Never enough protein

Meat
Dairy
Cheese
Greek Yogurt
Cottage Cheese
Eggs
Tofu
Tempeh
Seitan
Bacon because it needs its own category


Basically any protein rich food. There are tons of meat, dairy, and plant based proteins and the worlds your oyster.. which is also a protein source.

Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with shakes either, they come in a million differing kinds of protein and and endless array of flavors. Provided you get a good quality product, it's just powdered food.

You can add egg whites to your oatmeal, I do that and the only difference I notice is that the cooked oatmeal is a little gloopier and the pot is harder to clean

Might find some ideas here: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10232335/list-of-higher-protein-foods

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10247171/carbs-and-fats-are-cheap-heres-a-guide-to-getting-your-proteins-worth-fiber-also

I add 14-16 grams of almond butter to my oatmeal. So good!

I just insist on getting at least some protein in every meal. Where there is a will, there is a way.

You could add 2 Tbsp of Peanut butter (8g protein) and 2 Tbsp of Hemp seeds (12g protein) to your oatmeal (protein content dependent on serving size) for a 20+g protein breakfast option

I have opened my food diary if you want to peek at what I have: Fair warning, I do have a protein powder once or twice a day. I love it.

I think the easiest way is with tuna. It's so versatile - last night I had a piece of breaded fish WITH a large can of tuna on rice cakes to get my protein fill. I've also been known to mix it into sweet potato mash.

I'm also a big fan of Skyr yoghurts; not huge amounts of protein but if you're having something sweet anyway this is a good way to up your protein levels.

I get about 20% protein each day and I eat a lot (average 3000 calories+ /day) so feel free to have a look at my diary.

I like to add chocolate flavored protein powder in with my milk and cereal/quaker oats in the morning. Gets me a good jump start to my protein intake, and it makes my cereal/oats taste kinda like Count Chocula. Of the few protein powders I've tried, Optimum Nutrition has been the tastiest in this situation.

a_candler wrote: »

As I love carbs I often find my calories being used up from them before I've had an adequate amount of protein.

How do you all manage to hit the protein goal? And please don't tell me by eating protein bars or shakes. I need real (tasty) ideas to boost intake.

For example I like oatmeal for breakfast, but this it has next to no protein. Lunch while working is often a Healthy Choice meal or something similar, 15+ grams protein. So you can see how quickly I begin to lack in the area. I need helpful ideas.

Usually it is not getting enough at breakfast and/or lunch.

I love oatmeal and when I have it (sorry) I add protein powder to it, along with the berries, AND I often have some vegetables and cottage cheese on the side. More often I have a 2-egg omelet for breakfast and typically have either smoked salmon or cottage cheese or greek yogurt with that. I usually end up with about 30 g of protein with breakfast, which really helps me feel more satisfied all day.

For lunch I normally take dinner leftovers or have a salad with protein (chicken usually), both reasonably high protein (around 30 g again).

One possibility is adding in snacks with more protein, like greek yogurt or cottage cheese or hard boiled eggs or (my favorite) smoked salmon or there are various jerky things people like (not my thing). I'm sure there are other ideas.

I know you said not to mention protein shakes BUT, I use protein powder every day but hardly ever have them as an actual shake. It's easy to add a scoop to something like Greek yogurt and top with some nuts and it's a pretty high protein/low carb snack and tastes great! You can also add it to things like oats in the morning, again it's not like having it as an actual shake but adds a nice flavour (depending on what flavour you go for) and gives you a big boost of protein. If you're creative with how you use protein powder you can have some really tasty stuff without actually having it as a conventional shake

I usually have oats with protein powder and peanut butter for breakfast, chicken and veggies for lunch with no carbs, and then more lean meat for dinner. Snacks wise I have nuts, protein bars and you could cook up some chicken in bulk and have it ready to snack on in the fridge. I manage to get about 40% protein a day.

I was doing protein shakes, protein bars, greek yogurt, everything I could think of that seemed easy, and the only thing that's shot me up from only ever getting halfway to my protein goal to suddenly going over it is chicken breast. huge amounts of protein there.

You are more than welcome to look at my diary I eat lots of protein and while I do eat protein enriched foods like protein chips, protein shakes, etc. I get most of mine from lean meats, low fat beef, chicken, turkey, egg whites, fat free cheeses. I take in about 1.2 grams per pound so I use and need help getting there.

Whenever I eat oatmeal, I do one of two things: eat some eggs with it; stir in a scoop of protein powder and a chunked-up banana.

I buy a crapload of chicken, cook it all at once, dice it, freeze in individual bags (in marinade), and add it to omelets and salads.

If I need more protein late in the day, I can just eat some diced chicken (although I usually just have a green drink with some protein powder).

You can do a similar thing with chili, btw - cook a ton in a slow-cooker, freeze it in small tupperware, and eat as needed for extra protein.

a_candler wrote: »

As I love carbs I often find my calories being used up from them before I've had an adequate amount of protein.

How do you all manage to hit the protein goal? And please don't tell me by eating protein bars or shakes. I need real (tasty) ideas to boost intake.

For example I like oatmeal for breakfast, but this it has next to no protein. Lunch while working is often a Healthy Choice meal or something similar, 15+ grams protein. So you can see how quickly I begin to lack in the area. I need helpful ideas.

Ive swapped my morning weetabix to weetabix with added protein. Tastes the same but helps boost a macro i was always lacking in. Perhaps you could look for a protein enhanced oatmeal?

At lunch i have a sandwhich (sandwhich thins not generic bread) with ham and a spreadable cheese like laughing cow light if i need to bump up protein.

I know you said no protein bars but i have a couple in the back of my cupboard. Ill have one instead of a cereal bar on a day im doing a big workout but dont look like ill get near my protein. It could be good to have a couple just for emergency days(i like the atkins ones but naked also make decent looking ones).

Another thing i added when i realised how little protein i get is nuts and low fat greek yoghurt! Greek yoghurt has crazy amounts of protein and the low fat versions are very low calorie.
You could also add spinach or kale. Kale is higher protein but i dont like it so it's spinach for me.
You could swap some carbs e.g. pasta rice noodles etc for quinoa which has a good amount of protein.
Also look for lean proteins like turkey you get plenty protein but not too many calories.

If you want any other ideas feel free to drop me a message as i had this exact crisis a few weeks ago.