Help! Vegetarian who cannot meet her protein goal

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Replies

  • Softrbreeze
    Softrbreeze Posts: 156 Member
    If you are trying to get 40% protein, you could potentially be harming yourself. An active body needs only 10-20% protein. What your body doesn't utilize results in potentially harmful spillover, which is why people on Atkins-type diets often end up with painful gallbladder and kidney issues. I would reconsider that goal if I were you...
  • scottaworley
    scottaworley Posts: 871 Member
    Ugh... I was hoping I could avoid links.
    High protein diets are not dangerous.
    http://www.biolayne.com/uncategorized/myths-surrounding-high-protein-diet-safety/
    Layne Norton is an authority and protein synthesis. Read all of it. Message me with questions.
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
    Unless you already have kidney problems, or early kidney problems, you probably won't hurt yourself eating more protein than you need. (You can look into that on a reputable health site, and talk to your doctor). However if you eat more than you need, it just gets used like a carb, and it can be an expensive carb. I would calculate how much protein you need based on your age, activities (such as endurance training and/or strength training), whether or not you're pregnant, any health issues, and your lean body mass, and aim for a set amount, rather than a percentage. MFP forces you to set a percentage, but I ignore that number after I reach the number of grams that I know I need.

    P.S. Eating at a deficit is a reason to increase your protein consumption, to help prevent loss of muscle mass.
  • totallydelirious
    totallydelirious Posts: 10
    I'm sometimes over!!

    The way i do it is base my meals around a protein source.

    Adding carbs and veg to a meal is EASY. Adding protein is not.

    I try to have protein in every meal, and I NEVER count cheese as a protein source (too high fat:protein ratio).

    Decide to have tofu, or lentils, or beans, or chick peas, or quorn (fake meat products) and build up a meal.

    Like tofu. I might decide to have tofu scramble for lunch. 1/2 block tofu, + flavourstuff. such as curry paste, or soy sauce and ginger, or tomato puree, and then put veg in, even if it's just onions and peppers, and then i might decide if i can spare the calories for carbs and have a slice of toast with it or maybe a jacket potato.

    then tea, i might decide to have beans, and decide to make into bean curry with rice.

    start with protein, build up the meal.
  • meaganh13
    meaganh13 Posts: 55 Member
    I'm veg as well - feel free to add me! I start my day with a smoothie: Manitoba Harvest Hemp Pro 70 protein powder (in my opinion, the BEST protein powder for those concerned about ingredients), banana, spinach, berries and almond milk. Gives me a great boost and most of my protein for the day. You can look at my diary if you like - be warned, some days I cheat :)

    I really don't care for tofu and only eat eggs about once per week. I'm leaning away from dairy, other than the odd yogurt or slice of cheese. I'm looking for creative ways to increase my overall protein as well so hopefully we can help each other!
  • scottaworley
    scottaworley Posts: 871 Member
    Unless you already have kidney problems, or early kidney problems, you probably won't hurt yourself eating more protein than you need. (You can look into that on a reputable health site, and talk to your doctor). However if you eat more than you need, it just gets used like a carb, and it can be an expensive carb. I would calculate how much protein you need based on your age, activities (such as endurance training and/or strength training), whether or not you're pregnant, any health issues, and your lean body mass, and aim for a set amount, rather than a percentage. MFP forces you to set a percentage, but I ignore that number after I reach the number of grams that I know I need.

    P.S. Eating at a deficit is a reason to increase your protein consumption, to help prevent loss of muscle mass.
    Expensive carb? Carbs and protein are the same calories. Also I would assume the thermodynamics to be greater because of the conversion that has to take place.
  • olymp1a
    olymp1a Posts: 1,766 Member
    I usually consume 100-110 grams of protein per day without using any protein shakes. I mix legumes with brown rice, eat ground soy (cook it in burger, chili with beans, or like minced meat with spaghetti), drink soy milk, add a bit of flaxmeal to my salads and rely a lot on greek yogurt and low fat cottage cheese. I very rarely eat fake meat products (once in 2 months maybe as a last minute option in case I did not have time to cook) and even more rarely tofu, but I have grown to love seitan!

    The most important thing is to try to get different aminoacids each day, you can check nutrition data (http://nutritiondata.self.com/)
    for a list of aminoacids per food and then see what other food complements it. It may be a bit time consuming at first but once you get the hang of it, it's quite easy.
  • jjrichard83
    jjrichard83 Posts: 483 Member
    UPDATE - I've been consuming .6 grams per lean pound of body weight along with fasted days and still gaining lean body mass...

    Also I wanted to share this with you guys -


    http://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/how-much-protein-do-we-really-need-to-eat/

    Brad Pilon fact checks and really dives into the science. That test group was funded by MUSCLETECH <- who has an invested interest to sell more powders & even still - results show you don't need that much even for extreme gains.


    In short- they tested 4 groups of people over 10 weeks. All consumed .7 grams of protein per lean body mass. That was enough for the steroid group to gain a whopping 13.5 LB. in muscle over that time, and the non-steroid group even gained around 4 lbs of muscle!

    Another study was .3 grams of protein - interesting results too.. Although it was done in 50+ year olds - to my knowledge they are MORE likely to drop muscle mass with age....
  • dlbaron
    dlbaron Posts: 79 Member
    I'm glad to see all of these replies. I've been having the exact same issue as OP, down to the macro settings. I am on my first week of P90x, and while I'm not following the diet plan, they suggest 50% protein as part of the first week "fat shredder" diet. 50%!!! I have been trying really hard the last few days and eating more protein than ever (I have eaten at varying degrees of vegetarianism since I was 11; I currently eat some seafood), but even when I hit 138 g of protein yesterday (I only weigh 121) my breakdown was only 27% protein. It would take up so much time and effort and I probably wouldn't enjoy my meals at all if I were to try to hit 40% daily.

    I'm going to change my macros because I know 1 g of protein per pound of lean muscle mass is more than adequate and I feel guilty relying so heavily on animal products lately. Ideally I'd be vegan for environmental reasons but all the diet, especially body building, info I've been reading lately has me confused. I want to get lean but also eat in accordance with my beliefs. So thank you all for the thoughts and links!

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