180g protein in 1600 cal diet

AshishAhmed

For my weight loss journey, I need to consume 180g of protein daily, but I'm struggling to meet that goal consistently. I often have to rely on protein shakes to fill the gap. My diet mainly includes poultry, and I get about 60-90g of protein from shakes. I want to increase my food-based protein intake to at least 150g. Do you have any suggestions on how I can achieve this without exceeding a total of 1600 calories?

yirara

Why do you need this high amount of protein? Who gave it to you? Do you mind sharing your current stats and your goals so we can help you more?

neanderthin

AshishAhmed wrote: »

For my weight loss journey, I need to consume 180g of protein daily, but I'm struggling to meet that goal consistently. I often have to rely on protein shakes to fill the gap. My diet mainly includes poultry, and I get about 60-90g of protein from shakes. I want to increase my food-based protein intake to at least 150g. Do you have any suggestions on how I can achieve this without exceeding a total of 1600 calories?

I aim for around the same g's of protein and I'm a guy that's 6'1" 185. Well if your getting lets say 75 g's of protein from protein shakes and if boneless chicken breast is 22g's for every 100 g's and you want at least 150'g of protein then you need to eat around 350g's (12oz) of chicken for a total of 160g's of protein over the course of 2 or 3 meals, that's pretty basic and easy to do and that 350 g's of boneless skinless chicken breast only has around 385 calories. So fundamentally if chicken is your main source of protein why are you eating so little when someone is trying to increase the protein in their diet? Your post kind of doesn't make much sense, imo of course.

AnnPT77

First, I'd suggest a check on your protein goal and/or your calorie goal. I don't mean to be accusatory: It's just that it's common here to see people either thinking they need truly massive amounts of protein (that just becomes expensive energy), or cutting calories super-far in pursuit of aggressively fast weight loss. Either of those is risky, so I feel obliged to ask out of concern, honestly. (Think of me as a concerned old internet auntie; I'm for sure old enough to be. ).

If your goal weight is 180 pounds (81.6 kg), then 180 grams of protein is probably around the maximum you might reasonably need. In special circumstances, you might need a little more, but I think that's statistically unusual.

You can get a research-based protein goal from this site (generally regarded as neutral, and not a seller of protein supplements!):

https://examine.com/protein-intake-calculator/
https://examine.com/guides/protein-intake/

Note that somewhere in the guide it suggests that if a person is quite overweight, they can use a lighter weight (like healthy goal weight) in the calculator.

From a calorie standpoint, a common rule of thumb is to avoid losing more than 0.5-1% of current weight per week, or to avoid cutting more than 20-25% of current TDEE calories.

For some people, adjusting one or the other of those will make reaching protein goals easier. That may or may not apply to you.

If you want to get more protein from food, I found this thread very helpful:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10247171/carbs-and-fats-are-cheap-heres-a-guide-to-getting-your-proteins-worth-fiber-also

It links to a spreadsheet that lists many, many foods in order by most protein for fewest calories. Find foods you enjoy near the top of the list, and work on eating more of those, and less of something else that isn't helping you reach your goals (nutrition, calories, tastiness, or other goals).

Another tip would be to think about not only getting one big protein source in each meal (and even snacks), but also to think about getting small bits of protein from other things you eat, such as veggies, grains, flavoring ingredients, beverages, etc. Those small bits will add up through the day. Some of them will be less complete in essential amino acids, but varying the sources will somewhat compensate for that. That spreadsheet I mentioned can help with this, too.

When I was first starting out here, trying to get enough protein on reduced calories (as a vegetarian besides), it really helped to review my diary every day or few. I would look for foods that I was eating that had relatively higher calories, but that didn't have much protein, and weren't super important to me for other reasons. Those were things I could eat in smaller portions or less often (or not at all!), to free up calories and substitute other foods I enjoy that had more protein.

Chipping away at that process gradually got me to my protein goal, using only foods. (I know it's easier for me because my protein goal is lower because of my size; and because I rarely ate less than your 1600 gross calories, even while losing weight).

Best wishes!

VegjoyP

Honestly , if you are like 6'10, male, young a n d about 300 pounds I could see that
..but from a health standpoint, that is truly an unnecessarily high amount of protein. We do not need as much as people and media think at all. It's hard on the kidneys and if its animal a risk for colon cancer.

Hobartlemagne

This is why its so hard to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.
If your Protein is mandatory, then your Fats/Carbs must be reduced.
This may be too simple, but you could cut meal sizes in half, then replace with high-protein foods/supplements