Help hitting Protein Goals

uglow6

Hello all, just after recommendations on foods/snacks to help hit my protein goals.

I need to hit 200g a day, but only getting to about 120-140g.

I have protein shakes and chicken for most meals. But after some tips on good snacks to help hit my goals.

Cheers!

nossmf

If you're having protein shakes and chicken at most meals but only reaching 120g, then your portion sizes are too small. An 8oz portion of chicken is 72g of protein by itself, not counting whatever sides you eat with it. With some veggies, potato and bread, you can easily reach 90-100g of protein in a single meal. Add in a protein shake (many of them are 40-50g each) and you're already 3/4 to your goal after only one meal and one shake.

This thread contains a large variety of foods listed with their protein content so you can have a variety of foods and still reach goal.

carbs-and-fats-are-cheap-heres-a-guide-to-getting-your-proteins-worth-fiber-also

yirara

Do you need 200g to start with? Can you help us to help you? What's your current weight, what's your goal? Gender? Do you exercise?

surini7

I’ve heard we need the same grams of protein per day as our goal weight, for me, it’s 135lbs, so that’s my protein goal: 135grams, but I’m also trying to do a 1/3rd split (failing currently) which puts my calories at 1600 when I wanted to go for 1800. Hope that helps!

AnnPT77

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10943087/help-hitting-protein-goals

See the comments below for an evidence-based calculator that can help verify protein needs, plus some general rules of thumb.

Snacks with protein:

• hard-boiled eggs,
• cheese sticks (particularly the 2% milk ones if your calories are limited)
• Greek yogurt (nonfat if reducing calories) with minimal sugar or just put plain yogurt on berries or something like that (frozen berries are easy, and it's not necessary to thaw)
• dry roasted edamame
• meat jerky (check ingredients if you're avoiding certain additives; some are more "natural")
• cottage cheese
• crispy broad beans, chickpeas or lentils
• tuna or chicken pouches, some of which are pre-seasoned/flavored, and they're shelf stabls table

There are others I'd mention if you were trying to gain weight, but most people here are trying to lose, so I won't make that assumption without knowing more about you.

Definitely check out the link nossmf provided.

A thing that can help reach protein goal is to not just get one big high-quality protein source per meal (such as your chicken), but also think about getting little bits of protein from many other foods you eat. There are veggies, fruits, grains, breads, pastas, beverages, snacks, and even flavoring ingredients that have at least a little protein. That linked thread can help you identify some of them.

It's true that some of those smaller sources are less complete/balanced in essential amino acids, but varying them through the day somewhat compensates for that. A few grams here and there through the day can add up.

I'll give some examples of the flavoring ingredients, since that's an unfamiliar idea to many people: Peanut butter powder (or defatted peanut flour) or almond butter powder, miso, nutritional yeast (which vegans use to give things a cheesy flavor, but omnivores can eat, too).

There's also a useful process: Review your food diary, look for foods that are bringing relatively many calories, but that aren't commensurately important to you for happiness, satiety, or other nutrition. Reduce portions or frequency of those things, spend those calories on foods you like that have a little more protein. Focus on habitual changes on your eating routine, not on micromanaging individual days. Keep chipping away at that process, and your protein intake will gradually increase.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48692491#Comment_48692491

That may be an unnecessarily high gram goal. How much protein we need is somewhat situational, i.e., that rule of thumb would be fine for some, but either too difficult to hit or too low for others at different ends of the needs spectrum.

Consider the calculator in this guide, which is evidence based, and the site links the research they've relied on:

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

You can put a healthy goal weight into the calculator if currently seriously overweight.

The guide also has a very comprehensive, nuanced discussion of protein needs in various scenarios.

You don't say anything about your current situation or goals, which makes it hard to give you useful feedback.

Using common rules of thumb instead: For a lot of people, a protein minimum that's something in the range of 0.6-0.8g per day per pound of healthy goal weight would be fine, or 0.8-1g per pound of lean body mass. (For this purpose, a rough estimate of lean body mass is fine.) There may be exception cases, but as I say, we know nothing about you except your goal weight and current protein goal.

Eating more than than the minimum of protein is fine within reason, with the exception of people who have certain serious health conditions. Because of that, I don't understand your statement that "I’m also trying to do a 1/3rd split (failing currently) which puts my calories at 1600 when I wanted to go for 1800". Also, if you want to go for 1800, you could drop the 1/3 split idea, if you mean 1/3 of calories from protein. Or, go to 1800 and eat 150g protein, if you're committed to the 1/3 split. IMO, the gram goals are more fine-tuned for most cases than percents, but for those who aren't super nutrition focused and don't have specialized personal goals, percents can be plenty close enough.

I'm in maintenance, athletically active, pretty darned old (69), don't seem to have trouble staying strong or gaining strength as long as I put in the work. At 5'5", around 132 pounds right now, I use 100g as my target minimum, but usually exceed that by a bit even as a vegetarian. YMMV.