Any easy protein hacks ?

[3smallpups]

Started wegovy tablets this week and using nutrachc on the glp settings. I’m failing every day with protein numbers. I usually eat low upf, home cooked. Have swopped to protein weetabix and protein baby bel and trying a sort of low carb, atkins approach but protein is the killer.

What amount of protein is Nutracheck suggesting that you try to eat?

110g

I drink clear whey Lemon flavour from h and b. It’s nice.

Chicken / fat free yoghurt / fat free cottage cheese all have lots of protein for the amount of calories.

Stick your calorie allowance into ChatGPT and ask it to come up with a plan, tell it your preferences and it will adjust it.

Chicken
salmon
eggs, especially Boiled as very filling
Lidl full fat Greek yoghurt
lentils

Eggs are an easy and quick win, if you want to keep calories low then do a mix of whole eggs and eggs whites. A medium egg white is less than 20 calories and about 5g protein.

I love beef biltong, it’s pricey but the Ember brand is just beef and seasonings its much less processed and messed with than the Jack Links or Kings brand and a 40g pack is 21g protein.

longley farm full fat cottage cheese is bloody brilliant, it’s not the weird sour lumpy stuff you might be used to, it’s creamy, mild and so thick the spoon stands up in it. 100g contains 10.3G protein.

One of my most common meals at the minute is a pack of cooked chicken with salad, it’s quick, easy, low cal and full of protein. I stick to the ‘grown above ground’ rule when it comes to veg as I need to limit carbs due to diabetes so avoid anything starchy. 100g cooked chicken breast is 31g protein, a pack of ASDA flavoured cooked chicken breast gets you about 55g protein in a single meal.

On less ‘surface of the sun’ temperature days I tend to have batch cooked slow cooker meals which are typically 400g lean meat either chicken, pork or beef, a tin of tomatoes, 2 punnets of mushrooms, a bag of sliced onions, half a bag of frozen sliced peppers and whatever seasoning I fancy on the day I cook it. That makes 4 portions each about 250 calories and 27g protein.

I use this instead of yogurt to make overnight oats. One entire pot contains 165 calories and 30 g protein. Live kefir cultures, just add your own oats, nuts, seeds & fruit. No weird UPF ingredients.

https://biotifulguthealth.com/products/biotiful-kefir-protein-original-250g

Protein foods are often a con, I’m sure when I checked the info for babybels the protein ones had something like 0.5g extra of protein, so not worth the swap. I agree with others regarding eggs, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt.

Tin of tuna (can add 0% Greek yoghurt or cottage cheese) with diced tomato, red onion, cucumber inside a little gem lettuce leaf with hot sauce on top One tin does between 4-6 leaves depending on size and how much salad. This is a lush snack and is approx 90kcal with 16g protein

i add 100g egg whites to all my omelettes/scrambles (so at least once a day because I’m currently obsessed). This adds 50cal and 11g protein

for breakfast I like 3 heck chicken chipolatas, 3 eggs + 100g egg whites = 362cal 46g protein

myprotein clear whey powder drinks. 87cal and 20g protein. Tastes like ribena.

regular standard Babybel = 59cal 4.4g protein

greek yoghurt NOT Greek style
I buy Yeo valley which is 9-10g protein per 100ml

Baby bel light has 0.5 less protein, than the marketed "protein babybel" Less calories too.. much better.

Chicken breast, tuna, eggs, salmon, ground beef, protein shake, Greek yoghurt

Lindahls chocolate protein puddings and Grenade bars.

How much actual meat are you eating? 110g protien is the amount you get from about 360g cooked chicken. That's about this much over the course of the day: (tin of Baked Beans for scale)

To get the same amount of protein from beans and pulses you would need to eat about 5 full tins this size, and there's very few non-meat protien sources that can pack a higher punch than that without also being high fat and high calorie or being very highly processed.

Swapping a 2 biscuit serving of ordinary weetabix (4.6g protien) for 2 high-protien weetabix (7.6g protien) is only adding 3.1g of protien. Swapping a normal babybel (4.4g protien) for a high-protien one (5.2g) adds only 0.8g. These changes are too tiny to make any difference.

When you have a limited appetite you need to cut way back of carbs and focus on high-protien foods that are properly high protein (at least 20% protein) not just higher-protien carb-based foods.

Sorry my photo didn't add properly to the above:

Bear in mind that whilst there's nothing wrong with eating 110g protein a day, it isn't likely to be necessary. One of the reasons that increasing protein is recommended is because it's filling, and aiming to eat more of it 'crowds out' other higher calorie food. But if you're managing to eat a balanced diet with overall lower calories because of GLP suppression, then that might not be relevant for you.
I've gone through periods where I've eaten 100-120g a day while doing a lot of strength training in order to gain weight (aiming for gaining muscle, but it always means gaining some fat as well) However it meant for me eating 3 meals a day that had a big chunk of protein, plus at least one snack that was high protein, so meals that were 30g + 30g + 40g. Eg homemade wrap for lunch with a whole diced chicken breast in the filling, low fat beef chilli for dinner, and then the same chilli served with eggs as left over for breakfast. On GLPs I just wouldn't eat that much food.
You do need to eat some protein (as well as do some resistance training) to maintain muscle on a GLP-1, but unless you're aiming for an unusually high goal weight, I'd be very surprised if you need 110g a day.

Thanks all
really helpful
will reduce the goal a bit I think as only trying to lose a stone and not weight training
will up the meat definitely
Am a bit wary of two many eggs as years ago when eating lots of eggs in the Atkinson diet I had a horrible fall stone pain , just a one off never before or since but was eating lots of eggs a day .
interesting re the protein weetabix and cheese , bought in a panic online shopping and didn’t compare !

Why do you not want to consider weight training?

It can be life changing.

look up Caroline Girvan and/or Growingannanas if you are willing to perhaps give it a go.

If you are using GLP drugs and don't do weight training and high-protien eating (which is what you have been told to do) then you will lose muscle rather than fat and you will be quicker gaining weight when you stop the drugs because your metabolic needs will have massively reduced. Keeping your muscle is a vital part of ensuring that the benefits last.

I do loads of exercise , I ride and compete three horses and look after another two so that’s lots of mucking out etc every day , I’m also 61 and just need to shift the menopause weight.
i will aim for high protein, just not as high because it might not be achievable

aim for 1g per kilo of your healthy bmi weight. not your current weight.
also keep in might that protein is high in calories and easy to overeat.

Tinned sardines

Ooh had sardines tonight , did that TikTok set them on fire thing having read it in a novel , they were delicious!

Boiled eggs - i always have 6 or 8 in the fridge.

Tinned tuna.

I am GF/DF so have Pea Protein - Protein Works powder and soya milk.

Also up your fibre- makes you feel fuller for longer

I wrote a whole post and whilst checking protein, it disappeared

Greek yoghurt with half portion of protein powder and berries - 31gP

I try to limit deli meats but a couple of times a week, turkey breast or pork loin. Nitrite free bacon but you need most of a pack.

I do a bolognese type thing with various flavours - Mexican, piri piri:
pork/turkey/chicken mince 500g
tinned tomatoes
onion
bell pepper
maybe a carrot or a whole load of mushrooms or sometimes a tin of mixed beans or similar
whatever spices you like/ a spice mix.

This gives me 3 lunch time portions with something like 38g protein. I serve with broccoli or similar
I really like this as it’s something tasty I can keep in the freezer that fits macro’s

Cook weighed chicken pieces/veg in a slow cooker and portion out. I sometimes use a basic casserole mix.

If you are wanting something ready made, M and S coronation chicken flatters are nice and Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Aldi do similar flavoured chicken to fry

I'm on 2.5mg Moujaro and eat between 1300 and 1400 calories a day with around 95g protein. My staples are Salmon, Tuna, Chicken breast, Ham, Greek yogurt, homemade beef stew and the occasional protein shake/creami. I rotate the same four lunches, four evening meals, two breakfasts and two snacks. I'm also weight training twice a week and doing couch to 5k so that the healthy habits will be embedded when I stop the injections. Just find what works for you, there's so much we'll meant advice out there but it needs to be sustainable for your life