Any vegetarians? How do you get enough protein?

Eleonora91

I'm a vegetarian, I eat dairy but no fish or meat at all.
I recently tried to increase my protein intake from 20% to 25% but I've not been very successful - I'll need to be careful about it!
Anyway, I recently managed to reach my protein intake for several days in a row; I'm eating 1500 net kcals so 20% basically means I had to eat 75 gr of protein, which is not easy at all, especially if you're exercising (hence increasing your total recommended intake), and if you're trying to keep your other macros in control.

That's what I've been eating and how much protein I got each day:

Day 1) 250 ml skimmed milk (8 gr protein)+ 20 gr peanut butter (4 gr protein)+ fresh peas (4 gr protein)+ seitan (15 gr protein)+ greek yogurt (15 gr protein) = 75 gr of protein (considering other foods too, such as pasta and bread; notice I severaly exceeded my carb intake that day)

Day 2) 20 gr peanut butter + 250 ml skimmed milk + greek yogurt + 100 gr light feta cheese (20 gr of protein) + other legumes = I got 79 gr of protein overall, I didn't exceed my fat intake

Day 3) Soy burger (17 gr protein) + milk + greek yogurt + seitan = I got 82 gr of protein this day overall, did not exceed my fat intake

Day 4) Peanut butter + mozzarella cheese (20 gr of protein) + protein shake (12 gr of protein) + milk + greek yogurt + veg burger (19 gr of protein) = I got 94 gr of protein this day, which wasn't my goal since I had exercised and neede 102 gr

So you basically see that's not a LOT, but I struggle to get to 70 gr of protein a day and it's not easy. Greek yogurt only has so much protein when I buy it plain, flavoured ones have 11 gr of protein here. Burger and other vegetarian products are very expensive and usually also high in carbs or fats, which makes me exceed with my other macros if I want to get enough protein. I haven't managed to increase my intake from 20 to 25% yet, I really hope I don't need it.

Creiddylad

I'm a lifelong vegetarian - couldn't stomach 'f'lesh' as a kid and have eaten neither meat or fish all my life, but I love dairy and couldn't imagine a world without cheese. The official term for us I think is 'lacto-vegetarians'.

When I was growing up, being a vegetarian was akin to being a martian and I was looked upon as something of a freak. At home my mother would just dish me up vegetables basically - the dinner without the meat/fish part and that was it!

At school - my 'vegetarian option' for lunch was wait for it .... a baked egg. Every single day - they would put a little mashed potato into a gratin dish and break an egg on top of it and put it in the oven. Nine times out of ten the egg wouldn't be cooked properly and would be all snotty and runny - so I ended up hating eggs as well and now can't eat those either.

To be honest, I've never really thought about protein. I have milk, cheese, yoghurt, quorn, beans, nuts etc and seem reasonably healthy, albeit overweight!

I've only filled in one day's food diary and see I was slightly under on the protein count but not by much. Maybe it's something I should pay more attention to?

elliej

'm a vegetarian, I eat dairy but no fish or meat at all.
I recently tried to increase my protein intake from 20% to 25% but I've not been very successful - I'll need to be careful about it!
Anyway, I recently managed to reach my protein intake for several days in a row; I'm eating 1500 net kcals so 20% basically means I had to eat 75 gr of protein, which is not easy at all, especially if you're exercising (hence increasing your total recommended intake), and if you're trying to keep your other macros in control.

I'd tend to disagree.

I'm veggie too, I eggs and dairy. I'm on 1600cals a day and get 85-100g of protein most days.

I have greek yogurt for breakfast or a snack most days (150g pot = 90 cals, 15g) really like (full fat) cottage cheese (half a 300g pot = 160cals, 18g). I make a Quorn mince, kidney and black bean chilli which has 25g per serving at about 250 cals (no oil) - so over 55g protein for around 500 cals.

pandabear_

So I am a semi-vegetarian. I will eat fish and dairy but no meat. Having done my calorie diary for a week, I am good with the carbs at 49% but my protein is low at 14% and my fat too high at 37%. What do other vegetarians and/or vegans do to up their protein intake?

Thanks

You're not a vegetarian or a 'semi-vegetarian', you're a pescetarian.

If you eat fish, maybe eat some more fish and that will up your protein.

You could also try quorn, eggs, cheese, tofu, spirulina, beans, nuts.

shapefitter

Lonsdale chocolate flavoured protein shake, for lunch gives me 24g of protein. I consume 70-100g of protein a day. Every meal, is at least 10g of protein. Nuts, coconut, avocado etc etc

blastbeat78

I'm vegan and my protein intake accounts for 30% of my daily calories. I aim for 125g a day but often exceed this.

My main sources of protein are home made Seitan, Mock Duck, Tempeh and Sun Warrior protein powder.

rebalee8

So I am a semi-vegetarian. I will eat fish and dairy but no meat. Having done my calorie diary for a week, I am good with the carbs at 49% but my protein is low at 14% and my fat too high at 37%. What do other vegetarians and/or vegans do to up their protein intake?

Thanks

If you want to up your protein, that's clearly up to you, but there's no rule that says you have to. You're not really "too low". Nor is your fat "too high" (unless you've been told to lower it for medical reasons). I've been losing steadily for months (just hit another 20lbs/15 weeks today) on pretty much those percentages, and according to my scale*, my increasing lifting ability and the way I feel... I'm not losing lean mass.

So, like others have said, if you want to increase, the easiest is to add more fish (since you eat it), but also tofu, eggs, cottage cheese, legumes, yogurt and milk. At the same time, you probably don't need to worry that much about it if you're not getting those 20-plus percent numbers.


*I know scales aren't the most accurate measure of body fat percentage, but they're okay for relative - and what's happening is my weight and bf% are going down leaving my lean mass staying about the same.

Eleonora91

I'd tend to disagree.

I'm veggie too, I eggs and dairy. I'm on 1600cals a day and get 85-100g of protein most days.

I have greek yogurt for breakfast or a snack most days (150g pot = 90 cals, 15g) really like (full fat) cottage cheese (half a 300g pot = 160cals, 18g). I make a Quorn mince, kidney and black bean chilli which has 25g per serving at about 250 cals (no oil) - so over 55g protein for around 500 cals.

I'm not saying it's impossible, because I manage to reach my protein intake sometimes, but it's not easy. It needs a lot of planning.
I have greek yogurt as a snack on most days too, and yep, that's 15 gr of protein.
I don't like cottage cheese, but I used to eat it every now and then; I'd rather eat mozzarella cheese anyway, or any other cheese, the point is that light cheeses always have a good amount of fat that adds up quickly.
We don't have Quorn here in Italy, I usually buy seitan, soy burgers, or tofu, so that I can get 15-30 gr of protein per serving, and I can have a serving twice a day (lunch and dinner), but they're expensive. I can buy 2 servings of seitan for 3-4 euros, which means I'd have to spend a lot of money to get them everyday.
Also, not all vegetarian substitutes have the same amount of protein. I recently bought vegetarian wurstels and vegetarian mortadella - and I found out it's mostly fat instead of protein.
So I'd basically have to eat the same combinations of food everyday: greek yogurt, seitan/soy/tofu products, milk, eggs, and so on. There's not much choice and sometimes I feel like changing, but I always end up not getting enough protein.
Protein shakes are also expensive - 15 euros for a pot, and it's around 10 servings. If I had to drink it everyday, I'd only last 10 days.
I've never reached 100 gr of protein before and even when I get around 80 or more, I always go over my fat intake (which is 50 gr).
So, if you're finding it so easy, you're probably eating different things than I am. But I can tell you I've been trying different combos and it's both expensive and needs a lot of planning personally.

edit: you can look at my diary if you want to, or I could try to give a look to your diary so that I get a few ideas since we're eating a similar amount of calories

rebalee8

I'm vegan and my protein intake accounts for 30% of my daily calories. I aim for 125g a day but often exceed this.

My main sources of protein are home made Seitan, Mock Duck, Tempeh and Sun Warrior protein powder.

This is a good point.

I always forget to mention protein powders and bars since I don't use them.

There are a host of them available. And for a non-vegan, whey powder is even on the table.

Eastern_Echo23

http://www.vegetarian.org.uk/factsheets/Protein-vegetarian-vegan.pdf

Came across this article. Might be worth looking into:

Although protein is vital for our survival, we don’t need as much
as is commonly believed. Recommended amounts have more than
halved in the past 20 or so years as several chronic diseases have
been linked to eating too much animal (not plant) protein. The
average adult needs to consume between 45 and 55.5 grams of
protein per day (COMA, 1991).

fitness_faeiry

I'm a Pescatarian also! Feel free to add me.

Typically I eat things like eggs, oatmeal, protein shake and greek yoghurt for breakfast. Fish, tofu or legumes as a main sure of protein at lunch and a meat substitute like Quorn or Soya meat at dinner.

I also eat greek yoghurt and almond butter to nuts every day as snacks.

asdowe13

Nevermind.....

LB2812

I skimmed, so this has probably already been covered, but beans is the easiest thing to add to your meals in my opinion to up your protein a bit. Beans, nuts, nut butters, hummus, tofu, tempeh, seitan, soy milk, soy/alternative "meat" products, etc. are all good sources of protein as well as whole grains and veggies. For me personally, I find I need around/at least 60 grams a day to not be hungry and I typically don't have a problem meeting that so long as I plan ahead. If you eat dairy, eggs, or seafood those will all help too, though dairy tends to also be hight fat for less protein (if that's an issue). I try to split up my protein and have some with each meal so I'm not hungry. I usually start my day with tofu or eggs with cheese & a carb, lunch might be bean chili, a hummus sandwich, a hearty salad, etc. and dinner the same - veggie burger, bean burrito, etc. If my meal is too heavy on carbs, I end up hungry. My diary is open and I'm always up for new friends, though I'll admit my diet hasn't been the best lately!

redraidergirl2009

You don't need much protein it depends on your goals. I have been working ton strength and gaining lean muscle and I get 80-120 grams of protein daily. It's easy to add in a protein shake to add 20+ grams of protein.