How to eat more protein?

sandradev1

Bronx_Montgom the information about eating less and maintaining a healthy weight and living a long life were on two UK tv programmes recently. Both were on respected TV channels (ie. one of the main 5 UK channels).

Judging by my own experience of people I know it does seem to make sense. Thin people I know eat a lot less than we're told to eat and this generally consists of one main meal (which they never fully finish) and one or two very small snacks which cannot amount to more than 800-1000 calories per day. They have great muscle tone and a low body fat percentage. I've noticed that if they do have a bad day when they eat a lot more they make up for it the following day by eating a lot less.

Ok most of these people don't exercise and I know that if I am doing a lot of training this wouldn't be enough but I sit down ALL day for my work and I literally mea:flowerforyou: n sit down doing nothing but typing on a PC or speaking on the phone. Even an hour of exercise after a very sedentary lifestyle cannot increase my calorie burning capacity by much, surely.

Point 1 - There is no way that a TV programme in the UK would have advised eating below 1200 cals a day is healthy.

Point 2 - I am totally sedentary other than about 3/4 hour training per day. My BMR & TDEE puts me at 1500 cals and I am losing about 1 lb a week overall, as well as inches and body fat - more importantly I am retaining muscle mass.

Point 3 - My OH has always been slim and used to eat very little. I am now his carer and have to watch the after effects of the terrific pain he goes through after years of his body taking its fuel from his bones and also his inability to eat very much without it making him feel sick.

EAT and lose weight. It's much easier to do long term.

Good luck

ironanimal

It's really hard to keep the calories low and unfortunately I know my body and I am unable to eat more than 1000 calories per day without putting on weight.

I gained the weight I'm carrying now (over the past 2-3 years by eating healthily 80% of the time (Christmas aside!) and I was eating around 1300-1600 calories per day on average which left me pretty full up. I ate plenty of vegetables and protein with every meal plus most of my snacks were fairly healthy. I only ate whole grains most of the time too and although I did have more high carb snacks/alcohol at weekends during the week my diet was pretty good. For whatever reason my body can't tolerate more calories and my body fat shoots right up.

I watched a documentary last night and I've read research to say that people who eat a very low calorie diet live longer and are able to maintain a low body weight/body fat eating this way.

Personally I am currently drinking Promax diet shakes as they're low carb but I can't have more than one per day as I can't afford to.

Bronx_Montgom I'll bear in mind what you've said. Everyone I know who's fit/slim in reality doesn't eat a lot and I don't think that 980 cals is very low. Yesterday I did the 30 day shred workout 1 and that's hardly a very long/very intensive workout. If I did something more strenuous I'd eat a little more.

They live longer because everything works more slowly; including muscle growth, your immune system, tissue repair etc.

980 is very low. Don't try to kid yourself. It might work for you, but don't try to convince people it's normal.

kellehbeans

To all of the people saying UK television wouldn't recommend less than a 1200 diet - there has been a lot of media coverage on the 5:2 diet, which has been all over TV saying it would make you 'live longer' and is 'healthier'.

marycmeadows

chicken breast
greek yogurt
tuna fish
other fish (salmon, tilapia, etc), shrimp
nuts & nut butters

psuLemon

Steak wrapped in bacon and topped with a fried egg. Boom! Like 50g+ of protein.

Firefox7275

TBH you are setting too many boundaries, meat and fish are the richest sources of lean protein end of. Other sources tend to have little protein and/ or quite a bit of fat or carbs. Your body needs one or the other for health, you cannot live healthily on lean protein and vegetables nor on under 1000 calories long term. You want us to sanction what is basically starving your body, a form of disordered eating. Where do you imagine you are going to get your minerals from with no grains, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds and little dairy? What about essential fatty acids?

If you have a very low metabolism, get a diagnosis for your medical condition. If you have a very low muscle mass for your size do some intense strength training and work on that. You are not a special snowflake there are plenty of skinny fat people who have wrecked their metabolism, you have the benefit of the NHS at your disposal. You say your mother exercises and eats healthily yet you clearly have no understanding of nutrition/ dietetics/ fitness science so that is a meaningless statement.

How did you learn to use calipers on yourself? That is a skill that needs teaching, plenty of practice, you to be stood in positions where it is anatomically impossible to measure yourself, the sites are VERY specific. Tanitas will give you readings that are way off depending on your hydration status - I've 'lost' several percent bodyfat in one day just by eating and drinking normally during a work day. Poor diets wreck your body's ability to store the correct amount of water.

If you want to follow what documentaries say watch all the ones on nutrition, healthcare, obesity and fitness don't cherry pick, that is totally unscientific because you are ignoring the vast majority of the research out there. Otherwise trust that many experts have read all this research (morbidity and quality adjusted life years not just mortality) for you and VERY few recommend doing the same thing to your body as a famine victim or anorexic. Even many of the calorie restriction and intermittent fasting fanatics have quite regimented diets so that they get an array of nutrients, they eat for fuel not fun.

There is a simple solution to being sedentary don't! Follow our government's recommendations for health and walk your 10,000 steps a day. Your basic diet doesn't meet pretty the vast majority of our basic healthy eating guidelines, you aren't even eating five servings of fruit and veggies nor three servings of reduced fat dairy. So perhaps you have nutrient deficiencies that are messing with your weight/ metabolism as well as low muscle mass?

sandradev1

To all of the people saying UK television wouldn't recommend less than a 1200 diet - there has been a lot of media coverage on the 5:2 diet, which has been all over TV saying it would make you 'live longer' and is 'healthier'.

But..... the OP is not doing the 5:2 diet:

5:2 diet
The 5:2 diet, also written as 5/2 diet, is a diet which involves severe calorie restriction for two days a week and normal eating the other five days. It is a form of intermittent fasting.[1]


i.e. normal eating means at maintenance, not calorie deficit. OP seems to have taken the quote about the two days per week of low calorie is healthy out of context and has applied it to eat below 1000 almost every day.

psuLemon

It's really hard to keep the calories low and unfortunately I know my body and I am unable to eat more than 1000 calories per day without putting on weight.

I gained the weight I'm carrying now (over the past 2-3 years by eating healthily 80% of the time (Christmas aside!) and I was eating around 1300-1600 calories per day on average which left me pretty full up. I ate plenty of vegetables and protein with every meal plus most of my snacks were fairly healthy. I only ate whole grains most of the time too and although I did have more high carb snacks/alcohol at weekends during the week my diet was pretty good. For whatever reason my body can't tolerate more calories and my body fat shoots right up.

I watched a documentary last night and I've read research to say that people who eat a very low calorie diet live longer and are able to maintain a low body weight/body fat eating this way.

Personally I am currently drinking Promax diet shakes as they're low carb but I can't have more than one per day as I can't afford to.

Bronx_Montgom I'll bear in mind what you've said. Everyone I know who's fit/slim in reality doesn't eat a lot and I don't think that 980 cals is very low. Yesterday I did the 30 day shred workout 1 and that's hardly a very long/very intensive workout. If I did something more strenuous I'd eat a little more.

I would say it is physically impossible to gain new fat at 1300 calories unless you have a severe metabolic issue. Yes, you can gain weight, but not fat. Now if you have had an ED or suppressed calories for years, then I can see how your RMR has adapted to burn little to no calories.

queenhiphop

To all of the people saying UK television wouldn't recommend less than a 1200 diet - there has been a lot of media coverage on the 5:2 diet, which has been all over TV saying it would make you 'live longer' and is 'healthier'.

yeah and it's utter bull****

mandeiko

I second EVERYTHING my good pal Bronx is spewing.

Bronx_Montgomery

To all of the people saying UK television wouldn't recommend less than a 1200 diet - there has been a lot of media coverage on the 5:2 diet, which has been all over TV saying it would make you 'live longer' and is 'healthier'.

Because they know that people will believe anything. The media is not out to help you. They are out to misrepresent and help the Money Pigs in the Corporate world. If they told you to eat less because you will live longer its because eventually your body is going to quit on you and you will need special medicines and a breathing tube hence living longer.

Wait I am going off topic here......I just realized that you probably watched an Infomercial. Is that what happened? Was it 2am?

JAT74

Admittedly my metabolism is definitely shot, plus I'm on the pill. This is why I gain fat even when eating a relatively low number of calories in most people's eyes.

Firefox I am barely setting any boundaries. When I talk about lean protein I mean meat, chicken and fish. I eat these regularly (daily) and I hate fish but I still try to eat salmon or tuna once a week. I also eat nuts daily (usually a very small quantity around 10) which include almonds, hazelnuts, cashews etc and pulses at least once a week.

There is nothing really that I deny myself except for high quantities of refined carbohydrates. I also take vitamins/omega 3 on days when I know I am lacking in these nutrients.

I have tried intermittent fasting by having free days at the weekends so that I can eat what I want without worrying about it but this is how I gained weight. It wasn't an exact science but probably meant that I was eating around 1200 calories on the days when I was 'fasting' and 1600 on the non fast days. I've also tried having an eating window (in fact most days I eat only between 8.30am and 7pm).

I try and read a broad range of information that's written and watch a wide range of documentaries so the information I get is not just from one or two sources.

The struggle I have is that I don't fit into the normal category ie. someone who's overeaten or been very unhealthy for a while who simply needs to change their eating habits and exercise. I really am not your average case and I've thought of trying to seek medical advice before but have never done so. I'm not in the UK at the moment although I'm from there and where I am now I don't get free healthcare exept for in case of emergency so that's not an option.

I already exercise 30 mins-1 hour at least 3 times per week or more even when not watching my weight. I'm sedentary but I have a lot of stairs in my house so I walk up and down a lot during the day plus I take my dog for a walk once or twice so I'm easily meeting my 10,000 steps.

WendyTerry420

I've already done the equation suggested in another post and according to that I should be eating 1400 calories to maintain my current waight based on my current measurements/body fat and age etc. which sounds about right. On that site it said that I could go 30% below that number in order to still be healthy and to lose weight fairly quickly.

I don't want to eat back all the calories I burn off if I exercise so I would eat a little more if I trained on that day but not a lot more.

I don't know what calculator you used, but seriously, at your height, you would have to be 50 years old and weighing only 100 pounds and completely sedentary to have maintenance calories of 1400. And if you are 5'4" and 100 pounds, than you aren't overweight at all.

I think it's more likely that 1400 is your BMR, not your maintenance calories.

Firefox7275

Admittedly my metabolism is definitely shot, plus I'm on the pill. This is why I gain fat even when eating a relatively low number of calories in most people's eyes.

Firefox I am barely setting any boundaries. When I talk about lean protein I mean meat, chicken and fish. I eat these regularly (daily) and I hate fish but I still try to eat salmon or tuna once a week. I also eat nuts daily (usually a very small quantity around 10) which include almonds, hazelnuts, cashews etc and pulses at least once a week.

There is nothing really that I deny myself except for high quantities of refined carbohydrates. I also take vitamins/omega 3 on days when I know I am lacking in these nutrients.

I have tried intermittent fasting by having free days at the weekends so that I can eat what I want without worrying about it but this is how I gained weight. It wasn't an exact science but probably meant that I was eating around 1200 calories on the days when I was 'fasting' and 1600 on the non fast days. I've also tried having an eating window (in fact most days I eat only between 8.30am and 7pm).

I try and read a broad range of information that's written and watch a wide range of documentaries so the information I get is not just from one or two sources.

The struggle I have is that I don't fit into the normal category ie. someone who's overeaten or been very unhealthy for a while who simply needs to change their eating habits and exercise. I really am not your average case and I've thought of trying to seek medical advice before but have never done so. I'm not in the UK at the moment although I'm from there and where I am now I don't get free healthcare exept for in case of emergency so that's not an option.

I already exercise 30 mins-1 hour at least 3 times per week or more even when not watching my weight. I'm sedentary but I have a lot of stairs in my house so I walk up and down a lot during the day plus I take my dog for a walk once or twice so I'm easily meeting my 10,000 steps.

You ARE setting loads of boundaries, and even more barriers in this post plus dismissing many things I say out of hand. I'm qualified to degree level in this stuff and I'd love to help but I can't whilst you are not ready for change and so entrenched in your dangerous ideas. Yes you are an average case not a special snowflake, I see skinny-fat clients all the time and am one myself (healthy BMI, high bodyfat). There are many on this board that have shot their metabolisms with crash diets, many who are on the contraceptive pill. No idea where you get the idea that everyone who is overfat has been living any more of an unhealthy lifestyle that you or are all consistently overeating but it is not based in reality.

YOUR diet does not meet the basic nutrition guidelines, eating healthy foods does not equal a healthy diet that is a fallacy. You also identify with having undereaten for a period and tried fasting, I call those unhealthy dietary practices that wreck the metabolism in most instances, especially when people think it is a license to eat what they want instead of correctly fuelling their body when they do eat. Eating pulses weekly plus ten nuts daily is NOT going to give you the nutrients your body needs. It takes hundreds of grams of almonds to supply the RDA of many minerals. Yes hundreds, every day.

The sort of sources I use
http://nutritiondata.self.com/tools/nutrient-search
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
If you are hitting 10,000 steps a day you are not classed as sedentary by any authority.

TheVimFuego

Dragging this sick puppy of a thread back on topic ... tuna ... I embrace tuna and have learnt to love it and imagine myself doing unspeakable things with it at all hours of the day (and night).

nxd10

nuts, eggs, milk, lentils, beans
tofu
meat

AJennaM

LowCarb Yogurt - The Kroger store brand has 8 grams of protein, 4 grams of carbs, 60 calories, costs 40 cents.

The Laughing Cow cheese wedges make a good snack, $3 for 8 wedges.

Shrimp Cocktail rings are a decent choice. I just got 20 of the huge Tiger Shrimp with sauce for $4.78. Normally it runs around $8 so it's not inexpensive. It's supposed to be two servings but I eat it all for a total of 28 grams of protein, 12 grams of carbs, 160 calories. If you bypass the sauce it's no carbs but I don't like it without the sauce.

Freshstartingmyhealthylife

Add fage 0% greek yogurt to green smoothies or protein shakes, that'll be an extra 18g of protein

mbreed75

Make some beef jerky

nexangelus

Because they know that people will believe anything. The media is not out to help you. They are out to misrepresent and help the Money Pigs in the Corporate world. If they told you to eat less because you will live longer its because eventually your body is going to quit on you and you will need special medicines and a breathing tube hence living longer.

Thank you THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^

Also OP bodyfat scales do not accurately measure bodyfat. You need to use calipers (or find someone who can measure you with them), those pinchy things that grab the fat and measure the pinch...you take a few of these and the average, nothing like the scales you stand on and slightly more accurate to my mind...

p.s. if you have a 27 inch waist, then you sound like you are in healthy land...what do you weigh for example, you have not said that figure, I think you are the correct weight or even a healthy weight, maybe you need to build more muscle, rather than "lose weight"...???