Lowering my protein - am I doing this right?
SisterMable
Posts: 40 Member
I recently changed from 20% to 15% protein on my goals, and now I find myself routinely having too much protein by these figures...
Generally I'm limiting myself to one scoop of protein powder in the morning, a small protein at lunch (2 T of duck liver pate today, for example), and some cheese. That doesn't even leave enough left over for a piece of fish for dinner!
Please check out my diary over the past week...
What am I missing here, oh Masters of the Eggs and Bacons?
- Mable
Generally I'm limiting myself to one scoop of protein powder in the morning, a small protein at lunch (2 T of duck liver pate today, for example), and some cheese. That doesn't even leave enough left over for a piece of fish for dinner!
Please check out my diary over the past week...
What am I missing here, oh Masters of the Eggs and Bacons?
- Mable
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Replies
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Is there a reason you feel you have to lower your protein? The recommended is 1 to 1.5 grams of lean body mass. Protein will usually help keep you fuller during the day. If you arent working out, or trying to gain muscle you can eat at the level of protein you are right now.0
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I recently changed from 20% to 15% protein on my goals, and now I find myself routinely having too much protein by these figures...
Generally I'm limiting myself to one scoop of protein powder in the morning, a small protein at lunch (2 T of duck liver pate today, for example), and some cheese. That doesn't even leave enough left over for a piece of fish for dinner!
Please check out my diary over the past week...
What am I missing here, oh Masters of the Eggs and Bacons?
- Mable
Have you noticed that the protein powder is nearly 50% of your total allowed protein for the day?
When you're restricting protein to that low of a percentage on a deficit diet it's pretty tough to stay under if you drink almost half of your allowance at breakfast.
If it were me, I'd double check my protein needs and adjust my macros accordingly, then use real foods to get my nutrients. Protein powders are great for people who can't get enough protein in their diet because they're trying to gain muscle, but (and I'm no expert) it seems to me that on a calorie deficit diet one would want as much real food as possible to stimulate the feelings of having eaten and satiety.0 -
@Skoster1 - Mostly I do the protein powder in the morning to make breakfast easy and fast so I can get out of the house!
@Miamiuu - I adjusted from 20% to 15% because I want to make sure I don't knock myself out of ketosis, and although I've been pretty darned close to the macros I set as my goals, I was still at the pinker end of the ketostix scale than I'd hoped. I've been meticulous about logging every bite, so I wanted to be sure to get my ketosis really set in there.
I have friends losing tons of weight eating piles of bacon and eggs and loads of calories, but I feel like upping my calorie load won't help me lose weight, as my body has been very resistant in the past year (only 20 lbs lost in the past year, compared to a prior 123 lbs lost in the 2 years prior).
So -- there ya go.
I'll try subbing in eggs and such for breakfast for a while.
Thanks!0 -
@Skoster1 - Mostly I do the protein powder in the morning to make breakfast easy and fast so I can get out of the house!
@Miamiuu - I adjusted from 20% to 15% because I want to make sure I don't knock myself out of ketosis, and although I've been pretty darned close to the macros I set as my goals, I was still at the pinker end of the ketostix scale than I'd hoped. I've been meticulous about logging every bite, so I wanted to be sure to get my ketosis really set in there.
I have friends losing tons of weight eating piles of bacon and eggs and loads of calories, but I feel like upping my calorie load won't help me lose weight, as my body has been very resistant in the past year (only 20 lbs lost in the past year, compared to a prior 123 lbs lost in the 2 years prior).
So -- there ya go.
I'll try subbing in eggs and such for breakfast for a while.
Thanks!
I'm with you on needing to get out fast in the mornings, so every night I make a green smoothie and toss it in the fridge for the morning. I make it at the same time as I make my lunch for the next day and I just log it in advance. So far it's been avocado and veggies with almond milk, but I think I'm going to save the avocado for lunch and just do a bunch of veggies and almond milk next week.
As far as ketosis and protein, you can get pretty high on the protein before you knock yourself out. I'd actually be more worried about those days you're 600+ calories under your goal. You can only lose fat at a certain rate (about 31 * (weight in lbs * body fat percentage)), so massive deficits won't help and in fact they can hurt you.
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=109897051&page=1
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html0 -
I recently changed from 20% to 15% protein on my goals, and now I find myself routinely having too much protein by these figures...
Hi Mable! If you haven't stumbled across this tool already, I'd recommend you take a look: http://www.ruled.me/keto-calculator/
I would also agree with the other two posters that taking protein down to 15% may be a bit too low. Check out what the keto calculator suggests and maybe give that a try for a couple weeks.
Good luck!0 -
I personally would get rid of the protien powder & maybe hard boil some eggs the night before, or try a bullet proof coffee or tea. I have also started making my protein bread thingys that toast really well & are delish with peanut butter or almond butter or just butter period. they are easy to make if you'd like the recipe.0
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Krista, would you please give us the recipe? I miss toast, although it's mostly a vehicle to eat butter.
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Sure can! its super easy. similar to the Oopsie rolls if you've ever had them but a lot sturdier & filling.
I highly recommend getting a nonstick muffin top pan, they are great.
basic recipe is this:
1 egg
1 ounce cream cheese
1 tbsp of either almond meal or ground flaxmeal (i prefer the flaxmeal due to high fibre it is less net carbs)
Throw it all into a magic bullet or other blender thing & this makes 2 'breads' using the muffin top pan
I multiply every thing by 3 & make a pan full.
bake at 375 for 14 minutes.
Sometimes I sprinkle with shredded cheese before baking.
THey keep in the fridge really well & toast up in the toaster super well.
nutritional info
per bread - 82 cals, 2 carbs, 6 fat, 5 protein, 1 fibre0 -
Sure can! its super easy. similar to the Oopsie rolls if you've ever had them but a lot sturdier & filling.
I highly recommend getting a nonstick muffin top pan, they are great.
basic recipe is this:
1 egg
1 ounce cream cheese
1 tbsp of either almond meal or ground flaxmeal (i prefer the flaxmeal due to high fibre it is less net carbs)
Throw it all into a magic bullet or other blender thing & this makes 2 'breads' using the muffin top pan
I multiply every thing by 3 & make a pan full.
bake at 375 for 14 minutes.
Sometimes I sprinkle with shredded cheese before baking.
THey keep in the fridge really well & toast up in the toaster super well.
nutritional info
per bread - 82 cals, 2 carbs, 6 fat, 5 protein, 1 fibre
Thanks! I'm going to make this tomorrow morning..0 -
Thanks everyone for the feedback!!
Also - eggs for breakfast the last three days 0 -
Also, thank you @kristafb for the recipe! 0
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@Skoster1 - Mostly I do the protein powder in the morning to make breakfast easy and fast so I can get out of the house!
Have you tried Bulletproof Coffee? That's my got to get out of the house breakfast of choice. It works especially well with a tablespoon of flax meal added to it!
Your protein is a bit low. What does the keto calculator say? You are probably under the suggested range.0 -
I'm doing BP coffee now, and feeling pretty awesome. I notice now if I eat even close to my protein macros I start feeling a bit heavy/sleepy. I do the coffee around 6am, eat lunch around noon/1pm, and dinner around 7pm. Hit the sheets around 9pm. I'll give this a week or so to settle, then see how it goes. 0
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The generally agreed-upon ratio for doing a strict ketogenic diet is 60% fat, 35% protein, and 5% carbs. This should be your number one goal, maintaining the correct ratio.
Less than 35% protein and you risk muscle wasting, more than 35% protein and you risk turning protein into glucose.
If you don't like percentages, just eat 1 gram of protein for every 1 kilogram of Lean Body Mass.0 -
The generally agreed-upon ratio for doing a strict ketogenic diet is 60% fat, 35% protein, and 5% carbs. This should be your number one goal, maintaining the correct ratio.
Less than 35% protein and you risk muscle wasting, more than 35% protein and you risk turning protein into glucose.
If you don't like percentages, just eat 1 gram of protein for every 1 kilogram of Lean Body Mass.
This math doesn't work out. If I eat 61g of protein, that would be 244 calories. If that was 35% of my daily intake, I would be eating only 700 calories a day! Even if you go with 1g per lean pound, that would still leave me at 1,550 calories a day. That would still put me over my max deficit.
Muscle wasting isn't caused by percentages. It's caused by excessive deficit and/or insufficient total protein (in grams). And, 35% is excessive if your required calories are high. I generally aim for 1,800-2,200 calories a day. That's 158g-192g of protein at 35%. That's just way too much.
Percentages are driven by combining max_carb / goal_protein / goal_calories. Hitting 60/35/5 is unusual and unnecessary.
For example: My current goals.
I want a max of 20g of carbs. A max of 80g of protein. And I want to be around 2000 calories.
20g carbs = 80 calories = 4%
80g protein = 320 calories = 16%
2000-(80+320) = 1,600 calories = 80% = 178g fat
So, my current macros would be 80/16/4. If I was eating less (say 1,500 calories) they would be 73.3% / 21.3% / 5.3% ... for the same amount of protein and carbs. When it comes to your body, absolute amounts matter more than %.0 -
Yes, if you're not on keto for weight loss, you're better off using absolute amounts.35% is excessive if your required calories are high.
And always use the Keto Calculator to make sure your ratios / amounts are right for you.
http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/0 -
There are two ways to go about it, one is you set calories fixed and then adjust your proteins , fats and carbs. The other way is not worry about calories and just go with the macro ratios while making sure you hit your protein requirement. Here is what I started with and had great success with.
Protein set to around 80-100g, so lets assume my target is 90 g of protein, which is 360 cals, which is around 16% of 2200 cals. That way I had no problem eating 80% fat, 15% Protein and 5 % carbs eating 2200 cals/day. I ate at least 700 cals more than what MFP (1400-1500 cals) or calorie counters on internet said I should be eating. These days I don't even care about ratios because I get 15-20% protein, 75-80% of fat and 5% carbs every meal with out too much analysis. It makes lot easier if you take calories out of the equation and just go by macro% after you hit a fixed protein gms.0 -
Yes, if you're not on keto for weight loss, you're better off using absolute amounts.35% is excessive if your required calories are high.
And always use the Keto Calculator to make sure your ratios / amounts are right for you.
http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/
I am on keto for weight loss. There is a minimum number of calories you should stick to (an absolute minimum based on essential fats and amino acid intake and a minimum based on absolute amount of body fat, whichever is higher). At my body-fat percentage and weight, I can't exceed a deficit of more than 900 calories. Since my TDEE is about 2,550 calories, I must stay above 1,650 calories. As it happens, I average around 2,000 calories a day. I lose a little over a pound a week.
I second the advice to use the keto-calculator. It takes this all of this into account (that's why it has a lowest intake where you set your fat). Mine, like I said, currently shows 1,636 calories. Even taking the max deficit, I'm at 20% protein. Taking the max protein, and the max deficit, only gets me to 33% (and is also too low in fat). The keto-calculator does not work from percentages. It works from your carbs (in grams) and your protein (in grams) and then uses your calorie goal to set your fat... from there it tells you the percentages.
35% protein, although commonly recommended, is just too darn high for the vast majority of people who aren't also going extremely low-calorie. You just don't need to go that low on calories... and you probably don't need that much protein.
Yes, there has to be a deficit to lose weight. But, you don't need to be on a 1,200 calorie a day diet when doing keto. In fact, except in rare cases (older, short, inactive woman with not too much to lose -- my mother for example with a TDEE of 1,400 calories), I would say that 1,200 calories a day is inappropriate.0 -
I just re-examined my macros, and tweaking my protein amount, based on 1.3 grams-per-kg-of-LBM, gives me:35% protein, although commonly recommended, is just too darn high for the vast majority of people who aren't also going extremely low-calorie.
1803 kcal Daily Calorie Intake (20% deficit)
20 g Carbohydrates (4%, 80 kcal)
94 g Protein (21%, 376 kcal)
150 g Fat (75%, 1347 kcal)
So, yeah, fixating on percentages is dumb.0 -
@Miamiuu - I adjusted from 20% to 15% because I want to make sure I don't knock myself out of ketosis, and although I've been pretty darned close to the macros I set as my goals, I was still at the pinker end of the ketostix scale than I'd hoped. I've been meticulous about logging every bite, so I wanted to be sure to get my ketosis really set in there.
Just wanted to let you know that the ketosticks are not meant to be a scale for ketoers and their 'degree' of ketosis. It's binary for us. We're either in or we're out. The sticks measure the amount of excess ketones found in the urine, but nothing more. This means that if it's a dark reading, it could be that your body is producing a lot of excess ketones, or that your urine is concentrated and you need to be drinking more water. If you get a lighter pink reading, or even a negative reading after following a ketogenic diet, this can mean that your body is using up all of your ketones (yay for efficiency!) or that your urine is diluted. They are not an absolute marker of your progress on the diet. If you want to use a more accurate measure, you can test your blood.0 -
I just re-examined my macros, and tweaking my protein amount, based on 1.3 grams-per-kg-of-LBM, gives me:35% protein, although commonly recommended, is just too darn high for the vast majority of people who aren't also going extremely low-calorie.
1803 kcal Daily Calorie Intake (20% deficit)
20 g Carbohydrates (4%, 80 kcal)
94 g Protein (21%, 376 kcal)
150 g Fat (75%, 1347 kcal)
So, yeah, fixating on percentages is dumb.
Or fixing cals can be dumb in some cases.0
