Veggie protein ideas

Kirstylr14

Hi, I'm trying to improve my protein and fibre intake. Any vegetarian ideas for meals or snacks please whilst in a caloric deficit?

Thanks in advance 🙂

AnnPT77

Hello, and welcome!

I'm an old member, in many senses: Age 69, over 10 years on MFP (loss then maintenance), over 51 years vegetarian.

What type of vegetarian are you: Strict, ovo-, lacto-, something else?

Speaking very generally, the best plant sources of protein - generally high bioavailability and good balance of essential amino acids - are the soy foods, such as edamame, tofu, tempeh, natto, and the like. If you eat dairy, that's also good; if you eat eggs, obviously eggs are good. Seitan has a lot of protein, if you are gluten tolerant, but it's not balanced in essential amino acids (EAAs). It's short in lysine, so needs to be combined in our overall diet with good lysine sources such as many legumes. Legumes - beans, peas, etc. - are also great fiber sources, plus have moderate protein as well.

In general, if I eat plenty of veggies and fruits, I meet and exceed normal recommended fiber targets. Now that I'm in maintenance, I'm usually getting at least 40 grams daily, sometimes more.

There are some good calorie-efficient vegetarian recipes in the MFP blogs, which are searchable, as this illustrates:

https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/?s=vegetarian

There are also lots of vegetarian recipe sites on the web, and I'm sure some are calorie efficient, but I'm sorry to say I can't recommend specific sites. I've been cooking so long, and vegetarian so long, that I mostly just cook stuff without using recipes.

For me, when first starting out to limit calorie intake on MFP, what helped me most was a process: Log what I was eating, review my diary every couple of days, look for foods I was eating that had relatively many calories, little or no protein, and that weren't proportionately helpful to me for satiety, other nutrition, or even happiness.

Those things that "cost" too many calories were obvious things to reduce (frequency or portion size) to free up calories. I could then use some of those calories to fit in other foods I enjoy that had at least a bit of protein. By doing that consistently for a while, focusing on getting the protein-helpful foods into my routine eating patterns, I gradually dialed in a higher routine protein intake.

One helpful source was a thread here that links a spreadsheet listing many, many foods in order by most protein for fewest calories. As you might guess, the top of the list is mostly meaty/fishy, but there are plant sources if you scroll down a bit. That's here:

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

Another resource that can be helpful, because it has a good brief but nuanced discussion of getting adequate protein on a plant-centric diet, is the one below. The whole guide is excellent IMO, but I'm referring specifically to section 11, Optimal daily protein intake for vegans.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/home/leaving?allowTrusted=1&target=https%3A%2F%2Fexamine.com%2Fguides%2Fprotein-intake%2F

This site also has useful info about plant-based nutrition, including some nutrients besides protein that can be important for plant-centric eaters to give attention:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/home/leaving?allowTrusted=1&target=https%3A%2F%2Fveganhealth.org%2F

Unlike many vegan sites on the web, which tend to be very advocacy oriented (so maybe even propagandistic/distorted), that one is quite evidence based, with content from registered dietitians who are themselves vegan.

I wish I could suggest recipes, but like I said, I'm not a recipe gal. I'm willing to describe certain meals I find helpful for calorie-efficient protein, but I'm ovo-lacto veg and tend to use a fair amount of dairy foods. I'm quite sure I could reach my protein goal (100g minimum in maintenance) with plant foods only, but sharing my actual meal patterns wouldn't be helpful to you (and would be a lot of typing for me 😆) if you don't eat dairy or eggs (though I don't eat a lot of eggs).

The super-easiest meal pattern I have, one I use when it's late and I'm tired, is frozen veggies of choice (which I always keep in my freezer), cubed-up tofu (especially commercial baked tofu because it's firmer and some types are pre-seasoned), heated then mixed with live-culture miso and kim chi. Also simple: I like a wrap sandwich (well, really fold-over taco shape) on Ezekiel tortilla with one of the seasoned baked tofu types sliced on it, dill mustard, thin-sliced onions, and some calorie-efficient cheese, which I microwave then add live-culture sauerkraut. If you don't eat dairy, vegan cheese or no cheese would be an option.

If you have questions you think I could help with, please ask.

Best wishes for success: IMO the quality of life improvement from reaching a healthy weight, getting solid overall nutrition, and improving fitness is more than worth the effort it takes to build that up over time.