NEWBIE ;) How big should your protein portions be?

RobbieRobbieKittyCat
RobbieRobbieKittyCat Posts: 2
in Introduce Yourself
Hello everyone! super happy to be here!! I am new to this and have always struggled with ups and downs! at my heaviest I was 180 and I am 5'8 and a small frame, I am not a happy 140 but I would like to tone and tighten up.My lightest I was 128 and was very happy and content at that weight which is my target weight. I wanted to ask, how big should your protein meats be with your meals? what should your plate look like? I am buying a scale tonight for weighing food I just am unsure.

I only eat Chicken and fish so if someone could help me with this I would greatly appreciate it ;) also is it ok to have a protein with lunches and dinner or should you just have one with one preferred meal? Thank you so much for reading this and helping a Newbie out ;)

Thank you Thank you

Replies

  • Hondo_Man
    Hondo_Man Posts: 114 Member
    I wanted to ask, how big should your protein meats be with your meals? what should your plate look like? I am buying a scale tonight for weighing food I just am unsure.

    I only eat Chicken and fish so if someone could help me with this I would greatly appreciate it ;) also is it ok to have a protein with lunches and dinner or should you just have one with one preferred meal?

    what should one's plate look like? Mine are square and white, but everyone's different! :)

    Seriously, it will be depending on your calories, macros, goals and how many times a day you wish to eat.

    There are many schools of thought about how many gramms of protein one should eat per meal. That too is dependent. Are you exercising or not? Is it strictly cardio or are you also weight training? Similar to asking, "I have a long drive a head of me, how much petrol do I need in my car?" How far, type of car, speed of driving, route, etc.

    If your goals include hypothetically, 130gr of protein per day, why not spread it out throughout the day. Of course you can eat protein with breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, etc. You can eat all 130gr at one meal, but that would mean about 3, 200gr cans of tuna! Some argue that your body can properly utilize all the protein you can eat at one time. I do not agree and neither do many others.

    Here is a very good article about Protein Consumption.

    http://www.leanbodiesconsulting.com/articles/the-protein-interview-an-interview-with-dr-stuart-phillips/

    Try to plan your meals so that you are getting proteins, fats and carbs together. Also, keep in mind that you need to be in a caloric deficit to lose weight.

    Best of luck
  • mcolombai14
    mcolombai14 Posts: 2
    what do you do for training?
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    If you're new don't worry yet about your macros (protein, fat & carbs). Learn to log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly. Weigh everything—not just fish & chicken. Weigh everything.

    Once you're consistently logging & meeting your calorie goal, then you can think about macros. I'm less hungry when I use MFP's protein & fiber goals as minimums, and ignore fat & carbs. It will take trial & error to find what works for you. Think bigger picture—daily & weekly goals. No need to balance an individual meal.

    Take "before" photos & measurements, and read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • joan23_us
    joan23_us Posts: 263 Member
    Hello everyone! super happy to be here!! I am new to this and have always struggled with ups and downs! at my heaviest I was 180 and I am 5'8 and a small frame, I am not a happy 140 but I would like to tone and tighten up.My lightest I was 128 and was very happy and content at that weight which is my target weight. I wanted to ask, how big should your protein meats be with your meals? what should your plate look like? I am buying a scale tonight for weighing food I just am unsure.

    I only eat Chicken and fish so if someone could help me with this I would greatly appreciate it ;) also is it ok to have a protein with lunches and dinner or should you just have one with one preferred meal? Thank you so much for reading this and helping a Newbie out ;)

    Thank you Thank you

    lean body mass x 1 - 1.5 grams of protein

    for example a lean mass of 150lbs female will consume between 150 - 225 grams of protein depending on training objective, 150 grams being the lowest to ensure no muscle loss or minimal loss occurs during fatloss journey. Eat protein throughout the day so long you are hitting your target protein intake... I usually have a protein dominant meals between lunch and dinner, not so much breakfast... check my diary for ideas ;)
  • RobbieRobbieKittyCat
    RobbieRobbieKittyCat Posts: 2
    I do yoga and I am starting a boot camp program May 1st!
  • SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish
    SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish Posts: 831 Member
    The above estimate is very high, that 150lbs of lean body mass would be assuming that if you had 35% bodyfat that you are at least 231lbs. Let's say you are 25-33% bodyfat at 180lbs that you wrote (so I can have easy math using your numbers ;) ), that means you would eat 120 to 135 grams of protein/day. This is not a real proven rule and is more for muscle building/bodybuilding however, so you could easily eat 2/3rds of that and be perfectly fine. I would shoot for the 120-135 grams though if you are within that level of bodyfat at 180lbs, however from what you said it sounds like this is not your current weight, so calculate it, 25% is definitely low for an "average" 25-31% bodyfat percentage for women. It sounds like you are eating chicken and fish regularly, so this would be easy to achieve, I would just eat a good protein twice per day and worry more about your caloric intake (its so easy to forget to log/under estimate) and true caloric burn rates for exercise (which are over-estimated in MFP) at first. You don't really need a very high level of protein for yoga and "boot camp" training.
  • Cattree2002
    Cattree2002 Posts: 6 Member
    For general health 0.5g/kg body weight is the general rule. If you're a newbie then just sticking to calorie intake is a good start. Don't worry too much about macros.

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