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Reaching protein target

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meganmorsey
meganmorsey Posts: 75
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I just re-read the nutrition 101 article. I'm 5'2" and currently 142. My goal weight is 125. Based on my calculations from the site, I'm going to set my calories to 1400 (142*14 -30% = about 1400). So for protein, I am aiming for 125 grams a day because it's easiest for me to just go with my goal weight.

Right now, I struggle to eat 100 grams. I'm just having a hard time meeting the protein goal and I've had this problem since I started trying to lose weight! 125 grams just seems like so much to me. My breakfast needs to be quick since I already have to get up at 5 to be at work when I want to be there. I pack my lunch for work and it's usually a salad with protein like chicken or tuna. Dinner is usually chicken, lean beef, or fish plus loads of veggies. For snacks I eat fruit and cottage cheese.

(Actually right now my diet is a mess, but I'm getting back on track so the above is how I will be eating and was eating a few months ago. And in fact how I enjoy eating because I feel better. Wish I could remind myself of that when I decide that eating a cupcake for breakfast is a good idea)

Can anyone out there help me figure what 125 grams of protein a day looks like? Protein at breakfast is the hardest because I like oatmeal plain instant oatmeal with a little brown sugar or cereal with milk, neither of which work!

Replies

  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    Quick and easy way to get protein in the morning is to throw eggs/egg whites in the microwave - takes about a minute to cook 3 egg whites in a bowl, and you get 15g protein. I add in one whole egg and a slice of low-fat cheddar cheese, which ends up a total of 27g protein. If you want some carbs/fiber along with it, take it out of the bowl and put it on top of a slice of whole grain bread (I use Ezekiel sprouted wheat bread - 15g carbs/3g fiber and 4 more grams of protein), for a total of 235 calories, 31g protein for breakfast and a nice, filling start to the day that will last me through lunch.
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
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    Yeah, breakfast for me is some sort of egg based breakfast when I have the time. When I don't, which is often the case, I stick with protein powder. Which sounds like would fit your situation great.

    There are all sorts of smoothies you can make that taste great, require only a couple of minutes to make, and you can drink them on the road.

    My go to contains fat free milk, vanilla yogurt, natty peanut butter, a scoop of vanilla whey protein powder, a frozen banana, and some ice cubes.
  • tameko2
    tameko2 Posts: 31,634 Member
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    With only 1400 calories a day, I can't think of any way to do it that doesn't involve protein powder or just shoveling chicken breast into your mouth at ever meal (*gag*)

    Best way to get it up, in general though, is to swap out everything you eat for a higher protein version of that food. So if you eat pasta, go get some Barilla plus instead of regular pasta (twice as much protein) and put chicken breast or tuna in there. Ditch rice in favor of quinoa or just beans if you like them. Heck ditch all your other carbs for beans if you like them. And don't eat any meal that doesn't include protein, period. Make a protein rich food the main course, add a little of the other stuff on the side. If you want a treat or snack, pick one that has protein in it over one that doesn't. etc etc.

    I dunno, it sounds like you already do most of that though. Back to protein powder I guess? I'm too lazy to make shakes, so I just put a scoop of blended powder in some water and chug it. There are powders that are ok for that - I mean its hardly delicious, but its fine - mine is 30 grams of protein and 130 calories. Easy way to dump some extra protein into my day, if I have to. (PS don't even try to get ideas from my diary, my nutrition was crap all last week. There were a lot of mini cupcakes.)
  • kensky
    kensky Posts: 472 Member
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    Add egg whites and/or protein powder to your oatmeal. Or trade instant oatmeal for overnight oats made with greek yogurt and a scoop of whey protein.
  • AnotherJenn
    AnotherJenn Posts: 62 Member
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    Egg whites, protein shake or cottage cheese are my usuals.
  • meganmorsey
    meganmorsey Posts: 75
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    Great advice everyone. Thanks! I will try adding protein to all of my meals. I never thought of cooking eggs in the microwave. I definitely have a couple minutes for that in the morning and I love eggs. I like cottage cheese and greek yogurt too. I was planning to try the overnight oatmeal using greek yogurt, but I hadn't thought to add protein powder to that.

    Can anyone recommend a specific brand of protein powder that gives the most bang for the buck, so to speak? Also, I hear people talk about Ezekiel sprouted wheat bread, but I've never seen it. Where do I get it? I have Trader Joe's near me, but not Whole Foods. I like bread A LOT, so it's hard for me to stay away and it would be nice to have some sort of alternative to go with my morning eggs.
  • tameko2
    tameko2 Posts: 31,634 Member
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    Great advice everyone. Thanks! I will try adding protein to all of my meals. I never thought of cooking eggs in the microwave. I definitely have a couple minutes for that in the morning and I love eggs. I like cottage cheese and greek yogurt too. I was planning to try the overnight oatmeal using greek yogurt, but I hadn't thought to add protein powder to that.

    Can anyone recommend a specific brand of protein powder that gives the most bang for the buck, so to speak? Also, I hear people talk about Ezekiel sprouted wheat bread, but I've never seen it. Where do I get it? I have Trader Joe's near me, but not Whole Foods. I like bread A LOT, so it's hard for me to stay away and it would be nice to have some sort of alternative to go with my morning eggs.

    They have it at my trader joes, so they might have it at yours. I personally don't like it. I use a blended protein, ON's "Pro Complex" but you could also try http://www.truscience.com/trutein.html which people seem to like. If you want to take the tack of sprinkling some protein powder on everything just to up your intake a little without an actual shake, you could get some unflavored whey and do that (a friend of mine does it - just put however much you want to have during your day in a baggie to carry around with you and dole it out as you go - he mentioned that some foods do better with it than others but generally you don't notice it). I'd actually think you could mix some unflavored into your salad dressings too although I have no idea how that would work out, as I've never tried it.
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
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    Everyone seems to be ranting and raving about Trutein. I just got a tub of their cinnabun flavored powder. Quite frankly, it's way to sweet for me.

    I love Optimum Nutrition 100% whey.

    I've enjoyed a lot of True Protein's stuff (www.trueprotein.com)

    Syntrax Nectar Whey is also very good.
  • tameko2
    tameko2 Posts: 31,634 Member
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    Everyone seems to be ranting and raving about Trutein. I just got a tub of their cinnabun flavored powder. Quite frankly, it's way to sweet for me.

    I love Optimum Nutrition 100% whey.

    I've enjoyed a lot of True Protein's stuff (www.trueprotein.com)

    Syntrax Nectar Whey is also very good.

    Oh, that's good to know. I was going to try it since others seemed to like it, and I like to use a blended protein but my tolerance for sweet is actually really low. Right now I'm kind of liking the idea of unflavored + some nesquick to my taste + milk. I think that part of the issue is that artificial sweetener tastes abnormally over-sweet sometimes.

    This is the unflavored whey my friend was using: http://www.hammernutrition.com/products/whey-protein.whey.html -- he recommended it highly, but they were also sponsoring his rowing team so I dunno how much that influenced how much he liked it. Haven't tried it myself because I think its kind of expensive, especially since you can only buy those small tubs, but he was sprinkling this on most of his food and found it worked for him, so maybe its unusually high quality in terms of texture and tastelessness.

    Also, for those that DO like sweet - a friend of mine on here recommends these recipes: http://dashingdish.com/recipes/shakes/

    I always prefer to eat food than drink it plus, sweet (plus, washing a blender is on my top 10 list of things I hate) so I haven't tried em, but she likes them a lot and she proclaims herself to dislike both protein powder and cottage cheese in general (which I guess are the two main ingredients).
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
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    I mean, everyone's tastes are different. But if you're not a sweets person (I am oddly), I doubt you'll like the cinnabun trutein. I plan on ordering some samples (which you can from their website) of the other flavors to see if I like them better.

    In addition, I'm mixing it with water, which doesn't help matters. Ordinarily I'd be drinking it with milk, but I'm currently toying around with this cyclical keto diet.

    And yeah, I've used unflavored whey for a while now. I buy mine from trueprotein. They're a great company.
  • sweetheart03622
    sweetheart03622 Posts: 928 Member
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    Check out my diary (minus the weekends, those are a mess lol). My goal is to hit at least 130g every day. Like others have said, get some in with breakfast. I always boil a half dozen eggs on the weekend to grab for breakfasts and usually rotate that with greek yogurt. Both are super low calorie and have good amounts of protein.

    Another thing I use to bump it up is skim milk. I'll typically have a large glass (16oz) with dinner which adds in the protein of a few eggs, plus you get the added benefit of calcium.
  • amysj303
    amysj303 Posts: 5,086 Member
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    bumping but I will also respond with the protein powder I like-I get it at GNC and prefer the vanilla it is amplified wheybolic extreme, it's 20 grams of protein with 100 cals per scoop. It mixes good with water, I prefer milk and almond milk to mix with it though.
    I also make a crustless quiche on Sunday-which makes four breakfasts for me. It't just 4 eggs and egg whites over whatever cooked ingrediants I have/like (ham and mushroom is a favorite) cook in a pie shell for 20 minutes at 375.
  • vim_n_vigor
    vim_n_vigor Posts: 4,089 Member
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    You can make your oatmeal with eggs in it. It makes it a bit more like custard. Greek yogurt and cottage cheese can help get it up too.
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
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    Yup, I've made pancakes, muffins, and many other things with protein powder. You can definitely get creative. Another concoction that I've seen a lot of people rave about on the 'net is protein sludge:

    http://videos.bodybuilding.com/watch/83102/scivations-marc-lobliner-makes-protein-sludge

    Also, check out this thread:

    http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=130308703
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,835 Member
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    Things I regularly make with protein powder:
    sludge
    proats
    fluff
    cheesecake
    pancakes
    icecream

    Things I don't usually make:
    shakes

    Just got over the shakes I guess. Get creative alright!

    Fluff is ridiculously filling for low cals so great for people wanting to lose weight IMO. Freeze it a bit and add some berries. Delicious!
  • AnotherJenn
    AnotherJenn Posts: 62 Member
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    I average about 115g of protein a day, you can friend me and view my diary. Maybe that would help with your menu options. I'm always looking at my friends menus for ideas and new meal choices.
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
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    Thanks for chiming in everyone. Some great feedback in this thread!

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