Why do I have to eat so much meat/protein?

sethbrandeis · July 2016

I ended my bulking phase about 3 months ago. My goal is maintain my weight while losing fat and continuing to workout, albeit with less heavier lifts.

Since then I've only been eating whole foods except in rare occasions.

That usually means like fruit, vegetable, and a lot of meat (chicken, beef, and salmon).

On a given day, I usually eat at least 1 -2 lbs of meat. Given that I weigh 120 lbs and only am 5' 4", I think that's excessive.

However, my body is constantly hungry these days. Yesterday I ate 1 lb of fresh tuna steak.

Today I ate 1.25 lbs of chicken breast along with a half pound of Mahi Mahi. And I'm still hungry today.

I spread these out over 2-3 meals, and did not have them all in one sitting.

I think if I were some kind of Olympic athlete, these numbers would make sense?

Is this amount of eating on my part necessary? If not, how can I avoid the hunger (and also keep my muscle mass)?

Only1Golda · July 2016

You absolutely can maintain and even build muscle while not eating so much or any animal protein. You can try curbing your hunger by increasing your dark leafy greens. Blend up some green smoothies and remember your good fats. That should help.

kommodevaran · July 2016

Be careful! I looked up "rabbit starvation" for you. Please read and tell me that this isn't what's going on

talitakumis · July 2016

There are well-toned, athletic male vegetarians on You Tube who are amazing. To curb your hunger, do as Only1Golda suggests with the greens as well as whole grain products. Fiber will digest slowly and make you feel full much longer.

DaddieCat · July 2016

You don't mention much in the way of fatty foods. I find that when I'm not consuming enough fat, or accidentally undereating fats, I get ravenous and nothing will help until I consume a good serving of something fatty... nuts, avocado, peanut butter, etc.

Gallowmere1984 · July 2016

BecomingBane wrote: »

You don't mention much in the way of fatty foods. I find that when I'm not consuming enough fat, or accidentally undereating fats, I get ravenous and nothing will help until I consume a good serving of something fatty... nuts, avocado, peanut butter, etc.

This. Fat is not the devil. In fact, not having it is a good way to keep yourself hungry, and feeling like hell. Some people are volume eaters, so high fat can mess with them, but I've found that I am fine with eating less, and less often since I switched from low-carb, mid-fat, high-protein, to low-carb, high-fat. mid-protein.

sethbrandeis · July 2016

"rabbit starvation"

kommodevaran wrote: »

Be careful! I looked up "rabbit starvation" for you. Please read and tell me that this isn't what's going on

I think it's because I'm lacking both carbohydrates and fat, so this makes plenty of sense.

According to the reports, I've only consumed about an average of ~25 grams of fat in the past few days.

For carbs, this is under 100 grams in the past few days (mostly towards 0).

My protein however has been in the 130 - 160's.

For clarification, I've been trying to keep carbs under 100 grams a day.

However, I was not attempting to restrict fat from my diet. I think this happened accidentally, as Bane points out:

You don't mention much in the way of fatty foods. I find that when I'm not consuming enough fat, or accidentally undereating fats, I get ravenous and nothing will help until I consume a good serving of something fatty... nuts, avocado, peanut butter, etc.

You absolutely can maintain and even build muscle while not eating so much or any animal protein. You can try curbing your hunger by increasing your dark leafy greens. Blend up some green smoothies and remember your good fats. That should help.

Are there any vegetables / fruit that have high fat in them? I have a very unused blender.

I can't eat Avocado.

Thank you all! This seems to have solved this mystery.

ForecasterJason · July 2016

I would suggest adding other sources of fat like nuts and olive oil. I'm the same weight but usually eat over 70g of fat each day, with a lot of that coming from nuts, oil, and cheese.

johnnylakis · July 2016

sethbrandeis wrote: »

On a given day, I usually eat at least 1 -2 lbs of meat. Given that I weigh 120 lbs and only am 5' 4", I think that's excessive.

However, my body is constantly hungry these days. Yesterday I ate 1 lb of fresh tuna steak.

Today I ate 1.25 lbs of chicken breast along with a half pound of Mahi Mahi. And I'm still hungry today.

I spread these out over 2-3 meals, and did not have them all in one sitting.

kommodevaran · July 2016

sethbrandeis wrote: »

"rabbit starvation"

kommodevaran wrote: »

Be careful! I looked up "rabbit starvation" for you. Please read and tell me that this isn't what's going on

I think it's because I'm lacking both carbohydrates and fat, so this makes plenty of sense.

According to the reports, I've only consumed about an average of ~25 grams of fat in the past few days.

For carbs, this is under 100 grams in the past few days (mostly towards 0).

My protein however has been in the 130 - 160's.

For clarification, I've been trying to keep carbs under 100 grams a day.

However, I was not attempting to restrict fat from my diet. I think this happened accidentally, as Bane points out:

You don't mention much in the way of fatty foods. I find that when I'm not consuming enough fat, or accidentally undereating fats, I get ravenous and nothing will help until I consume a good serving of something fatty... nuts, avocado, peanut butter, etc.

You absolutely can maintain and even build muscle while not eating so much or any animal protein. You can try curbing your hunger by increasing your dark leafy greens. Blend up some green smoothies and remember your good fats. That should help.

Are there any vegetables / fruit that have high fat in them? I have a very unused blender.

I can't eat Avocado.

Thank you all! This seems to have solved this mystery.

I'm happy you seem to have found the reasons for your discomfort and struggles, and that you are ready to change up things a bit. Nothing serious will happen if you take action now.

Don't look to fruit and vegetables for fat - one of their basic features is that they are low fat; they are loved by dieters for that very reason - eat full fat meat, more fatty fish, dairy (including butter, cream and cheese), nuts, eggs, oils (both for ccoking and salads).

Then balance your diet with starch, sugars and fiber, through grains and starchy vegetables, fruit and vegetables.

Eating should be pleasurable. It's not very complicated, you can eat anything. People have (strong) opinions on the "best" diet, but there is no "best" diet, only billions of possible adequate diets, so it's complex. Not the same thing.

mkakids · July 2016

Try cooking your chicken in butter. Or putting a butter sauce on your fish.

robininfl · July 2016

I agree with the advice so far, you probably need to add fat or carbs. The tuna is a fatty fish, so those days may be OK, but chicken breast doesn't have much fat (that's why it can be tricky to cook, and also why it's good lean protein.)

I love avocado but it's not the only source of good fat.

Nuts, nuts, nuts are so healthy, try to work some into your calories.
The tuna and salmon, those are good fats.
Eggs have good protein and fat.

Carbohydrates, they seem to be everywhere, I don't think you would have trouble adding more carbs.

redraidergirl2009 · July 2016

You're hungry because you aren't eating any carbs.

ladipoet · July 2016

sethbrandeis wrote: »

Are there any vegetables / fruit that have high fat in them? I have a very unused blender. I can't eat Avocado.

Most vegetables and fruit do not contain much in the way of healthy fat with the exception of avocado, nuts, seeds, coconut, etc.

blopmiyers · July 2016

I have to eat a decent amount of carbs and fat with my protein to feel satiated. Maybe that's your issue.

Francl27 · July 2016

Yep - more fat, more fiber. Beans and apples are wonderful for me.

kommodevaran · July 2016

redraidergirl2009 wrote: »

You're hungry because you aren't eating any carbs.

Or fat. OP can fill in the gaps with either.

Gallowmere1984 · July 2016

Switch your pound of chicken breast to about a half of a pound of chicken thigh for a day, and see if it helps with the satiety. Given the major difference in fat content, I would expect it to be quite helpful. If that's not enough, you could always swap it to about a quarter of a pound of bacon instead, to keep within the same calorie range.

Why do I have to eat so much meat/protein?

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