boiled lentils would be approx 114 calories and 9g protein, so the issue may be that you had a miniscule quantity of lentils. What kind of beans are being used? Some species are more protein-rich than others.

Add peas into your daily life somewhere- 100g of frozen peas is 80-odd calories for 5-6g protein.

HM2206

I make my lunches mini dinners. So it's meat or fish with vegetables for both meals.

bienemajamfp

Edamame pasta 25 g Protein mixed with chicken breast 43 Protein g topped with Feta cheese 10 g Protein. That's almost 80 g Protein just for lunch. For Dinner Fage Full Fat Greek Yogurt 18 g. That's almost 100 g per day. Adding eggs and cheese for breakfast I have about 120 g, Fat will go up too!

JeromeBarry1

What's your calorie budget and how many grams of protein do you want? 1 gram per pound of body weight for progressive heavy lifting is sufficient, but you'll need protein supplements.

Gallowmere1984

JeromeBarry1 wrote: »

What's your calorie budget and how many grams of protein do you want? 1 gram per pound of body weight for progressive heavy lifting is sufficient, but you'll need protein supplements.

You never need protein supps. I've hit 300g on ~1400 kcals before. Lots and lots of tuna and chicken breast tenderloin (the kind with no rib meat attached).

deannalfisher

lots of lean meats for my protein - chicken, pork, shrimp is a huge bang for its buck (22g for 4oz); if I have more fat to work with, then steak is a go-to - I hit 130g a day with limited supplements (I might occasionally have a protein bar for a snack, but its not something I plan into my food for the day)

feel free to check out my diary for ideas

RogerToo

SammiG01 wrote: »

I had lentils, bean and eggs for breakfast and salmon for dinner and Greek yogurt for a snack, and that was still not enough protein. How do you manage to get enough in a day?

Hi
Breakfast today for example will be 15g in a Protein Shake, and the protein in the 4.5 ounces of 1% milk on my Breakfast cereal plus the protein in the cereal. 3g in the cereal, 4g in the milk and 15g in the protein shake = 22g for breakfast.

Mt mid morning snack today is 2 ounces of Turkey breast an a 60calorie wrap with Miracle Whip or maybe as a Turkey Salad on the wrap.

Then Whatever I get from Lunch and dinner.

Cheers
Roger

Morgaen73

We have high protein ice cream here. The peanut butter flavour has 17g protein, 2g fat and 2g carbs per 100g. I'm going to try it out this weekend.

lemurcat12

SammiG01 wrote: »

I had lentils, bean and eggs for breakfast and salmon for dinner and Greek yogurt for a snack, and that was still not enough protein. How do you manage to get enough in a day?

Looks like your standard goal is 107, which seems reasonable, depending on stats. 170 (yesterday) seems higher than you need, and if you add exercise calories and the overall goal goes up, you don't have to eat more protein. Ann's suggestion of .6-.8 g/lb is right -- to be a little more specific, I have read from a few different credible sources .65-.8 g/lb of a healthy goal weight, and like to err on the high end if on a deficit especially because I'm a woman in my 40s, when muscle loss is easy, gain is harder. Based on your profile, you may have similar concerns. For me this means I aim for around 100.

Anyway, having reviewed yesterday, the issue was lunch -- if you basically don't get protein at a meal it's tough to meet a goal unless you really get a lot at other meals or do a lot of protein-rich snacks. (I think a lot of people do low protein breakfasts or lunches, and have an issue.) Another thing is just increasing portions of protein-rich foods and decreasing other things. Eggs are a good source, but not that high -- they are higher in fat so the protein per calorie is just okay. I have eggs at breakfast a lot and tend to add some low-fat dairy too, but really I think your breakfast and dinner were fine, the yogurt as a snack was a good idea, you just needed a little more protein at lunch (maybe instead of some of the snacks, as protein tends to make a meal more filling).

LisaTcan

I also use Zone Marcos and find it pretty hard to hit my protein goal (113 gm). Things that help are
- Non-fat latte as a snack
- Meat at lunch and dinner
- Protein bar as a snack

I cannot get into eggs for breakfast, I really like whole wheat toast with peanut butter so I miss out there but I enjoy it so much I'm not giving it up.

notyouraveragetalia

some "tricks" I use is Protein powder in coffee and yogurt, egg whites in smoothies & oatmeal, lunch/dinner foods for breakfast

Fallfrenzy

I've added protein powder to either my oatmeal or yogurt. Possibly a protein bar. Something else I just started is for snacking or lunch, where I roll-up a couple of slices of turkey with hummus, sliced red bell pepper and possibly cucumbers or other veggies cut thin. This is without the bread. This seemed to fill me up for a bit, as well as packs some protein in it.

inertiastrength

I eat a lot of lean meat and I usually supplement with a bar or shake once a day.

BlueSkyShoal

I started drinking a protein shake every day. I just don't eat enough protein-rich foods otherwise. One day I thought, "Well, I'll have peanut butter toast. Peanut butter has lots of protein!" Peanut butter also has lots of calories, though, so I tried not to use too much of it. I spread it so thin that the piece of bread gave me more protein than the peanut butter.

SammiG01

Thanks for all the feedback. Some of you commented that my numbers seemed a little out of whack so I wnt in and had a look. I have a new fitbit and it seems that as fitbit is adding in activity it also changes the macro requirements. I'm not doing any major workouts so eating more protein and fat because I'm recording steps does not seem reasonable. I don't eat back exercise calories at all so maybe I don't need the fitbit synced. Something to think about......thanks again.

SammiG01

BlueSkyShoal wrote: »

I started drinking a protein shake every day. I just don't eat enough protein-rich foods otherwise. One day I thought, "Well, I'll have peanut butter toast. Peanut butter has lots of protein!" Peanut butter also has lots of calories, though, so I tried not to use too much of it. I spread it so thin that the piece of bread gave me more protein than the peanut butter.

LOL that's funny.

SammiG01

Fallfrenzy wrote: »

I've added protein powder to either my oatmeal or yogurt. Possibly a protein bar. Something else I just started is for snacking or lunch, where I roll-up a couple of slices of turkey with hummus, sliced red bell pepper and possibly cucumbers or other veggies cut thin. This is without the bread. This seemed to fill me up for a bit, as well as packs some protein in it.

Meat sushi? Sounds good

SammiG01

lemurcat12 wrote: »

SammiG01 wrote: »

I had lentils, bean and eggs for breakfast and salmon for dinner and Greek yogurt for a snack, and that was still not enough protein. How do you manage to get enough in a day?

Looks like your standard goal is 107, which seems reasonable, depending on stats. 170 (yesterday) seems higher than you need, and if you add exercise calories and the overall goal goes up, you don't have to eat more protein. Ann's suggestion of .6-.8 g/lb is right -- to be a little more specific, I have read from a few different credible sources .65-.8 g/lb of a healthy goal weight, and like to err on the high end if on a deficit especially because I'm a woman in my 40s, when muscle loss is easy, gain is harder. Based on your profile, you may have similar concerns. For me this means I aim for around 100.

Anyway, having reviewed yesterday, the issue was lunch -- if you basically don't get protein at a meal it's tough to meet a goal unless you really get a lot at other meals or do a lot of protein-rich snacks. (I think a lot of people do low protein breakfasts or lunches, and have an issue.) Another thing is just increasing portions of protein-rich foods and decreasing other things. Eggs are a good source, but not that high -- they are higher in fat so the protein per calorie is just okay. I have eggs at breakfast a lot and tend to add some low-fat dairy too, but really I think your breakfast and dinner were fine, the yogurt as a snack was a good idea, you just needed a little more protein at lunch (maybe instead of some of the snacks, as protein tends to make a meal more filling).

Thanks. Good advice.

JeromeBarry1

Gallowmere1984 wrote: »

JeromeBarry1 wrote: »

What's your calorie budget and how many grams of protein do you want? 1 gram per pound of body weight for progressive heavy lifting is sufficient, but you'll need protein supplements.

You never need protein supps. I've hit 300g on ~1400 kcals before. Lots and lots of tuna and chicken breast tenderloin (the kind with no rib meat attached).

I, of course, bow to your superior wisdom. When I tried to figure out how to get to 1 gram per pound of my body weight, I found I'd have to consume 2 quarts of egg whites each day if I wanted any calories left for vegetables. I don't know how you did it, but I am in awe.

californiagirl2012

The highest protein foods are in this order (high protein to calorie ratio): White fish, egg whites, protein powder isolate, bone broth, then lean chicken/turkey/pork, then yogurt and cottage cheese. It's not that the other foods don't have protein, but the ratio of protein to calories drops off dramatically after that. Beans, lentils, legumes, nuts, etc are more calories, carbs, fats, and fiber with a little protein in the mix.

Kimo159

It looks like the yogurt you had was a flavoured one. There's a lot of sugar in flavoured yogurts so you can up your protein by going for a 0% plain greek yogurt. I've noticed that in general the lower the fat is the higher the protein ends up being. I usually add frozen berries and a bit of cinnamon to mine. Though, it's not exceptionally sweet so it might be an acquired taste. Or perhaps you can even mix 1/2 flavoured 0% greek yogurt with half plain. I usually get liberte 0% plain - 17g of protein and 100 calories per serving. I've also noticed a lot of variation between brands so when you're shopping just look for the brand of greek yogurt that has the highest protein for the calories.

feliciaboots

Generally I have a couple eggs in the morning, then a can of tuna for lunch (I drain the tuna and mix in the seasonings the night before to it can marinate - try curry, chili powder, lemon dill or green relish). For dinner it can be any type of meat, truly. I haven't gotten into beans really yet (the calories worry me for losing weight) but that's on the to-do list.

EllaLeahB

I'm working on this too.