We are pleased to announce that as of March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor has been introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!

Protein shakes? Meal prepping ?

sifiso
sifiso Posts: 21
edited February 12 in Food and Nutrition
Hello everyone,
I'm 17 (18 in June !!) and have been doing my research around all things fitness and health, and have come up with two questions. I weight 130 pounds and according to some *online calculators*, i have 96 lean body mass and 26% body fat. Don't know how accurate much of this is but that's what i got to after numerous and various attempts.

1) Do I need to take protein shakes ?
>>>>>> I used various online calculators to see how much I needed and I averaged at 120 grams (is that not too much??) and I have calculated that I will get 42 grams a day from my meals (LOOOL).

2) My parents are a bit worried about meal planning. I basically cook whatever I am going to eat for the week (e.g. chicken breast, fisherman's eggs, pasta) and freeze it. I then microwave it when I am ready to eat. Is this alright or should I be doing things differently?

I appreciate all your help - THANKS :)

Replies

  • KristinNicole82
    KristinNicole82 Posts: 164 Member
    It depends on your goals, to increase muscle you can not eat a caloric deficit and absolutely need the protein. If you want to lose fat then the protein is not as important but eating at a deficit is.

    I always meal prep, it helps me from making poor choices because I am hungry and dont want to wait for something to cook. I usually make at least 2 to 3 days worth of meals ahead of time.
  • sifiso
    sifiso Posts: 21
    Thank you for the reply :)
    My aim is basically to go down to 20% body fat from 26% and start showing some ab definition. So I thought I wud need to lose fat first (lifting weights and cardio and eating less calories) in order to see definition.....?
  • KristinNicole82
    KristinNicole82 Posts: 164 Member
    That is what I did, I am currently about 16% and see some definition in my abs but not what I want I am thinking i need to be down to 14 to see what I want.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    I think that sounds like a great plan. I love being prepared! Sometimes I cook a bunch on Sunday and then dish it out every day for my lunch. Other weeks I just take leftovers for my lunches if we happened to have bought a lot of food that week. I also sometimes will prepare double for dinner, cook half and freeze half. (I do this with: lasagna, chicken pot pie, beef stew, any other kind of soup or crockpot meal)

    120 g of protein seems like a lot for someone who only weighs 130. I would think around 100 would be plenty. I weigh 150 and I only aim for about 100.
  • sifiso
    sifiso Posts: 21
    Ah ok ill start researching protein shakes then. Thanks again :))
This discussion has been closed.

Categories