HELP!!!! increasing protein

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sunnymae
sunnymae Posts: 57 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Everytime I check my macros for the day, my protein is very low.
Like yesterday it was 17% . Carbs 45% and Fat 38%
I was told protein should be 40% . I had fish , boiled eggs yesterday but don't know what else to eat to boost my protein.
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Replies

  • KeepGoingKylene
    KeepGoingKylene Posts: 432 Member
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    Chicken, nuts, protein powder, yogurt, milk, the list goes on
  • mandez19
    mandez19 Posts: 179
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    Protein powder is actually one of the cheapest and easiest way to get protein without a bunch of other stuff you may not want to add to your current nutrition.
  • sunnymae
    sunnymae Posts: 57 Member
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    Chicken, nuts, protein powder, yogurt, milk, the list goes on

    I eat all that stuff. I don't understand why it's so low.
  • sunnymae
    sunnymae Posts: 57 Member
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    Protein powder is actually one of the cheapest and easiest way to get protein without a bunch of other stuff you may not want to add to your current nutrition.

    How much protein in normally in a serving of protein powder
  • BradfordBear801
    BradfordBear801 Posts: 78
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    Chicken, nuts, protein powder, yogurt, milk, the list goes on

    I eat all that stuff. I don't understand why it's so low.

    I have 240 grams as a macro that I have to reach. I drink a protein shake in the morning with blueberries, liquid egg whites and oat meal. It adds up to about 70 grams of protein for just that meal. Aim to eat about a palm sized (4 oz give or take) amount of chicken with most meals, or tuna etc and you can reach it. At the end of the day if Im still down I drink another protein shake with my last meal to help reach it, hope this helps.
  • tibby531
    tibby531 Posts: 717 Member
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    once you go in and customize your settings to 40% protein, you can go to eatthismuch.com, and customize a menu that has that amount of protein in it, and it will give you some awesome ideas. just keep clicking "generate" to get a new set. :flowerforyou:
  • tlrsax54
    tlrsax54 Posts: 1
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    Protein powder is actually one of the cheapest and easiest way to get protein without a bunch of other stuff you may not want to add to your current nutrition.

    How much protein in normally in a serving of protein powder

    20-25 per scoop. Make sure you eat some kind of lean meat with every meal to up your protein intake...
  • rachelrb85
    rachelrb85 Posts: 579 Member
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    I can only meet my 40% protein goal if I focus all snacks and meals around protein. Protein powder will usually have 20-25g of protein. Protein bars (Quest tastes good and has 20g+ protein), lean meats like chicken breast or steak, tuna, eggs, almonds, string cheese, peanut butter, greek yogurt, beef jerky.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,626 Member
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    I would double check the database entries you are using. Some of the entries only care about calories and set all the macro nutrients at 0.
  • sunnymae
    sunnymae Posts: 57 Member
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    once you go in and customize your settings to 40% protein, you can go to eatthismuch.com, and customize a menu that has that amount of protein in it, and it will give you some awesome ideas. just keep clicking "generate" to get a new set. :flowerforyou:

    Thank you !!! I'm checking this out now !
  • civilizedworm
    civilizedworm Posts: 796 Member
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    Tuna, salmon, yogurt, shrimp, cottage cheese, almonds, salmon, tuna, shrimp, whole milk, tuna, salmon shrimp nuts, yogurt, peanut butter, shrimp, salmon, tuna, cottage cheese,yogurt, almonds... and a protein powder shake in chocolate milk twice a day.

    The cheap stuff at Walmart, which I buy, provides me an additional 60 grams a day.

    Load up on fiber for the rest, you'll met your other macros pretty easy.
  • fivethreeone
    fivethreeone Posts: 8,196 Member
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    Eggs are a pretty poor source of protein unless you're eating 5-6 of them, which will typically screw up your fat macro, because they're about equal parts fat:protein.

    I get ~150g protein per day eating egg white omelets, tuna, chicken, salmon, beef, protein powder, chicken sausage, greek yogurt, etc. Front-loading my protein earlier in the day makes it easier to keep my day on track, too.
  • newdaydawning79
    newdaydawning79 Posts: 1,503 Member
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    I've been drinking a lot of shakes and eating protein bars. I still haven't tried Quest bars although I have a few at home. I get the GNC Total Lean line (chocolate mmmmm) of shakes and bars right now and love them.

    (170 cals and 25 g protein in the shakes, 170 cals and 17 g protein (some have 18 I think but not the ones I get) in the bars.)

    ETA: You all make me so jealous that I'm intolerant to fish! As a kid I could eat it and did constantly (parents owned a fresh fish shop) and as an adult I can't touch the stuff. Even canned tuna makes me sick.
  • Cheeseburger85
    Cheeseburger85 Posts: 63 Member
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    STEAK!
  • Awesomers
    Awesomers Posts: 144 Member
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    I have the same problem. I have been pretty aggressive about upping my protein and these are the foods I typically eat daily:
    - Lean meats (chicken breast, turkey, tuna, etc.)
    - Protein powder (I usually mix it with PB2 which is also a good source of protein but you want to make sure you're getting high protein and low carb powder)
    - Eggs (I typically have 1 whole egg + 1 egg white which is about 11 grams of protein right there)
    - Greek yogurt (sometimes I make a shake out of greek yogurt + protein powder + fruit + PB2 or I will just mix it with some fruit)

    With that being said, I have yet to hit my goal (146 grams) even with the other things I eat throughout the day. Those are just some suggestions that I have found work for me!
  • Sam_I_Am77
    Sam_I_Am77 Posts: 2,093 Member
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    Everytime I check my macros for the day, my protein is very low.
    Like yesterday it was 17% . Carbs 45% and Fat 38%
    I was told protein should be 40% . I had fish , boiled eggs yesterday but don't know what else to eat to boost my protein.

    First, I would say that you might consider pre-planning your meals. Create some chart where you have a default meal plan to follow every day if you don't come up with anything creative. Also, list all of the food your like in easy serving sizes so it's easier for you to eyeball your food and hit your macros. For example, know that 100gm's of a boneless chicken breast has 1gm Fat and 23gm's of Protein (approximately), 1 egg = 5 gm's of fat and 6gm's of protein, 10gm's of almonds = 11gm's Fat and 4gm's of Protein, etc. etc. Know what you're eating.

    I think you mentioned in another thread that you exercise 4-days a week. Assuming it's intense exercise you can vary your macro's by exercise day and non-exercise day.

    Exercise days shoot for something more like...
    fat = 54 gm's (25% of cal's)
    cho = 207gm's (43% of cal's)
    pro = 158gm's (32% of cal's)

    Non-Exercise days...
    fat = 102gm's (47%)
    cho = 100 gm's (21%)
    pro = 158 gm's (32%)

    This will help you to manage your maro's based on your activity level and help build some metabolic flexibility. Keep your fiber high with your carbs.

    I know that's a little off-track, protein sources

    - Whey protein shake (not necessarily #1 by any means, just a supplement)
    - Chicken breasts
    - Lean beef
    - Lean pork
    - Cottage Cheese
    - Eggs
    - Almonds (good for your lower carb & higher fat days)
    - Natural Almond Butter
    - Natural Peanut Butter (both are also good for lower carb & higher fat days)
  • horseplaypen
    horseplaypen Posts: 442 Member
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    I'm not a big meat eater - I generally only have meat at one meal per day - so I'm left with protein powder. I usually have to have 3 scoops a day at 25 g of protein each - one in my breakfast smoothie, one in my oatmeal lunch, and one mixed with peanut butter as a bedtime snack. With greek yogurt and boiled eggs as snacks, I'm usually able to hit my goal of 130-140 g/day. But I really couldn't do it without the protein powder, and lots of it.
  • YF92
    YF92 Posts: 2,893 Member
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    More interested in the real grams rather than percentage but I can't see your profile

    But anyways, chicken & fish are the way to go. Supplement if you need to but dont use it as a meal substitute.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    You probably don't need 40%, although that depends on your goals and calories.

    I aim for 105 grams (that's about 30% or less for me, although I often go over on protein some, since I consider it a minimum). I get there by making sure I eat a good amount of protein at each of my three meals (since I don't like snacks). Lean meat is the best source if you already tend to get lots of fat (I eat all kinds of meat, though). This includes fish, chicken, and turkey, especially. Dairy is also a great source, especially greek yogurt and cottage cheese. Other sources that have been mentioned above are good too, of course.

    Why you are eating all the recommended things and not getting above 17% is hard to say unless you want to open your diary. I'd guess that maybe you are eating smaller portions of them, but it could be that you aren't logging right or using the wrong entries.
  • shankasaurus
    shankasaurus Posts: 116 Member
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    I'm in the same boat. I've been focusing on trying to increase my protein intake to 30% or 150g on a 2000cal diet. I am semi-vegetarian though (as in I don't really care about the details like the fact that I take fish oil capsules, cause I already paid for them darn it, but I don't want to eat red meat, chicken, or fish if there's any way I can avoid them).

    That has left me with protein powder. I picked up Isopure at the health food store by me and I've been doing two scoops a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and I'm still only managing to get to about 110-130 total grams.

    Greek yogurt has become a staple, as well as cottage cheese and soy meat alternative products. Best of luck and please let us know how it works out!

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