Protein/food HELP!

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mminor77
mminor77 Posts: 313
in Health and Weight Loss
I've read that its important to get 90g+ protein a day. I average about 30-40g. I actually hit 50g today but really pushing it. Is that enough?? Is there a supplement that makes it easier to get protein in or are supplements bad? Not really good with these types of details so any advice would be appreciated.
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Replies

  • tommygirl15
    tommygirl15 Posts: 1,012 Member
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    Go buy protein powder and use it in smoothies or just straight up with water if you are really watching your calories. It's a fast and easy way to boost up your protein counts.
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    Yes protein is very important for preserving muscle tissue while dieting.

    However...

    I looked at the past two weeks of your diary and it appears you generally net like 500-700 calories. You need to eat more, period. Yesterday you ate 1200ish calories with 800+ calories of exercise. That is not a healthy approach. I would say any potential negatives of protein shakes are not even on the same scale of as hazardous as eating so little. Even on non workout days, you still ate like 500-900 calories, so I assume it's not JUST that you don't understand how the site works in relation to exercise calories. At that low amount of calories, you are undoubtedly catabolizing muscle as we speak, so I would think protein sparing would be of crucial importance. Get some protein powder, and try to meet your goals. But mostly, you need to eat more. Like, yesterday.
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
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    Eat some meat, or anything else that had a mother.
  • Jules2Be
    Jules2Be Posts: 2,267 Member
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    Yes protein is very important for preserving muscle tissue while dieting.

    However...

    I looked at the past two weeks of your diary and it appears you generally net like 500-700 calories. You need to eat more, period. Yesterday you ate 1200ish calories with 800+ calories of exercise. That is not a healthy approach. I would say any potential negatives of protein shakes are not even on the same scale of as hazardous as eating so little. Even on non workout days, you still ate like 500-900 calories, so I assume it's not JUST that you don't understand how the site works in relation to exercise calories. At that low amount of calories, you are undoubtedly catabolizing muscle as we speak, so I would think protein sparing would be of crucial importance. Get some protein powder, and try to meet your goals. But mostly, you need to eat more. Like, yesterday.

    seriously
    i eat 1400 on the days i do NOTHING
    and 1900ish on days i kick butt at the gym
    and i aim for 100 to 125g of protein,

    EAT
  • mminor77
    mminor77 Posts: 313
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    Yes protein is very important for preserving muscle tissue while dieting.

    However...

    I looked at the past two weeks of your diary and it appears you generally net like 500-700 calories. You need to eat more, period. Yesterday you ate 1200ish calories with 800+ calories of exercise. That is not a healthy approach. I would say any potential negatives of protein shakes are not even on the same scale of as hazardous as eating so little. Even on non workout days, you still ate like 500-900 calories, so I assume it's not JUST that you don't understand how the site works in relation to exercise calories. At that low amount of calories, you are undoubtedly catabolizing muscle as we speak, so I would think protein sparing would be of crucial importance. Get some protein powder, and try to meet your goals. But mostly, you need to eat more. Like, yesterday.

    About a month or so ago I upped my calories from 1000 to 1250 after reading a post on eat more to lose more and left it like that for a few weeks and gained weight the whole time (around 7# in 2+weeks). So I dropped it down to 950 and started to SLOWLY lose again. I have about 35ish pounds to go. Im obviously doing something wrong because Ive lost 1lb in 2+weeks. I will try the protein powder but Im worried about increasing calories again because of the last time I tried that. I dont know if I should have just given it more time and it would have corrected itself or if I would have continued to gain. Any thoughts??
  • fluffeesquirrel
    fluffeesquirrel Posts: 63 Member
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    The slow weight loss isn't your protein, it's definitely your calories. You need to eat more to lose weight. Your metabolism is slowing down and holding on to everything because you're not fueling it enough. You need to eat AT LEAST 1200 but I don't advocate that. I recommend figuring out your BMR/TDEE and going from there.

    EDIT: And by eat 1200, I mean you need to net that many.

    One more edit... I eat 1600 on days I don't exercise. I try to net that many on days that I do, so I might end up eating over 2200... I'm losing 2-3 pounds per week plus inches and just got over a 2 month plateau. Sometimes it just takes time for your body to adjust.
  • jennifermaffei17
    jennifermaffei17 Posts: 158
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    Eat more to lose weight. It sounds counterproductive but guess what...it works. Theres a number mfp keeps in green and if you go over then goes red. Thats your net calories. You want to get it to the point where you have 0 green calories left but don't go into the red or if you do ...not much. Your muscles need food to build on. If you lower your calories below 1200 you are telling your body to feed on itself instead of food. Just dont eat crap food, keep it clean ...fresh veggies and fruits with lean meat. You'll get your numbers up!
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    Yes protein is very important for preserving muscle tissue while dieting.

    However...

    I looked at the past two weeks of your diary and it appears you generally net like 500-700 calories. You need to eat more, period. Yesterday you ate 1200ish calories with 800+ calories of exercise. That is not a healthy approach. I would say any potential negatives of protein shakes are not even on the same scale of as hazardous as eating so little. Even on non workout days, you still ate like 500-900 calories, so I assume it's not JUST that you don't understand how the site works in relation to exercise calories. At that low amount of calories, you are undoubtedly catabolizing muscle as we speak, so I would think protein sparing would be of crucial importance. Get some protein powder, and try to meet your goals. But mostly, you need to eat more. Like, yesterday.

    About a month or so ago I upped my calories from 1000 to 1250 after reading a post on eat more to lose more and left it like that for a few weeks and gained weight the whole time (around 7# in 2+weeks). So I dropped it down to 950 and started to SLOWLY lose again. I have about 35ish pounds to go. Im obviously doing something wrong because Ive lost 1lb in 2+weeks. I will try the protein powder but Im worried about increasing calories again because of the last time I tried that. I dont know if I should have just given it more time and it would have corrected itself or if I would have continued to gain. Any thoughts??

    I think your metabolism has slowed to accommodate the low calories you've been eating and it may take longer than 2 weeks to repair. The sooner you up your calories, the sooner you will be on your way back to a healthy resting metabolism. Unfortunately, some initial weight gain is to be expected in your case. Most of it will be water and will eventually go away on its own, some will be from water with increased glucose storage. I would say to get rid of your scale for a whole month and up your calories, making sure to get around 100 g of protein. You may gain a few pounds but it will eventually lead to you being able to eat a healthy amount of food while losing weight. The first month will be like a speed bump that you just have to get over.
  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
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    Eat tuna and other fish, eggs, egg whites, chicken, turkey, turkey, beef, greek yogurt, cottage cheese, nuts, beans... all good sources of protein. I aim for 100+g daily.
  • fluffeesquirrel
    fluffeesquirrel Posts: 63 Member
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    Yes protein is very important for preserving muscle tissue while dieting.

    However...

    I looked at the past two weeks of your diary and it appears you generally net like 500-700 calories. You need to eat more, period. Yesterday you ate 1200ish calories with 800+ calories of exercise. That is not a healthy approach. I would say any potential negatives of protein shakes are not even on the same scale of as hazardous as eating so little. Even on non workout days, you still ate like 500-900 calories, so I assume it's not JUST that you don't understand how the site works in relation to exercise calories. At that low amount of calories, you are undoubtedly catabolizing muscle as we speak, so I would think protein sparing would be of crucial importance. Get some protein powder, and try to meet your goals. But mostly, you need to eat more. Like, yesterday.

    About a month or so ago I upped my calories from 1000 to 1250 after reading a post on eat more to lose more and left it like that for a few weeks and gained weight the whole time (around 7# in 2+weeks). So I dropped it down to 950 and started to SLOWLY lose again. I have about 35ish pounds to go. Im obviously doing something wrong because Ive lost 1lb in 2+weeks. I will try the protein powder but Im worried about increasing calories again because of the last time I tried that. I dont know if I should have just given it more time and it would have corrected itself or if I would have continued to gain. Any thoughts??

    I think your metabolism has slowed to accommodate the low calories you've been eating and it may take longer than 2 weeks to repair. The sooner you up your calories, the sooner you will be on your way back to a healthy resting metabolism. Unfortunately, some initial weight gain is to be expected in your case. Most of it will be water and will eventually go away on its own, some will be from water with increased glucose storage. I would say to get rid of your scale for a whole month and up your calories, making sure to get around 100 g of protein. You may gain a few pounds but it will eventually lead to you being able to eat a healthy amount of food while losing weight. The first month will be like a speed bump that you just have to get over.

    THIS, THIS, THIS! Don't get discouraged... it took 3 weeks for any scale change when I first started all this and then after 22 pounds, I hit a huge plateau. It helps to measure yourself, too. I lost 5 inches in EACH thigh and not a single pound in 2 months.
  • RobynMWilson
    RobynMWilson Posts: 1,540 Member
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    Yes protein is very important for preserving muscle tissue while dieting.

    However...

    I looked at the past two weeks of your diary and it appears you generally net like 500-700 calories. You need to eat more, period. Yesterday you ate 1200ish calories with 800+ calories of exercise. That is not a healthy approach. I would say any potential negatives of protein shakes are not even on the same scale of as hazardous as eating so little. Even on non workout days, you still ate like 500-900 calories, so I assume it's not JUST that you don't understand how the site works in relation to exercise calories. At that low amount of calories, you are undoubtedly catabolizing muscle as we speak, so I would think protein sparing would be of crucial importance. Get some protein powder, and try to meet your goals. But mostly, you need to eat more. Like, yesterday.

    ^^^ absolutely or else you can do some serious damage to your body AND metabolism!!
  • mminor77
    mminor77 Posts: 313
    Options
    Yes protein is very important for preserving muscle tissue while dieting.

    However...

    I looked at the past two weeks of your diary and it appears you generally net like 500-700 calories. You need to eat more, period. Yesterday you ate 1200ish calories with 800+ calories of exercise. That is not a healthy approach. I would say any potential negatives of protein shakes are not even on the same scale of as hazardous as eating so little. Even on non workout days, you still ate like 500-900 calories, so I assume it's not JUST that you don't understand how the site works in relation to exercise calories. At that low amount of calories, you are undoubtedly catabolizing muscle as we speak, so I would think protein sparing would be of crucial importance. Get some protein powder, and try to meet your goals. But mostly, you need to eat more. Like, yesterday.

    About a month or so ago I upped my calories from 1000 to 1250 after reading a post on eat more to lose more and left it like that for a few weeks and gained weight the whole time (around 7# in 2+weeks). So I dropped it down to 950 and started to SLOWLY lose again. I have about 35ish pounds to go. Im obviously doing something wrong because Ive lost 1lb in 2+weeks. I will try the protein powder but Im worried about increasing calories again because of the last time I tried that. I dont know if I should have just given it more time and it would have corrected itself or if I would have continued to gain. Any thoughts??

    I think your metabolism has slowed to accommodate the low calories you've been eating and it may take longer than 2 weeks to repair. The sooner you up your calories, the sooner you will be on your way back to a healthy resting metabolism. Unfortunately, some initial weight gain is to be expected in your case. Most of it will be water and will eventually go away on its own, some will be from water with increased glucose storage. I would say to get rid of your scale for a whole month and up your calories, making sure to get around 100 g of protein. You may gain a few pounds but it will eventually lead to you being able to eat a healthy amount of food while losing weight. The first month will be like a speed bump that you just have to get over.

    Ok thats what I'll do. Ill put the scale away and hope for the best. I have to try something else because what Im doing isnt working!! How do I know how many calories I should have? Should I just set it at 1200 again and try from there?
  • spammyanna
    spammyanna Posts: 871 Member
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    Yes protein is very important for preserving muscle tissue while dieting.

    However...

    I looked at the past two weeks of your diary and it appears you generally net like 500-700 calories. You need to eat more, period. Yesterday you ate 1200ish calories with 800+ calories of exercise. That is not a healthy approach. I would say any potential negatives of protein shakes are not even on the same scale of as hazardous as eating so little. Even on non workout days, you still ate like 500-900 calories, so I assume it's not JUST that you don't understand how the site works in relation to exercise calories. At that low amount of calories, you are undoubtedly catabolizing muscle as we speak, so I would think protein sparing would be of crucial importance. Get some protein powder, and try to meet your goals. But mostly, you need to eat more. Like, yesterday.

    About a month or so ago I upped my calories from 1000 to 1250 after reading a post on eat more to lose more and left it like that for a few weeks and gained weight the whole time (around 7# in 2+weeks). So I dropped it down to 950 and started to SLOWLY lose again. I have about 35ish pounds to go. Im obviously doing something wrong because Ive lost 1lb in 2+weeks. I will try the protein powder but Im worried about increasing calories again because of the last time I tried that. I dont know if I should have just given it more time and it would have corrected itself or if I would have continued to gain. Any thoughts??

    1250 is not eating more to lose more. 1250 is eating enough to survive.

    I am 5'4" and eat anywhere from 1600-2200 calories a day.

    I've lost 50lbs.

    Eat more, and you can get in more protein. Sure you may gain initially, but this will come off and more.

    Good luck!
  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
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    Try this calculator:
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    Options
    Yes protein is very important for preserving muscle tissue while dieting.

    However...

    I looked at the past two weeks of your diary and it appears you generally net like 500-700 calories. You need to eat more, period. Yesterday you ate 1200ish calories with 800+ calories of exercise. That is not a healthy approach. I would say any potential negatives of protein shakes are not even on the same scale of as hazardous as eating so little. Even on non workout days, you still ate like 500-900 calories, so I assume it's not JUST that you don't understand how the site works in relation to exercise calories. At that low amount of calories, you are undoubtedly catabolizing muscle as we speak, so I would think protein sparing would be of crucial importance. Get some protein powder, and try to meet your goals. But mostly, you need to eat more. Like, yesterday.

    About a month or so ago I upped my calories from 1000 to 1250 after reading a post on eat more to lose more and left it like that for a few weeks and gained weight the whole time (around 7# in 2+weeks). So I dropped it down to 950 and started to SLOWLY lose again. I have about 35ish pounds to go. Im obviously doing something wrong because Ive lost 1lb in 2+weeks. I will try the protein powder but Im worried about increasing calories again because of the last time I tried that. I dont know if I should have just given it more time and it would have corrected itself or if I would have continued to gain. Any thoughts??

    I think your metabolism has slowed to accommodate the low calories you've been eating and it may take longer than 2 weeks to repair. The sooner you up your calories, the sooner you will be on your way back to a healthy resting metabolism. Unfortunately, some initial weight gain is to be expected in your case. Most of it will be water and will eventually go away on its own, some will be from water with increased glucose storage. I would say to get rid of your scale for a whole month and up your calories, making sure to get around 100 g of protein. You may gain a few pounds but it will eventually lead to you being able to eat a healthy amount of food while losing weight. The first month will be like a speed bump that you just have to get over.

    Ok thats what I'll do. Ill put the scale away and hope for the best. I have to try something else because what Im doing isnt working!! How do I know how many calories I should have? Should I just set it at 1200 again and try from there?

    What is your BMR? I suspect 1200 is even a bit low, probably a 20% cut from your TDEE (maintenance calories) would be best, but since your calories are SO low right now, you may want to step it up gradually and 1200 is probably a good step to take. My un-educated guess without knowing your BMR is probably 1400-1500 is going to end up being where you'll want to be.
  • spammyanna
    spammyanna Posts: 871 Member
    Options
    Yes protein is very important for preserving muscle tissue while dieting.

    However...

    I looked at the past two weeks of your diary and it appears you generally net like 500-700 calories. You need to eat more, period. Yesterday you ate 1200ish calories with 800+ calories of exercise. That is not a healthy approach. I would say any potential negatives of protein shakes are not even on the same scale of as hazardous as eating so little. Even on non workout days, you still ate like 500-900 calories, so I assume it's not JUST that you don't understand how the site works in relation to exercise calories. At that low amount of calories, you are undoubtedly catabolizing muscle as we speak, so I would think protein sparing would be of crucial importance. Get some protein powder, and try to meet your goals. But mostly, you need to eat more. Like, yesterday.

    About a month or so ago I upped my calories from 1000 to 1250 after reading a post on eat more to lose more and left it like that for a few weeks and gained weight the whole time (around 7# in 2+weeks). So I dropped it down to 950 and started to SLOWLY lose again. I have about 35ish pounds to go. Im obviously doing something wrong because Ive lost 1lb in 2+weeks. I will try the protein powder but Im worried about increasing calories again because of the last time I tried that. I dont know if I should have just given it more time and it would have corrected itself or if I would have continued to gain. Any thoughts??

    I think your metabolism has slowed to accommodate the low calories you've been eating and it may take longer than 2 weeks to repair. The sooner you up your calories, the sooner you will be on your way back to a healthy resting metabolism. Unfortunately, some initial weight gain is to be expected in your case. Most of it will be water and will eventually go away on its own, some will be from water with increased glucose storage. I would say to get rid of your scale for a whole month and up your calories, making sure to get around 100 g of protein. You may gain a few pounds but it will eventually lead to you being able to eat a healthy amount of food while losing weight. The first month will be like a speed bump that you just have to get over.

    Ok thats what I'll do. Ill put the scale away and hope for the best. I have to try something else because what Im doing isnt working!! How do I know how many calories I should have? Should I just set it at 1200 again and try from there?


    You need to eat at least your BMR (which you can find under tools) and you can eat up to your TDEE (total daily expenditure) and still lose weight. At the top of the forum is a search feature, in there type "In place of a road map" and read that. It has a wealth of information on BMR and TDEE and is extremely helpful in figuring out how much to eat.
  • mminor77
    mminor77 Posts: 313
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    Thanks to everyone for the advice!! All of this diet stuff is so frustrating but all of the info is helpful!! I appreciate it. I dont want to do it the wrong way considering this will be a lifelong change for me so even if it takes a little longer because I fuxed something up, I am willing to do it!:smile:
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
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    Protein is important. I find I get enough with food and I find the protein powder is mostly useless for me, but I am short and can't afford the extra calories most of the time.

    Find low fat real protein, fish, sometimes chicken or turkey, fat free yogurt. It is a balancing act, get enough protein but not too many calories. Find protein powder that is around 100 calories per scoop and mix it with water like someone here said to keep the calories down.

    Be careful when someone else tells you to eat more or less, only you can determine that. If the trend is you are not losing weight then you need to eat less, if the trend is you are gaining then you need to eat less, no matter what any person or calculator says. If you feel good and are keeping your lean body mass (or growing it) and are strong in the gym then chances are you are actually eating enough or you would not have the energy to work out.
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
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    1. Eat more in general, 800 calories isn't enough to sustain health
    2. Eat more things that had pulses.
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    Thanks to everyone for the advice!! All of this diet stuff is so frustrating but all of the info is helpful!! I appreciate it. I dont want to do it the wrong way considering this will be a lifelong change for me so even if it takes a little longer because I fuxed something up, I am willing to do it!:smile:

    Thank YOU for posting a question and being willing to listen to the answer! It's rare. I will keep trying to be helpful to people because of posters like you!

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