Upping Protein=Upping fat?

micls
micls Posts: 234
in Food and Nutrition
Hey everyone. I'm currently doing Stronglifts programme and upping my protein to help. It's a bit of a struggle and I have to work hard to reach my protein target (98g a day). What I'm finding is that the foods I'm eating to up the protein, is putting me way over my fat macro. Stuff like milk, cheese, greek yoghurt, eggs,nuts etc

So my question is does it matter? If I stay at the right calories and reach my protein, but overshoot fat and go under on carbs, will if negatively affect my progress?

Replies

  • BuckeyeLife
    BuckeyeLife Posts: 313 Member
    Carb is a fuel source. Fat is a fuel source. I choose to get my fuel mostly from fat, and stick to natural carbs. As long as you're getting good quality fat sources, I wouldn't worry much. 1g of fat=9 cal, 1g of carb=4 cal. You can also change your macro break down in the settings option if you need to. Some people recommend a 40c/30f/30p breakdown initially. I am at like 40f/35p/25c and rarely get my carbs up there.

    If you just need to get protein in though, egg whites work pretty well for that.
  • secretlobster
    secretlobster Posts: 3,566 Member
    Exactly what Buckeye said. Protein and fat go hand in hand for me. I shoot for equal amounts of protein and fat in my diet, personally. If you overshoot fat and go under on carbs, that is not really concerning.

    MFP's fat goals are pretty low. Everywhere I've read suggests that around 65g of fat (for me, a 29 year old female) is fine. I sometimes go over or under by a significant amount.

    Also, I see from your diary that you are looking to decrease carbs... Please note that in order to meet your calorie requirement (to fuel your workouts especially), if you cut down on one macro, you must substitute it. So for you to go over on fat would be absolutely no big deal. Your body will learn to make efficient use of fat as a fuel source.
  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
    Eat a pound of chicken. Or Swai. Or Tilapia. Or one of any other protein-rich low fat meats.
  • ArroganceInStep
    ArroganceInStep Posts: 6,239 Member
    First confirm that your fat target is appropriate for your goals and not too low. Assuming it's right and you're still going over:

    0% greek yogurt
    Skim Milk
    Nonfat cheese
    Tuna
    Chicken
    98% lean beef
    Low fat protein powders
    Turkey

    All lean-ish sources
  • monkeybrain2012
    monkeybrain2012 Posts: 47
    I would suggest protein powder. Jay Robb vanilla or chocolate whey protein powder is my favorite (no artificial anything and they are sweetened with stevia).
    Mix a scoop of protein powder in a bottle of water and sip that throughout the day.
  • micls
    micls Posts: 234
    Exactly what Buckeye said. Protein and fat go hand in hand for me. I shoot for equal amounts of protein and fat in my diet, personally. If you overshoot fat and go under on carbs, that is not really concerning.

    MFP's fat goals are pretty low. Everywhere I've read suggests that around 65g of fat (for me, a 29 year old female) is fine. I sometimes go over or under by a significant amount.

    Also, I see from your diary that you are looking to decrease carbs... Please note that in order to meet your calorie requirement (to fuel your workouts especially), if you cut down on one macro, you must substitute it. So for you to go over on fat would be absolutely no big deal. Your body will learn to make efficient use of fat as a fuel source.
    Thanks (you too Buckeye :)). I just want to make sure there's no major downsides. I'm not bothered once there's not.

    Just checked my settings and fat is really low, it's only 54g while protein is 120g (I aim for 100ish). I might just read up a bit and have a look at tweaking the settings.

    I'm only decreasing carbs to stick within the calories while meeting the protein. I ate most of my calories in carbs previously so I'm trying to substitute in more protein. I'm definitely hitting my calories everyday though I don't always track properly. I'm gonna focus on tracking accurately for a while to watch my protein.
  • micls
    micls Posts: 234
    Thanks for the tips on lean protein, I know I should incorporate more of it but it's a slow process for me! Just aiming to up protein and stay within calories for now, but will look at more lean sources-a lot of my food is school lunch etc where I can control eating more meat/protein, but not what kind. Thats how I end up eating a lot of pork when I'd prefer chicken.

    On protein shakes, I might invest in a month or two if I can't manage to reach my goals with food but will try to do without for now.
  • secretlobster
    secretlobster Posts: 3,566 Member
    I'm only decreasing carbs to stick within the calories while meeting the protein. I ate most of my calories in carbs previously so I'm trying to substitute in more protein. I'm definitely hitting my calories everyday though I don't always track properly. I'm gonna focus on tracking accurately for a while to watch my protein.

    I get you. The problem with the foods that you listed (nuts, yogurt, etc) is that the protein and fat go together. Usually with fat-free yogurt, you'll see a decrease in protein as well. These are sources that are relatively easy to eat, because they are prepackaged and portable. Unfortunately getting leaner protein sources from poultry, eggs and fish means spending more time in the kitchen. May be inevitable.
  • ArroganceInStep
    ArroganceInStep Posts: 6,239 Member
    I get you. The problem with the foods that you listed (nuts, yogurt, etc) is that the protein and fat go together. Usually with fat-free yogurt, you'll see a decrease in protein as well. These are sources that are relatively easy to eat, because they are prepackaged and portable. Unfortunately getting leaner protein sources from poultry, eggs and fish means spending more time in the kitchen. May be inevitable.

    Fat free greek yogurt is still a pretty solid source of protein, imo
  • micls
    micls Posts: 234
    May be inevitable.

    Yeah, I get that. It doesn't suit right now though. Here in Thailand, cooking yourself is prohibitively more expensive, and I'm saving for a wedding next month! I've starting bring my own snacks to work instead of eating the carb loaded ones, but again bringing a full lunch adds expense I can't afford right now when I'm given lunch for free.

    So for now I'm aiming for better choices rather than complete change.

    Leaving here in September so can look at going a step further then.

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