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What is your protein goal?

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UMDavies
UMDavies Posts: 87 Member
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My weight loss has been stalled for a couple of months now and I'm pretty sure protein is the problem, so I was wondering what everyone else has their daily goal set at?

Mine was 80g per day (5'8" 174lbs) but I was going over that quite often before Christmas. I'm experimenting with taking it down to 60g per day but I'm having trouble finding high fat meals that aren't too high in protein. Any tips? I'm also slightly dubious as I weight train four times per week and I'm not sure whether 60g per day will be enough for muscle repair? Although I'm just trying to lose weight at the moment, not put on masses of muscle, so maybe it will be okay?

Any thoughts, tips or advice? :)

Replies

  • hustled77
    hustled77 Posts: 39 Member
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    I'm 5"11 and 15.3St I've been hitting 150+ protein and trying to keep carbs under 100. I've been doing this along with some light weights and cycling and I've dropped from 17St 4lb
  • 1thankful_momma
    1thankful_momma Posts: 298 Member
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    Have you used the keto calc?
    http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/

    I think this group showing me that calculator is going to be the biggest part of my success. I tried Atkins about 10 years ago. I know now it didn't work so well for me after a month because I was eating too much protein.
  • 1thankful_momma
    1thankful_momma Posts: 298 Member
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    The calculator has input for activity levels.
  • UMDavies
    UMDavies Posts: 87 Member
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    I did the calculator when I first started and it recommended 80g as a minimum, but I have insulin resistance so I'm wondering if that makes my body more sensitive to excess protein?
  • 1thankful_momma
    1thankful_momma Posts: 298 Member
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    I don't have enough experience to answer that question. May I suggest that you post another discussion with a title that will get the pros to help you out? 'Looking for protein macro advice for stall ' maybe? If you track your diet in MFP, it helps for the more seasoned people to look at it. If not, you might want to provide more details about all your macros. It is a fascinating balancing act that is more picky the closer you are to your goal weight from what I understand.
  • 1thankful_momma
    1thankful_momma Posts: 298 Member
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    'Fat Bombs' are amazing to help get the fat % up without additional protein.
  • Sunny_Bunny_
    Sunny_Bunny_ Posts: 7,140 Member
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    UMDavies wrote: »
    I did the calculator when I first started and it recommended 80g as a minimum, but I have insulin resistance so I'm wondering if that makes my body more sensitive to excess protein?

    That has always been my understanding.
    The calculator will give you 3 protein numbers. The lowest you should consume, a middle range that's for a lightly active person and the high range for someone looking to build muscle and weight training. If you're IR, maybe just take it down a notch and use the middle recommendation as the lowest amount to eat.
    Or, you could probably get the best idea if you spent several days keeping a record of blood glucose tests before and after workouts and before and after eating and upon waking and going to bed each night. If you did that for say 3 days on lower protein and compare it to 3 days at higher protein, you should be able to determine if the protein will create more glucose for you or not. Of course, to get an accurate measure, you would really need to be consistent with carb counting and what your carbs come from. And if you happened to come down with any illness during the test it would likely skew the numbers as well.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    My protein is set for 71g, or about 20% or 1420 kcal for a 5'8", 150lb mostly sedentary woman. I am usually right around the 71g but I tend to pass my caloric goal by 100-200 kcals.

    I did have my protein up to 25% for a while thinking that would be a good amount because when I go into maintenance I was thinking that I wanted to keep my protein intake about the same... So 25% of lower calories is about the same as 20% at a higher caloric level. I was eating closer to 90g of protein per day and it turned out to be a bit too much for me.

    For one thing, I felt like I was forcing the protein. I started using protein powder because I couldn't get enough protein from food sources to meet my goal.

    My carbs started creeping up around that time too. It may be totally unrelated though. Anyways instead of <20g of carbs per day it was usually <40g (guessing). With carb creep, and maybe the raised protein(?), my appetite increased and my calories were about 2000 or so. My weight loss stopped.

    I then lowered my calories and carbs to get my losses going again but my FBG stayed high. It was the protein. Once I cut protein my FBG came down from prediabetic to normal again. @Sunny_Bunny_ above helped me figure it out.

    I may play around with slightly higher protein again since I am easing into a weight program in the mornings and I tend not to have protein in the morning. I'll monitor it with my glucose monitor and see how it goes. When BG is high that can hinder weight loss in some of us with IR. Not all but some.

    Consider adding fat to your proteins and meats. Butter on steaks, sourcream on a casserole, avocado on the side, add a bit of extra fat or oil to your cooking. Those are fast ways to add fats.

    On a different note, have you taken your measurements? Sometimes weight loss appears to stall while lifting but the fat loss is still happening, but the weight is being replaced by muscle. A good thing. ;)

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