How do you get enough protein?
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I started drinking a protein shake every day. I just don't eat enough protein-rich foods otherwise. One day I thought, "Well, I'll have peanut butter toast. Peanut butter has lots of protein!" Peanut butter also has lots of calories, though, so I tried not to use too much of it. I spread it so thin that the piece of bread gave me more protein than the peanut butter.2
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Thanks for all the feedback. Some of you commented that my numbers seemed a little out of whack so I wnt in and had a look. I have a new fitbit and it seems that as fitbit is adding in activity it also changes the macro requirements. I'm not doing any major workouts so eating more protein and fat because I'm recording steps does not seem reasonable. I don't eat back exercise calories at all so maybe I don't need the fitbit synced. Something to think about......thanks again.0
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BlueSkyShoal wrote: »I started drinking a protein shake every day. I just don't eat enough protein-rich foods otherwise. One day I thought, "Well, I'll have peanut butter toast. Peanut butter has lots of protein!" Peanut butter also has lots of calories, though, so I tried not to use too much of it. I spread it so thin that the piece of bread gave me more protein than the peanut butter.
LOL that's funny.0 -
Fallfrenzy wrote: »I've added protein powder to either my oatmeal or yogurt. Possibly a protein bar. Something else I just started is for snacking or lunch, where I roll-up a couple of slices of turkey with hummus, sliced red bell pepper and possibly cucumbers or other veggies cut thin. This is without the bread. This seemed to fill me up for a bit, as well as packs some protein in it.
Meat sushi? Sounds good0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »I had lentils, bean and eggs for breakfast and salmon for dinner and Greek yogurt for a snack, and that was still not enough protein. How do you manage to get enough in a day?
Looks like your standard goal is 107, which seems reasonable, depending on stats. 170 (yesterday) seems higher than you need, and if you add exercise calories and the overall goal goes up, you don't have to eat more protein. Ann's suggestion of .6-.8 g/lb is right -- to be a little more specific, I have read from a few different credible sources .65-.8 g/lb of a healthy goal weight, and like to err on the high end if on a deficit especially because I'm a woman in my 40s, when muscle loss is easy, gain is harder. Based on your profile, you may have similar concerns. For me this means I aim for around 100.
Anyway, having reviewed yesterday, the issue was lunch -- if you basically don't get protein at a meal it's tough to meet a goal unless you really get a lot at other meals or do a lot of protein-rich snacks. (I think a lot of people do low protein breakfasts or lunches, and have an issue.) Another thing is just increasing portions of protein-rich foods and decreasing other things. Eggs are a good source, but not that high -- they are higher in fat so the protein per calorie is just okay. I have eggs at breakfast a lot and tend to add some low-fat dairy too, but really I think your breakfast and dinner were fine, the yogurt as a snack was a good idea, you just needed a little more protein at lunch (maybe instead of some of the snacks, as protein tends to make a meal more filling).
Thanks. Good advice.0 -
Gallowmere1984 wrote: »JeromeBarry1 wrote: »What's your calorie budget and how many grams of protein do you want? 1 gram per pound of body weight for progressive heavy lifting is sufficient, but you'll need protein supplements.
You never need protein supps. I've hit 300g on ~1400 kcals before. Lots and lots of tuna and chicken breast tenderloin (the kind with no rib meat attached).
I, of course, bow to your superior wisdom. When I tried to figure out how to get to 1 gram per pound of my body weight, I found I'd have to consume 2 quarts of egg whites each day if I wanted any calories left for vegetables. I don't know how you did it, but I am in awe.0 -
The highest protein foods are in this order (high protein to calorie ratio): White fish, egg whites, protein powder isolate, bone broth, then lean chicken/turkey/pork, then yogurt and cottage cheese. It's not that the other foods don't have protein, but the ratio of protein to calories drops off dramatically after that. Beans, lentils, legumes, nuts, etc are more calories, carbs, fats, and fiber with a little protein in the mix.4
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It looks like the yogurt you had was a flavoured one. There's a lot of sugar in flavoured yogurts so you can up your protein by going for a 0% plain greek yogurt. I've noticed that in general the lower the fat is the higher the protein ends up being. I usually add frozen berries and a bit of cinnamon to mine. Though, it's not exceptionally sweet so it might be an acquired taste. Or perhaps you can even mix 1/2 flavoured 0% greek yogurt with half plain. I usually get liberte 0% plain - 17g of protein and 100 calories per serving. I've also noticed a lot of variation between brands so when you're shopping just look for the brand of greek yogurt that has the highest protein for the calories.1
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Generally I have a couple eggs in the morning, then a can of tuna for lunch (I drain the tuna and mix in the seasonings the night before to it can marinate - try curry, chili powder, lemon dill or green relish). For dinner it can be any type of meat, truly. I haven't gotten into beans really yet (the calories worry me for losing weight) but that's on the to-do list.0
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I'm working on this too.0
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Going by 0.6g/lb of goal weight, I'm hitting mine fine with beans, string cheese, veggie dogs, and Greek yogurt (plus other stuff, a gram here, a gram there). Of course, when I exercise, my daily protein goal goes up and I seldom if ever hit what MFP has allocated. At this point, though, my main focus is on calories. I'm mindful of macros and micronutrients in the sense of 'hmmm... looks like I went way over my X today and might want to bring up my Y' but as long as the weight is coming off, I'm not stressing over it.
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Turkey slices
Egg whites
Boiled eggs
Greek yogurt
Sausage patties
Turkey bacon
Fish
Cheese sticks
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JeromeBarry1 wrote: »Gallowmere1984 wrote: »JeromeBarry1 wrote: »What's your calorie budget and how many grams of protein do you want? 1 gram per pound of body weight for progressive heavy lifting is sufficient, but you'll need protein supplements.
You never need protein supps. I've hit 300g on ~1400 kcals before. Lots and lots of tuna and chicken breast tenderloin (the kind with no rib meat attached).
I, of course, bow to your superior wisdom. When I tried to figure out how to get to 1 gram per pound of my body weight, I found I'd have to consume 2 quarts of egg whites each day if I wanted any calories left for vegetables. I don't know how you did it, but I am in awe.
You ae using healthy goal weight in that calculation, yes? (As opposed to current weight, if you're overweight/obese).
I suspect you were just speaking (typing?) casually, but I have seen some folks on here who were still quite heavy, thinking they needed to get 1g per pound of current body weight, even when body weight was high. Getting 250 or so grams of protein was a big challenge for them! Of course, protein isn't needed to maintain fat mass, only needed to maintain lean mass, so they were striving for overkill.0 -
I add protein powder to food and drinks if I need more for a boost. Cheeses, steak, chicken, beef, pork and turkey, american farmed tilapia, shrimp, tuna, jerky, quinoa, hemp seeds- good on salads I even put eggs on salads, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, and protein bars..0
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I struggle too lately I've been doing muscle milk or protein shake! I've been doing great all month!
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4 eggs and chicken and protein shake0
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Protein powder in my morning coffee, usually make a smoothie with multiple sources of protein for breakfast, chia seeds, I dip my raw veggies in hummus or greek yogurt dip, deli chicken and turkey have good protein for only 50 cals per 2oz.0
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JeromeBarry1 wrote: »Gallowmere1984 wrote: »JeromeBarry1 wrote: »What's your calorie budget and how many grams of protein do you want? 1 gram per pound of body weight for progressive heavy lifting is sufficient, but you'll need protein supplements.
You never need protein supps. I've hit 300g on ~1400 kcals before. Lots and lots of tuna and chicken breast tenderloin (the kind with no rib meat attached).
I, of course, bow to your superior wisdom. When I tried to figure out how to get to 1 gram per pound of my body weight, I found I'd have to consume 2 quarts of egg whites each day if I wanted any calories left for vegetables. I don't know how you did it, but I am in awe.
You ae using healthy goal weight in that calculation, yes? (As opposed to current weight, if you're overweight/obese).
I suspect you were just speaking (typing?) casually, but I have seen some folks on here who were still quite heavy, thinking they needed to get 1g per pound of current body weight, even when body weight was high. Getting 250 or so grams of protein was a big challenge for them! Of course, protein isn't needed to maintain fat mass, only needed to maintain lean mass, so they were striving for overkill.
I believe this was in response to @Gallowmere1984 post about how he got 300g of protein on a 1400cal a day plan0 -
deannalfisher wrote: »JeromeBarry1 wrote: »Gallowmere1984 wrote: »JeromeBarry1 wrote: »What's your calorie budget and how many grams of protein do you want? 1 gram per pound of body weight for progressive heavy lifting is sufficient, but you'll need protein supplements.
You never need protein supps. I've hit 300g on ~1400 kcals before. Lots and lots of tuna and chicken breast tenderloin (the kind with no rib meat attached).
I, of course, bow to your superior wisdom. When I tried to figure out how to get to 1 gram per pound of my body weight, I found I'd have to consume 2 quarts of egg whites each day if I wanted any calories left for vegetables. I don't know how you did it, but I am in awe.
You ae using healthy goal weight in that calculation, yes? (As opposed to current weight, if you're overweight/obese).
I suspect you were just speaking (typing?) casually, but I have seen some folks on here who were still quite heavy, thinking they needed to get 1g per pound of current body weight, even when body weight was high. Getting 250 or so grams of protein was a big challenge for them! Of course, protein isn't needed to maintain fat mass, only needed to maintain lean mass, so they were striving for overkill.
I believe this was in response to @Gallowmere1984 post about how he got 300g of protein on a 1400cal a day plan
It looks like it was. It was 300g because that chicken and tuna was all I was eating, other than EFAs from fish oil. I won't go into too many details on the public forum, but Google RFL if interested in why I was doing it.
Hint: I rapid cut, so don't use...normal weight loss methods.0 -
deannalfisher wrote: »JeromeBarry1 wrote: »Gallowmere1984 wrote: »JeromeBarry1 wrote: »What's your calorie budget and how many grams of protein do you want? 1 gram per pound of body weight for progressive heavy lifting is sufficient, but you'll need protein supplements.
You never need protein supps. I've hit 300g on ~1400 kcals before. Lots and lots of tuna and chicken breast tenderloin (the kind with no rib meat attached).
I, of course, bow to your superior wisdom. When I tried to figure out how to get to 1 gram per pound of my body weight, I found I'd have to consume 2 quarts of egg whites each day if I wanted any calories left for vegetables. I don't know how you did it, but I am in awe.
You ae using healthy goal weight in that calculation, yes? (As opposed to current weight, if you're overweight/obese).
I suspect you were just speaking (typing?) casually, but I have seen some folks on here who were still quite heavy, thinking they needed to get 1g per pound of current body weight, even when body weight was high. Getting 250 or so grams of protein was a big challenge for them! Of course, protein isn't needed to maintain fat mass, only needed to maintain lean mass, so they were striving for overkill.
I believe this was in response to @Gallowmere1984 post about how he got 300g of protein on a 1400cal a day plan
I've seen Jerome Barry say several times that people should be aiming for 1 g/lb and that you will need protein supplements to do that (I actually wouldn't, as I often eat 125 g without supplements when I am eating meat), which is how I read the statement above too, so I don't think it was just about Gallowmere (who eats crazy high protein and admits it!).
Thus, I think Ann's question/clarification is important. I don't actually think 1g/lb is the right formula anyway, as even aiming high for muscle maintenance/gain (to the extent possible) at a deficit the highest number I've seen really supported is .8 or .85/lb of GOAL weight or, better, 1 g/lb of LBM. Maybe 1-1.2 g/lb of LBM (which number for me would be 95-114 g). I don't think those are numbers that are likely to require supplementation although I have nothing against supplementation and use protein powders sometimes myself (because I like them or enjoy them with oats for breakfast as an alternative to more eggs-based options).0
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