Protein...

Chicken.Breast.

fish is your best friend here. Very, very lean and very high protein!

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SToast wrote: »

Ugh, I was worried fish would be up there on the list. Love fishing, hate fish. Weird I know.

You are not alone. I love to fish (including ice fishing like your profile pic) but can't eat any fish. I'm OK with crustaceans, though, and shrimp is a good high protein snack. I also need to up my protein on the days I work out so I am reading the answers here too. I am under doctor's orders to stay under a certain amount of carbs so when I get extra exercise calories, they need to be protein mostly but some extra fat too.

Shrimp is super easy and fast. Just sautee in a little olive oil, throw in some garlic, lemon juice, or whatever seasoning you like. Light fish filets like flounder or talapia can just be sprinkled with seasoning and broiled for a few minutes.

QHjr wrote: »

SnuggleSmacks wrote: »

Seafood. Very low calorie, high protein.

Fish is a great tip, @SnuggleSmacks and @VeryKatie.

Without resorting to Sushi/Sashimi (which I love) how can you get fish in your diet that doesn't involve a lot of (less healthy) preparation? ideas?

My flavor of the month is using canned tuna to make a kind of sushi-ish salad. I use 1 can of tuna (120 cals) plus 2 tsp or 1 tbsp. of soy sauce (10 - 20 cals) and a tsp of Sriracha chili sauce (5 - 10 cals). Mix that together, chopping 30-40 grams of celery (or more if you like) or green onion or cucumber or all of those (it bulks up the dish and give it some crunch). So that's about 150 cals in under 5 minutes And I think it has 28 grams of protein.

And if you happen to like the flavor of the canned tuna without all that, just eat it as is haha. You can also add mayo and hard boiled egg if you want. Or with... sour cream and salsa - lots of people like that (though admittedly it wasn't my favourite). You can also buy flavoured tuna. As well as other fish types too! Just check the label for protein ratio (eg. crab is oh so tasty but does have about half the protein as tuna - but also has half the calories. But it's way more expensive than tuna.). You can by canned tuna with less sodium too for a bit more than the regular $1 cans.

I also buy the frozen basa fillets (Sea Quest). I throw it on a cookie sheet on tin foil with some kind of seasoning mix (eg. Cajun, Tex Mex, Lemon Pepper - you can get most low sodium if you like) on it and bake it in the oven (from frozen) for like 20 minutes. So if you have time to wait but little desire to prep, it's really easy to do that. 21 g protein for a 142 g serving which is 100 calories (most of the fillets are much larger than that, some up to 250 grams (so 37 g protein?). Salmon is another good option, though a bit fattier (healthy ones though). You may also like cod, sole, tilapia, or trout. My mom just puts the fillets in a cast iron frying pan and lets it simmer until cooked so that's another way to cook the fish.

You could also make a stir fry with shrimp/prawns if you want (I can't remember how much protein is there)! You can buy the shrimp in bulk, precooked and frozen and mix them in with edamame beans (more protein) as well as other veggies, maybe some tofu and make some kind of sauce for it. You'd have to Google a recipe for a sauce though. If you use soy sauce remember to dilute it (oh dear, that was my worst cooking accident ever).

segacs wrote: »

Also, don't buy into the myth that you need extremely high amounts of protein. You don't. You need reasonable amounts as part of a balanced diet.

goaskalice.columbia.edu/do-bodybuilders-and-other-weightlifters-need-more-protein

Hows that a myth? The author of your article states that a 180lb person needs almost a gram per pound of body weight. Most people don't get 170 grams per day and I would consider that a higher than average intake.
The last sentence in the article should raise some flags as well as they state that if the protein is taken in as a fatty type it will lead to fat gain....well using powder the cals and fats are typically low. Clearly if its a food with higher fat content than the cals are higher as well...

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MrM27 wrote: »

GuitarJerry wrote: »

JMoore221979 wrote: »

segacs wrote: »

Also, don't buy into the myth that you need extremely high amounts of protein. You don't. You need reasonable amounts as part of a balanced diet.

goaskalice.columbia.edu/do-bodybuilders-and-other-weightlifters-need-more-protein

Hows that a myth? The author of your article states that a 180lb person needs almost a gram per pound of body weight. Most people don't get 170 grams per day and I would consider that a higher than average intake.
The last sentence in the article should raise some flags as well as they state that if the protein is taken in as a fatty type it will lead to fat gain....well using powder the cals and fats are typically low. Clearly if its a food with higher fat content than the cals are higher as well...

I agree. Typically you need somewhere in the neighborhood of .8 to 1 g of protein to every 1lb of lean mass, not of total body weight. So, if you weigh 180, and you have 25% fat, that's 135g of protein per day. Even at that amount, it's a lot of protein. Most people don't get that much unless they really try hard. If you just eat oatmeal for breakfast, a sandwich and chips for lunch, and then a hamburger for dinner, you will be nowhere near your protein requirements. For lifting heavy, you need it to feed your muscles. If you don't want to or can't, it's not the end of the world. But, it should be a goal to try to reach. It's pretty easy once you get into it though. the main problem for some people is they don't like a protein heavy diet, and they don't care for the kinds of foods that carry high protein. I guess that sucks. In that case, if I were that person, I'd try to rely more on powders for my protein needs.

They have to try hard? Really? 135g is pretty easy.

It depends on the person and the overall amount of calories being consumed. Granted, I'm not even close to 180 pounds. But still, I'm reasonably certain I've never hit 135 grams of protein, and I don't think I've gone over 100 grams more than a couple times.

Vegetable sources of protein that I enjoy include Peanut Butter (all nuts really), Edamame and Hummus (Chickpeas).

JMoore221979 wrote: »

Hows that a myth? The author of your article states that a 180lb person needs almost a gram per pound of body weight. Most people don't get 170 grams per day and I would consider that a higher than average intake.
The last sentence in the article should raise some flags as well as they state that if the protein is taken in as a fatty type it will lead to fat gain....well using powder the cals and fats are typically low. Clearly if its a food with higher fat content than the cals are higher as well...

If you read it again, they state that the RDA is between 0.8-1 gram per kilogram of body weight, not per pound.

1kg = 2.2lbs. So if you weigh 180lbs, you weigh 81kg and would require between 64 and 81 grams of protein per day.

The article also is also geared towards bodybuilders eating at a surplus, not people trying to lose weight eating at a deficit. The suggestion to aim for lean protein versus fatty protein, though, has significant support in the medical community, as high amounts of saturated fats in large quantities of meat consumed have been linked to heart disease. Fat isn't the enemy, in balance, but aiming for a good ratio of healthy to unhealthy fats is also useful.