How to get great protein & feel full when your a vegetarian 🌱

Of course you want to get one big protein per meal, like the omnivores do. The plant-based biggies are things like tofu, tempeh, soybeans in other forms, seitan. (Note that seitan isn't essential amino acid (EAA) complete, so you need to complement it, not necessarily at the same meal, in order to get complete protein.) If you eat dairy, there are some calorie-efficient cheeses, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, skim milk. If you eat eggs . . . well, eggs, right?

On top of that, take a look at the other foods you eat over the course of a normal day or few. Which ones have relatively many calories, but not much protein? Consider whether you can reduce or eliminate some of those to free up calories, then replace those with other foods you enjoy that have a bit more protein. There are grains with more protein than others, veggies with more protein than others, even some fruits with protein. Those tend not to be EAA complete, but varying the sources will tend to compensate for that to some extent.

Then think about using flavoring add-ins that will increase protein: A few examples are nutritional yeast, miso, peanut butter powder or almond butter powder.

Other examples are using home-made salad dressing with a base like Greek yogurt or miso or tahini; eating snacks like string cheese or crispy chickpeas/lentils/broad beans or dry-roasted soybeans; adding seeds like sunflower or pumpkin to your salads or casseroles for crunch rather than bread crumbs or croutons. And so forth.

Those small sources really add up over the course of a day, if you include a number of them.

Your food log here is a great tool for noticing opportunities where you can increase protein. Keep chipping away, changing your routine eating patterns in happy ways to provide more protein without increased calories. You'll get there.

I've been vegetarian for almost 49 years. Now, in weight maintenance, I target 100g protein minimum daily, and usually average more like 120. (I'm 5'5", low 130s pounds, for reference.) I admit that it was less when I was losing weight so on fewer calories - and less practiced at getting more protein in. Then, it was usually in the 80s-90s grams daily. The above is pretty much what I did to get more protein on reduced calories when I first started calorie counting.

BTW, you may find this thread helpful (I did):

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

Since the spreadsheet it links to is in order by protein efficiency - most protein for fewest calories - a lot of things near the top are meaty/fishy. Keep scrolling down in the spreadsheet, and you'll find plant sources. It also has columns that give you some idea of protein completeness.