Natural/low processed ways to increased protein intake
LRWSSuccess
Posts: 18 Member
Hi. I'm having trouble reaching my daily protein goals. I feel like I'm eating in a well balanced way but looking at my macros I'm lucky if I reach 65% of my daily protein goal. I typically only eat meat at one meal (although I love meat and could eat it more often) and also eat eggs and dairy.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to incorporate more protein into my diet? I'd rather do it in the most natural form possible and avoid shakes or bars, but with such a large deficit that might be the right way to go.
If you do recommend shakes or bars, which brands do you like the best?
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to incorporate more protein into my diet? I'd rather do it in the most natural form possible and avoid shakes or bars, but with such a large deficit that might be the right way to go.
If you do recommend shakes or bars, which brands do you like the best?
1
Replies
-
More meat, fish, dairy and eggs. Beans, lentils, peas.1
-
Having protein be it meat or not should be with every meal which will boost your intake. Have meat with your breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can even get the beef jerky and lower fat cheese for snacks. they have so many different kinds of jerky now. Every one usually mentions PB however I see PB as more cals & fat than I do protein so I rarely use it but then again I am losing weight so pay close attention and use my cals wisely. I do not like yogurt but greek yogurts I think have the most protein. You can mix in fresh fruit or nuts for added protein. Or freeze it for a refreshing treat. Tuna and sardines can be used for a meal or snack. Cottage cheese - I mix in a little fresh fruit sometimes.0
-
I like to eat a whole can of chicken (averages 210 grams of weight and 33 grams of protein) for lunch. It's very versatile. I can put in salads and wraps. Eat it on it's own with cut up grapes and nuts or mix with a whole avocado. I eat eggs most mornings for breakfast. 150 grams of egg whites have 17 grams of protein. Peanut butter has some protein and I eat PB nearly every day.
As for bars, I like Robert Irvine Fit Crunch bars and Clif bars. Luna bars are good, too, but have less protein than the former.1 -
Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, seafood and beans are all good low/not processed foods. Quest is a good product for bars and powders.1
-
Maybe you are eating a well balanced diet and more protein will make it unbalanced. Have you adjusted the settings, or are you going with MFP's default? And how many grams? And your height, weight?3
-
can you open up your diary - so we can see your diary goal and how your food is breaking out - will help with suggestions1
-
kommodevaran wrote: »Maybe you are eating a well balanced diet and more protein will make it unbalanced. Have you adjusted the settings, or are you going with MFP's default? And how many grams? And your height, weight?
It's currently at 110g per day. I adjusted the MFP default to C 40% / P 30% / F 30%.0 -
Turkey mince, gizzards, chicken thighs, sardines, tuna, tilapia, beans. The list is endless. Turkey mince is a game changer though, especially if you're good with spices.0
-
deannalfisher wrote: »can you open up your diary - so we can see your diary goal and how your food is breaking out - will help with suggestions
I've changed my diary to public, but I only started logging on March 1 so there's not a lot of history.
0 -
I'm having the exact same issue. I have my macros set at 40%C/25%F/35%P and cannot get enough protein, usually without going over my fat, even though I'm focused on lean protein (fat-free greek yogurt is a daily staple). The grams seem so high! I'm trying to do the Piyo program for 60 days and have tried to follow the Get Lean plan included. Had to cut my calories down to 2lb-a-week-loss territory because I simply cannot eat enough on the higher calorie plans since I'm trying to do all whole foods, but I am using up a few packaged things, like High Fiber Quaker instant oatmeal packets, in the pantry to use them up.0
-
Nuts and chia seeds are a good way and RX bars are a very natural bar. They have some very dessert-like flavors so you can have a protein dessert. I highly recommend the chocolate mint flavor. The ingredients are dates, egg whites, almonds, cashews, cacao, and peppermint.0
-
fish, poultry, meat, eggs, egg whites, etc...0
-
LRWSSuccess wrote: »deannalfisher wrote: »can you open up your diary - so we can see your diary goal and how your food is breaking out - will help with suggestions
I've changed my diary to public, but I only started logging on March 1 so there's not a lot of history.
Thanks!
Looks like the issue is with your breakfast when it is focused on Activia yogurt and your meals of vegetable soups.
- Greek yogurt has more protein. It also has more calories, but seems like you've been undereating and have wiggle room there.
- Try adding chicken breast to your soup. It has a good calorie to protein ratio - better than the other meats I see in your diary.
Another good food to add protein is cottage cheese.
Also, how tall are you and how many pounds do you want to lose total?1 -
-
TheCupcakeCounter wrote: »Nuts and chia seeds are a good way and RX bars are a very natural bar. They have some very dessert-like flavors so you can have a protein dessert. I highly recommend the chocolate mint flavor. The ingredients are dates, egg whites, almonds, cashews, cacao, and peppermint.
Nuts and seeds have a terrible protein/calorie ratio! They are fats that bring protein along for the ride.3 -
kshama2001 wrote: »LRWSSuccess wrote: »deannalfisher wrote: »can you open up your diary - so we can see your diary goal and how your food is breaking out - will help with suggestions
I've changed my diary to public, but I only started logging on March 1 so there's not a lot of history.
Thanks!
Looks like the issue is with your breakfast when it is focused on Activia yogurt and your meals of vegetable soups.
- Greek yogurt has more protein. It also has more calories, but seems like you've been undereating and have wiggle room there.
- Try adding chicken breast to your soup. It has a good calorie to protein ratio - better than the other meats I see in your diary.
Another good food to add protein is cottage cheese.
Also, how tall are you and how many pounds do you want to lose total?
And this. Or you could have a side of cottage cheese with your soup.
Plain Greek yogurt is lovely for breakfast with fresh berries, or pumpkin stirred in and has a lot of protein. I recommend Fage.
Also, where you're augmenting your meals with eggs, if you want to keep your calories low and up your protein, you could do what I do (I'm an ovo-lacto vegetarian). I eat one whole egg plus extra white (I use carton egg whites for this. I usually eat them scrambled with sriracha sauce on top. You can eat a lot of egg whites for very few calories.2 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Also, how tall are you and how many pounds do you want to lose total?
I'm 5'8" with around 100lb to lose.
I'll look into adding in chicken at lunch, thanks for the suggestion. I'm also trying to keep my salt intake down as my BP is borderline high. I've no idea how that grilled vegetable soup is so high in sodium.1 -
fasterpssycat wrote: »I'm having the exact same issue. I have my macros set at 40%C/25%F/35%P and cannot get enough protein, usually without going over my fat, even though I'm focused on lean protein (fat-free greek yogurt is a daily staple). The grams seem so high! I'm trying to do the Piyo program for 60 days and have tried to follow the Get Lean plan included. Had to cut my calories down to 2lb-a-week-loss territory because I simply cannot eat enough on the higher calorie plans since I'm trying to do all whole foods, but I am using up a few packaged things, like High Fiber Quaker instant oatmeal packets, in the pantry to use them up.
Finding the balance is hard - especially trying to increase protein without blowing your fat or sodium. It's definitely a learning curve for me.2 -
feel free to take a look at my diary - I do 130g of protein a day0
-
LRWSSuccess wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »Also, how tall are you and how many pounds do you want to lose total?
I'm 5'8" with around 100lb to lose.
I'll look into adding in chicken at lunch, thanks for the suggestion. I'm also trying to keep my salt intake down as my BP is borderline high. I've no idea how that grilled vegetable soup is so high in sodium.
With your stats, you could definitely eat more than what your diary reflects. You're around 1200 or under many days. Doesn't look like you're eating back any of your exercise calories.
MFP uses the NEAT method, and as such this system is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back. However, many consider the burns given by MFP to be inflated and only eat a percentage, such as 50%, back.
My FitBit One is far less generous with calories than the MFP database and I comfortably eat 100% of the calories I earn from it back.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p1
2 -
LRWSSuccess wrote: »fasterpssycat wrote: »I'm having the exact same issue. I have my macros set at 40%C/25%F/35%P and cannot get enough protein, usually without going over my fat, even though I'm focused on lean protein (fat-free greek yogurt is a daily staple). The grams seem so high! I'm trying to do the Piyo program for 60 days and have tried to follow the Get Lean plan included. Had to cut my calories down to 2lb-a-week-loss territory because I simply cannot eat enough on the higher calorie plans since I'm trying to do all whole foods, but I am using up a few packaged things, like High Fiber Quaker instant oatmeal packets, in the pantry to use them up.
Finding the balance is hard - especially trying to increase protein without blowing your fat or sodium. It's definitely a learning curve for me.
Lots of high protein options mentioned that are low in both fats and sodium.
Chicken, egg whites (you can buy them in a container - just the whites - if you don't want to separate by hand), certain fish. Almost entirely protein from all of those. You can look at the package for chicken and fish to see if they added sodium, some brands do.
These are my go to's when I want to add just protein. I try to get a few solid protein meals in per day to spread it out. Sometimes just chicken and veggies.2 -
LRWSSuccess wrote: »kommodevaran wrote: »Maybe you are eating a well balanced diet and more protein will make it unbalanced. Have you adjusted the settings, or are you going with MFP's default? And how many grams? And your height, weight?
It's currently at 110g per day. I adjusted the MFP default to C 40% / P 30% / F 30%.
What "balanced" is, is going to be personal. For the common dieter (yes, you are a common dieter, not an athlete, and you're not sick; if you are, this is a good time to come clean), macro settings is all about making sticking to a calorie deficit easier. What you are doing now, is making sticking to a calorie deficit harder. Not extremely hard, but you're risking burnout. You should really up your calories - a suggestion would be in the area of 1600 - and then get enough fat and protein - you could try 80-90 grams of each, and the rest carbs, and then eat whatever you want to hit your goals. If you feel like any of these goals are hard to hit, maybe you need less. And if you feel a craving for more, eat more, while sticking to your calories (which means you'll have to cut somewhere else). But a lot more will most likely be unnecessary, and unnecessary things should preferably be left for areas of less importance than getting excess weight off.2 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »TheCupcakeCounter wrote: »Nuts and chia seeds are a good way and RX bars are a very natural bar. They have some very dessert-like flavors so you can have a protein dessert. I highly recommend the chocolate mint flavor. The ingredients are dates, egg whites, almonds, cashews, cacao, and peppermint.
Nuts and seeds have a terrible protein/calorie ratio! They are fats that bring protein along for the ride.
So true! I will never understand why so many people recommend them for people looking for ways to meet their protein goals, especially if people who are looking to create a deficit.2 -
Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, quinoa, farro, beans, chick peas, peanut butter, hummus, steel cut oats. I don't have my carbs set as low as yours so I guess I can afford more of the high protein grains, but they do break up the monotony of meat, meat, eggs, meat, and more meat.1
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.2K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.2K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 421 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.9K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.7K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.5K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions