30% protein okay? If not, what % do you reccomend?

VelociMama

Thanks everyone. You all are helping me figure out a lot. I actually hit 119g of protein for the first time yesterday :] Love this thread to pieces!

Beans are low in fat unless you add fat to them. High in carbs but that is a different problem for some people. I use bouillon and veggies like chopped celery, carrots and onion to make them more flavorful without the fat. Hope that helps.

^ Correct. Beans are low in fat.

I think I see why you thought beans were high in fat. Is it because you use canned refried beans? If so, make your own from dried pintos and rather than useing fat, just season them and add salsa. They taste great and only cost pennys to make.

Try eating soy beans as well as dried beans. If you're eating canned beans, watch for the sodium.

I never ate them because my family buys the canned and they were high in fat yep! lol I just bought some vegetarian ones (just beans, water, & salt) and ate those instead. I was just thinking of making my own, but Im not sure how so I guess I need to google it sometime soon! lol

P.S. I can't stand the sodium in those darn canned foods, so yes that too! I don't add any salt to my food anymore except french fries when I bake them since I've noticed it.

Not sure if someone has suggested it yet, but you can make black beans in a crock pot. They are delicious, and it adds no extra fat or salt except what you put in there. Just put the beans in the pot. Fill with water, and cook on low for 8 hours. Done. I do this once a week or so and eat off the leftovers. You can also do kidney beans, but you need to pre-boil them to break down some of the proteins in the beans first. Crock pot doesn't get hot enough to do this, so just put the kidney beans in a big pot and bring to solid boil for 10 minutes before putting in the crock pot, and that'll do it.

mmapags

You've gotten plenty of good protein advice from Jacwhite and others. Way back in your OP, you mentioned waiting to start strength training. Why????

Strength training is the single most usefull thing you can do to burn fat in a calorie deficit. It will also help, together with edequate protein intake, in preserving lean muscle mass. I can't think of any reason why waiting would be beneficial. Quite the opposite!!

I would strongly urge you to start strenght training like, yesterday!!

I think I misinformed people! LOL I will do a little strength training, but with my husband working all the time & the kids I have trouble getting to the gym for strength training every single day (it isnt really possible for me since I dont have a babysitter every day). I want to know what I can do at home and when I do go to the gym I do a little bit of it. The last time I did this (Note: I have no idea what to do or what machines to use! lol)
Leg Press 7 sets of 15 (only 100lbs)
Squats 5 sets of 5 (machine: only 20lbs)
Pully machine (pull a bar/chain down to your chest while seated) 5 sets of 10 (45lbs)
I also did 19 crunches, but they were about to close and when I got home I had the kids and homework so I didn't do more that day LOL That was Tuesday. I also did a seated elliptical for 40 minutes and a few minutes of a regular elliptical trainer. Yesterday I walked (at one point a mile carrying 37lbs of groceries) and burned 200 or so calories and today I may go to the gym and do some cardio and strength training as well. I just don't consider that strength training since I didn't do much of anything from what I know. lol

So let's see if we can help you sort this out.

First, you don't do strength training every day when you start. Some don't do it every day ever. 2 to 3 times per week given your schedule will show good results. You can combine this with a little walking or elliptical on off days to increase calorie burn.

Get your self a good resource for strength training. Free weights are more beneficial than machines. Take a look at Starting Strength by Mark Rippletoe. He is the guru of modern strength training, especially for begginers as the title indicates. There is a website, a book and an ebook all filled with resources. It is a total of 5 exercises, 3 each workout and they are compound, full body exercises. They get all your major muscle groups and it is very time efficient. 45 minutes to an hours tops.

Machines have an unnatural movement path and also isolate muscles. The down side to this is poor "work" of the muscle groups, no working of the secondary stabilizing muscle and innefficient time wise as it would take longer to get the same benefit. Critical for a young mother like you.

Another resource that I've heard many woman say they liked was New Rules of Lifting For Women. I have no personal experience with it.

Feel free to post any additional questions here or on my wall or PM. I'll help to whatever degree I can. FTR, my wife started a strength training program 3 months ago and is doing great and looking "hot" I might add!!

Verity1111

Thanks everyone. You all are helping me figure out a lot. I actually hit 119g of protein for the first time yesterday :] Love this thread to pieces!

Beans are low in fat unless you add fat to them. High in carbs but that is a different problem for some people. I use bouillon and veggies like chopped celery, carrots and onion to make them more flavorful without the fat. Hope that helps.

^ Correct. Beans are low in fat.

I think I see why you thought beans were high in fat. Is it because you use canned refried beans? If so, make your own from dried pintos and rather than useing fat, just season them and add salsa. They taste great and only cost pennys to make.

Try eating soy beans as well as dried beans. If you're eating canned beans, watch for the sodium.

I never ate them because my family buys the canned and they were high in fat yep! lol I just bought some vegetarian ones (just beans, water, & salt) and ate those instead. I was just thinking of making my own, but Im not sure how so I guess I need to google it sometime soon! lol

P.S. I can't stand the sodium in those darn canned foods, so yes that too! I don't add any salt to my food anymore except french fries when I bake them since I've noticed it.

Not sure if someone has suggested it yet, but you can make black beans in a crock pot. They are delicious, and it adds no extra fat or salt except what you put in there. Just put the beans in the pot. Fill with water, and cook on low for 8 hours. Done. I do this once a week or so and eat off the leftovers. You can also do kidney beans, but you need to pre-boil them to break down some of the proteins in the beans first. Crock pot doesn't get hot enough to do this, so just put the kidney beans in a big pot and bring to solid boil for 10 minutes before putting in the crock pot, and that'll do it.

Wow 8 hrs is a long time. I will be lucky if I am let to do this lol. We are very low income and we all rent a room with family. Yes, a room (4 people). Well, if I can I will try it :] Thank you!

Verity1111

You've gotten plenty of good protein advice from Jacwhite and others. Way back in your OP, you mentioned waiting to start strength training. Why????

Strength training is the single most usefull thing you can do to burn fat in a calorie deficit. It will also help, together with edequate protein intake, in preserving lean muscle mass. I can't think of any reason why waiting would be beneficial. Quite the opposite!!

I would strongly urge you to start strenght training like, yesterday!!

I think I misinformed people! LOL I will do a little strength training, but with my husband working all the time & the kids I have trouble getting to the gym for strength training every single day (it isnt really possible for me since I dont have a babysitter every day). I want to know what I can do at home and when I do go to the gym I do a little bit of it. The last time I did this (Note: I have no idea what to do or what machines to use! lol)
Leg Press 7 sets of 15 (only 100lbs)
Squats 5 sets of 5 (machine: only 20lbs)
Pully machine (pull a bar/chain down to your chest while seated) 5 sets of 10 (45lbs)
I also did 19 crunches, but they were about to close and when I got home I had the kids and homework so I didn't do more that day LOL That was Tuesday. I also did a seated elliptical for 40 minutes and a few minutes of a regular elliptical trainer. Yesterday I walked (at one point a mile carrying 37lbs of groceries) and burned 200 or so calories and today I may go to the gym and do some cardio and strength training as well. I just don't consider that strength training since I didn't do much of anything from what I know. lol

So let's see if we can help you sort this out.

First, you don't do strength training every day when you start. Some don't do it every day ever. 2 to 3 times per week given your schedule will show good results. You can combine this with a little walking or elliptical on off days to increase calorie burn.

Get your self a good resource for strength training. Free weights are more beneficial than machines. Take a look at Starting Strength by Mark Rippletoe. He is the guru of modern strength training, especially for begginers as the title indicates. There is a website, a book and an ebook all filled with resources. It is a total of 5 exercises, 3 each workout and they are compound, full body exercises. They get all your major muscle groups and it is very time efficient. 45 minutes to an hours tops.

Machines have an unnatural movement path and also isolate muscles. The down side to this is poor "work" of the muscle groups, no working of the secondary stabilizing muscle and innefficient time wise as it would take longer to get the same benefit. Critical for a young mother like you.

Another resource that I've heard many woman say they liked was New Rules of Lifting For Women. I have no personal experience with it.

Feel free to post any additional questions here or on my wall or PM. I'll help to whatever degree I can. FTR, my wife started a strength training program 3 months ago and is doing great and looking "hot" I might add!!

Lol I will need to look up that website! I don't know if I can afford weights yet but when I can in a week or when my husband gets his check I can look :] Thank you!

VelociMama

Wow 8 hrs is a long time. I will be lucky if I am let to do this lol. We are very low income and we all rent a room with family. Yes, a room (4 people). Well, if I can I will try it :] Thank you!

Slow cookers you just set and let them go. You don't have to do a thing until it's done. You don't even have to be home to tend it.

You can also do them on high for 4-5 hours to cut down the cooking time.

Verity1111

Wow 8 hrs is a long time. I will be lucky if I am let to do this lol. We are very low income and we all rent a room with family. Yes, a room (4 people). Well, if I can I will try it :] Thank you!

Slow cookers you just set and let them go. You don't have to do a thing until it's done. You don't even have to be home to tend it.

You can also do them on high for 4-5 hours to cut down the cooking time.

I know, but I have the luck of people who will yell at me for leaving it sit for even an hr without sitting right next to it 24/7 or even if I do just because it is there and they're irritated. I will ask because there is no harm in trying and I want to see how fresh beans taste lol

VelociMama

Wow 8 hrs is a long time. I will be lucky if I am let to do this lol. We are very low income and we all rent a room with family. Yes, a room (4 people). Well, if I can I will try it :] Thank you!

Slow cookers you just set and let them go. You don't have to do a thing until it's done. You don't even have to be home to tend it.

You can also do them on high for 4-5 hours to cut down the cooking time.

I know, but I have the luck of people who will yell at me for leaving it sit for even an hr without sitting right next to it 24/7 or even if I do just because it is there and they're irritated. I will ask because there is no harm in trying and I want to see how fresh beans taste lol

You could do them on stovetop as well. Hopefully, you can get this to work. Homemade beans are so much healthier and tastier than canned stuff.