Protein Deficiency

I am a vegan and since I started logging it and tracking it on MFP, I feel like I've made leaps and bounds with my protein intake. I'm now getting ~100 grams a day as a 5'5 female at 135 lbs.

I find that you really need to purposefully plan to have protein with every single meal. I used to snack on a lot of fruit, which I still love, but I've realized that just fruit or veg isn't gonna cut it for me to hit my protein goals.

Tofu scramble for breakfast, protein "frostee" (I make it like ice cream with a frozen banana) for a snack, smoked tofu and crackers as another snack, roasted edamame salad for lunch, something else with tempeh and/or beans for dinner ... I eat a lot of soy. I don't know how vegans and vegetarians with soy intolerances do it.

Vega is a really nice vegan protein supplement. I have used both the vanilla and chocolate.

Another tip that I suggest is combining plant based proteins in one meal. I make a wrap with hummus, quinoa, roasted broccoli and beans. You just get more bang for your buck that way.

And finally, I will say that about once a week I treat myself to some sort of vegan frozen dinner. There are more and more options out there now. I'm a big fan of the Tofurky pizzas and they have pretty good protein content. So even if you don't always have time to cook, there are more and more options becoming available to you.

I hope this is helpful!

James_Bergin wrote: »

Hey everyone,

So I've been feeling fairly off the last few weeks, and gym progress was pretty marginal. Last week I went to see my family doctor to figure out what was going on. Long story short, the results came back today, and along with some slight vitamin deficiencies, I'm severely protein deficient.

I'm vegetarian, and I work out quite a bit. My doctor suggested taking a pause and going back to red meat for a few weeks, but that's not an option — even the idea of eating meat totally repulses me.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else has had this issue and has some wisdom to impart. I've been reading up on it, and a lot of the advice tends to gravitate toward a pause in being vegetarian, so I'm specifically interested in any alternatives people have found that don't involve meat, and that worked for them. Looking forward to hearing back.

Cheers y'all

James

Look at your diary for the past two weeks. Things that have a good protein to calorie ratio, eat lots more of those. Stop eating the other things for now.
For the next two or three weeks, Eat At Maintenance so that you can eat good amounts of protein without having to pay so much attention to calories.

Look at this chart for some assistance.
http://www.thelocalvegan.com/blog/wheredovegansgettheirprotein

Also go to the MFP group "Happy Herbivores."
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/45-happy-herbivores

If you're just vegetarian it will be very easy to get more protein in your diet.

If you're vegan.... well... yeah.

Here's a sample day of me eating relatively low calories and *enough* protein as a vegetarian.






As you can see I am eating a lot of greek yogurt, whey protein, my own protein bars/recipes using whey, quinoa, beans, and even microwave meals like Amy's or lean cuisine to reach that goal.


Something I decided to do that helped as well was to drink 2 scoops of whey in a container all day long. That way I know i've atleast hit 45-50g protein and i dont have to focus so much on eating protein-heavy foods.

I can't imagine how you got to be protein deficient except by poor diet and more exercise than ideal.

I'm now a vegan but was vegetarian for years prior to that.

You should be eating 1 gram of protein per 1 kilogram of body weight if not doing strenuous exericse but eat more if you are.

I'd suggest you cut back on yoru exercise and fix your diet.

You should be eating legumes at least three times a day. Probably something like one cup serving at each meal. I know this requires work in the kitchen but its the choice you've made.

On top of this, you should eat more dairy, especially full cream yoghurt, milk, adn hard cheese.
And easiest of all would be eggs and tofu.

Now i'm going to check on your food diary so what you have been doing.
Why do you need to do so much exericse. What are you trying to achieve by doing so much?
If its weightloss and or health, you don't need to do very much to achieve those goals.
If its body building, well then you'd have to ask an expert about that. Personally i like lean bodies not beefy ones.

I had a quick look at a couple of your days.

I suggest you need ot learn how to cook all different legumes in many ways. Indian food may be one of hte easiest and yummiest. But hte mediterranean peoples and middle easterners also do lots of great things with them.

If you make the effort to get a little organised this need not be difficult except at the outset while you are figuring this all out it will take more time.

Here's what i suggest you seriously do.

1. buy some decent cookbooks including indian vegeterian or vegan to learn how to make dals and curries with lentils and beans of all sorts.
2. get a good collection of spices going on in your kitchen.
3. Periodically soak a batch of beans of one sort or another overnight, boil them til tender the next day (do not add salt yet). Store them in the f reezer in suitable sizes for a recipe.
4. fairly regularly cook up a new recipe and store excess in the freezer but try to get a few going at once so you can a rangfe of things ready to eat in your fridge. You don't want to be eating the same thing three times a day.
5. Then all you need to do is cook up some rice. In fact i cook a cup of rice at a time and serve 1/2 cup rice with my lentils or beans plus some extra veggie dish if needed on side.

A lot of these dishes include vegetables or you can make some veggie curreis in the same way and have them going in the fridge and freezer.

The bottom line is whether you are vegetarian or not, its hard to be healthy and maintain healthy weight if you do not cook for yourself. I know with work it can be tough but that's why you have to be organised in your kitchen.

It is not a good idea to come from home work, tired nad have nothing ready to go in the fridge. Hence cooking ahead of time and having things defrosted is the way to go.

Keep your fridge well stocked iwth fruit, veg and cooked food all the time.

Of course while youa re starting you can also use canned legumes but in the long run, its much more economical to use them dried.

ingle92protege wrote: »

lol the Doc told you to eat red meat? Why red meat and not white? Sounds like your Doc has no clue what he's talking about.

I'm vegan and eat 140grams of protein a day, 40g more than the average American.

My guess is that there may have been some slight anemia in the vitamin deficiencies.

I'm not vegetarian, but I tend toward not getting enough iron, so I take supplements as my doctor recommended. Iron is a tough one because you don't want too much either.