Low cal, low protein: Is this my problem?

mittencat77

I workout a lot (weights, HITT…5-6 times a week). My calories are always well below my burn . I am pescatarian and have noticed my fat is high (dairy, oils) and protein low. Everyone I train with, eat with is surprised I am so soft 4’11, 120 lbs).Thinking I need protein powder. Could this be my problem. Always really low calorie- struggle to get 1200 a day. Burn a lot. Protein around 20%…on a good day. Fat can be 40. Any advice welcome.

DancingMoosie

Open your diary for more specific advice

JeffMatchett

If you're actually eating well below your burn you should be continuously losing weight. This also results in making any real muscle building progress very hard. Regardless, without a decent protein intake you will get nowhere. A protein shake would be a good start in that it will increase your protein and is an extremely accessible avenue for extra calories.

penguinmama87

I eat meat but without any guardrails my diet tends toward the high fat lowish protein too. I have increased the amount of lean meat I'm eating since I am trying to retain muscle, but there are a couple of other foods I've incorporated that might work for your way of eating - Greek yogurt (which I sub for sour cream and mayo in recipes - it's really nice to make salad dressings with), cottage cheese, and nutritional yeast. I prefer whole milk dairy products, but at least while I'm in a deficit I am realizing I am probably going to have to stick to lowfat (except for plain milk). I think nonfat Greek yogurt is OK but eat 2% cottage cheese. Though if you're struggling to get 1200 calories per day, maybe you should be eating the extra fat. As @DancingMoosie says, taking a look at your diary would probably help with more specific, applicable advice.

There are a couple kinds of protein bars I like, but I tend to use them as meal substitutions on the go and not just to increase protein. I really don't like protein powder or whey at all, though I can admit that maybe there's a brand out there I would like but haven't tried. But I am slowly increasing my protein each week and average about 120g/day now.

kshama2001

mittencat77 wrote: »

I workout a lot (weights, HITT…5-6 times a week). My calories are always well below my burn . I am pescatarian and have noticed my fat is high (dairy, oils) and protein low. Everyone I train with, eat with is surprised I am so soft 4’11, 120 lbs).Thinking I need protein powder. Could this be my problem. Always really low calorie- struggle to get 1200 a day. Burn a lot. Protein around 20%…on a good day. Fat can be 40. Any advice welcome.

I'm not sure what you're asking - is the issue that you are struggling to lose weight?

There are mistakes that people commonly make that cause them to not lose weight that we might be able to spot if you change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

SnifterPug

I don't get this, but you don't specify what you typically eat. Fish and seafood is stuffed with protein, so the glib and obvious answer is to eat more of it.