Protein

[goblinhob]

So I have started this thing at gym where we have been given a macros - I need to achieve 45 per cent protein and I'm struggling. I'm fine with eggs but that takes me over fats, today I will be having salmon, chickpeas and chicken breast but this is also taking me up on carbs. Anyone done anything similar and have any tips? Also had high protein yogurt for breakfast and I'm still only at 30 per cEnt protein!

Protein shakes?

I really struggle with getting my protein levels up too! Not that I've tried very hard

So why are you reducing fats? But if you just have the whites the fat in an egg is reduced. White meat and fish is high in protein and low in fat.

But I have found nutrients given in percentages a nightmare, before. Have you tried working out the grams of protein you need for your lean body mass instead? Then just making sure you get that.

You can do the same with fats and carbs.

45% protein, I've just worked out is a lot. Protein and carbs have 4 calories per gram and fat 9. If you eat, for example 1400 calories a day, that would mean eating 630 calories in protein, which is 157.4 g protein. Chicken has 20g protein per 100g so that would be 787g of chicken per day, if that were your only protein source.

Are you body building?

I need to eat 170g of protein a day - I do this by using a protein shake in morning with about 70g worth of powdered protein and add some greek yogurt - find this a very easy way to take in a lot in a less dense way

Then 200g of chicken breast at lunch - I find it easier to get through it if it is diced up in a soup or sauce than as a lump of meat..

I make the rest up with nuts in the shake, eggs and maybe piece of fish at dinner - it is very filling though and leave little place for cake .. which I guess is the point!

Chicken breast contains no carbs and little fat so this isn't going to take you over your carb limit. Frozen salmon fillets seem to contain less fat than fresh ones, I don't know why this is but it's helpful for getting a higher percentage of protein too.

Food like chickpeas/lentils although touted as "high protein" are still mostly carbs and are only high protein compared to other cereals/pulses and need heavy supplementation with other purer protein sources to get the percentage of protein you're after.

A lot of "high protein" yoghurts and snack bars and so on are also high in fat and/or carbs, it's misleading advertising really so I wouldn't go out of your way to buy them.

Protein powder is good, it can be used for shakes but also can be mixed into other foods (porridge is a good example) to up the protein content while being more interesting than drinking shakes all day.

Essentially you need a lot of lean meat, with protein powder being an option if that's too expensive/boring/too much food.