New to High Protein diet. Any food/meal suggestions?

hrod215

Just discovered that I am an Endomorph (high tendency to store body fat) and am trying to switch from a muscle building diet to a fat burning diet by doing 50/35/15 prot/carb/fat. Holy moly is this difficult! I eat what I think are high protein foods but still end up tipping the carb scale. Any tips/tricks/hacks? I want to stick with this because well... this belly flab ain't gonna burn itself ya know. But I'm starting to get a little discouraged.

kimny72

Somatypes have been debunked, they're just not a thing.

Sufficient protein while losing weight is important to spare muscle, but 50% is insane. The standard recommendation here is to aim for @ 0.8g of protein per lb of body weight.

Macros don't directly affect weight loss, they are mostly personal preference based on satiety, and you want to meet minimums for good health.

Don't make it harder than it needs to be - get your calories right and eat the macro distribution that is most comfortable for you.

Maxxitt

50% might or might not be insane depending on total calorie intake. I prefer to track protein & fat in grams rather than percentages. 15% fat might be too low, too, depending on total calorie intake.

So if you want to go higher protein, set your protein to get .8 to 1 g of protein/lb of body weight. Set your fat to get .35 g fat/lb of body weight. Fill the rest in with carbs (and don't forget fiber ... you can subtract fiber g from carb grams for "net carbs").

And don't get nuts with a too-high deficit. Weight loss isn't a race

Protein-dense foods I eat regularly: Lean beef, pork, chicken, fish, shellfish. Also greek yogurt, cottage cheese, and dairy in general. I also have chickpeas, beans (yes, high carbs and also high fiber), eggs, egg whites, nuts. I generally eat lower carb (under 125g a day) but still have room for whole grains, sweet and white potatoes, green peas. I don't eat a lot of highly processed grain products. I do have a whey protein drink most days to make my protein target.

hrod215

Maxxitt wrote: »

50% might or might not be insane depending on total calorie intake. I prefer to track protein & fat in grams rather than percentages. 15% fat might be too low, too, depending on total calorie intake.

So if you want to go higher protein, set your protein to get .8 to 1 g of protein/lb of body weight. Set your fat to get .35 g fat/lb of body weight. Fill the rest in with carbs (and don't forget fiber ... you can subtract fiber g from carb grams for "net carbs").

And don't get nuts with a too-high deficit. Weight loss isn't a race

Protein-dense foods I eat regularly: Lean beef, pork, chicken, fish, shellfish. Also greek yogurt, cottage cheese, and dairy in general. I also have chickpeas, beans (yes, high carbs and also high fiber), eggs, egg whites, nuts. I generally eat lower carb (under 125g a day) but still have room for whole grains, sweet and white potatoes, green peas. I don't eat a lot of highly processed grain products. I do have a whey protein drink most days to make my protein target.

That's very insightful. Didn't think to do grams:lbs ratio. I will give that a shot and see where I net out. Fat is also something I can never keep in check (avocado, olive oil, etc.). I'm not trying to lose tons of weight. I ideally want to stay within the 135-140 range while getting rid of the fat and replacing with some muscle. I've been lifting and only doing a small bit of cardio for warm up and recovery in between lifting. You learn something new every day tho. Thank you!

bbell1985

Eat less carbs and more protein. And leaner protein.

AnnPT77

Note: If overweight, and using a "grams per pound body weight" estimating method, use a healthy goal weight weight, not current body weight.

You don't need extra protein to maintain fat mass, but only to maintain lean tissue. If substantially overweight, using current weight can result in goals that are unnecessarily high and difficult to achieve on reduced calories.

Birder165

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Note: If overweight, and using a "grams per pound body weight" estimating method, use a healthy goal weight weight, not current body weight.

You don't need extra protein to maintain fat mass, but only to maintain lean tissue. If substantially overweight, using current weight can result in goals that are unnecessarily high and difficult to achieve on reduced calories.

Ann, can you please recommend a good method for figuring out what lean body mass is? I'm 100 pounds away from my goal weight. I have no idea what my body fat percentage will be at that weight so should I just guesstimate for now and subtract that percentage?

Tacklewasher

Birder165 wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Note: If overweight, and using a "grams per pound body weight" estimating method, use a healthy goal weight weight, not current body weight.

You don't need extra protein to maintain fat mass, but only to maintain lean tissue. If substantially overweight, using current weight can result in goals that are unnecessarily high and difficult to achieve on reduced calories.

Ann, can you please recommend a good method for figuring out what lean body mass is? I'm 100 pounds away from my goal weight. I have no idea what my body fat percentage will be at that weight so should I just guesstimate for now and subtract that percentage?

If you don't know your LBM or BF%, then just use a healthy body weight as your guide.

lemurcat12

Yeah, .65-.85 g per lb of a healthy goal weight is fine. Weigh 220 with a goal weight of 120? .8x120=96 so aiming around 90-100 g, or even 80-110 g, is totally fine.

Birder165

Thank you, Tacklewasher and lemurcat12!

cfgreear

The trick is to eat healthier carbs from fruit and not breads or grains. Eat more vegetables for extra fiber as well as take in some extra fiber pills if you are going to be going high protein as well so that bowel movements are not so unpleasant. To add more protein you could try adding a protein shake to your breakfast and dinner and if you need a snack in the morning or afternoon try to dip a sliced up apple in peanut/almond/cashew butter. And drink more water, lots of water.

bbell1985

cfgreear wrote: »

The trick is to eat healthier carbs from fruit and not breads or grains. Eat more vegetables for extra fiber as well as take in some extra fiber pills if you are going to be going high protein as well so that bowel movements are not so unpleasant. To add more protein you could try adding a protein shake to your breakfast and dinner and if you need a snack in the morning or afternoon try to dip a sliced up apple in peanut/almond/cashew butter. And drink more water, lots of water.

Oh please. The trick is to eat a little less carbs, and more protein. And an apple with peanut butter is not a great source of protein. More like carbs and fat.

quebot

I just throw a bunch of meat in the crock pot with water and seasonings (onion, garlic, spices, etc) and eat that as my main food for the week. I love cooking chicken this way and using it in almost every meal. I am a single mom of 4 kids and don't have a lot of time for meal prep and cooking. My crock pot is my life saver.

AnnPT77

Tacklewasher wrote: »

Birder165 wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Note: If overweight, and using a "grams per pound body weight" estimating method, use a healthy goal weight weight, not current body weight.

You don't need extra protein to maintain fat mass, but only to maintain lean tissue. If substantially overweight, using current weight can result in goals that are unnecessarily high and difficult to achieve on reduced calories.

Ann, can you please recommend a good method for figuring out what lean body mass is? I'm 100 pounds away from my goal weight. I have no idea what my body fat percentage will be at that weight so should I just guesstimate for now and subtract that percentage?

If you don't know your LBM or BF%, then just use a healthy body weight as your guide.

Just for the record, I endorse this answer.

Not 100% sure every single minute about Tacklewasher (he can be argumentative) but the answer is solid.

(Don't worry, OP - TW knows I'm joking, and you can count on my meaning it that way. )