Protein and weight loss

[Noreeen]

Hi! 👋🏻

I am in the process of trying to improve my diet and also hopefully losing around a stone in the process. I have been focused for around a month (or so) now but only weighed myself for the first time two weeks ago. I have lost 6.6lbs in the last two weeks. I panicked last week when I lost 4.4lbs and started fretting that I might be losing muscle.

I am 41 and not very strong these days. I am very keen to preserve what muscle I have so I have been trying to focus on eating more protein.

Any recommendations for easy and reliable, and not wildly expensive, ways to to boost my daily protein intake? I am aiming for 100g a day.

I eat a lot of chicken and usually meal prep chicken to take in for chicken salads for lunch at work.
I always have heigh protein Greek yoghurt in the fridge now. I know cottage cheese is probably my friend so I am thinking of adding some of that to my lunches.

Any other recommendations welcome. I have hit my target for the last three days, but I feel like I need some other ideas to make sure I am going to stay consistent.

(Oh and I also have a plan to start doing some strength training soon as I do want to get stronger but I am doing reading at the moment to work out the best way to do this).

About half of the 6 pounds you lost will be water. You haven't lost 6lb of muscle. You can eat as much protein as you like but without also strength training it is not going to be particularly effective at maintaining muscle. Reading won't help. Just buy some resistance bands and dumbells and work up from there. There are plenty of beginners workouts online for dumbells and resistance bands.

Hi Op,

I am weightlifting three times a week and also eating 100g of protein a day. A lot of people start their day with a protein shake but aim not a fan so eat two slices of protein bread which is 10g per slice. I also eat Greek yogurt and protein bars when needed. For meals I eat a lot of chicken but also a lot of fish. I tend to put a fillet or two in the air fryer with pesto smeared on the skin. Otherwise would you start eating more eggs?

Have some couscous and chia seeds with your chicken salad for a really easy and tasty protein boost. I also substitute the chicken with falafel or hard boiled eggs from time to time. All topped off with Ramona's Jalapeño Heavenly Houmous - this stuff lasts for about 2 months in the fridge and makes everything taste amazing ( even celery 😂) Disclaimer: the pot probably says use within a week of opening but unlike other houmous which goes off after a week I have never had to throw this out.
Eating like this has really changed my weight and energy levels.

I think but am not an expert that weight lifting is more important than diet for retaining or building muscle.

I use FitnessBlender work outs. Just search by "free" on membership and to start with you can use cans of beans, water bottles or get some resistance bands which are all gentle ways to start. Also the discounters sometimes have cheap weight sets.

Fitness Blender

Oh that houmous looks amazing. I love your salad suggestions. Thank you! Cous cous is a great suggestion!!

Increased protein to prevent muscle loss only works if you train muscles.

I love Ramona's Jalapeño Houmous too, it keeps for ages and works with so many other foods (obviously you do need to eat some sort of grain in the same meal). I'm impressed that you eat celery, I can't stand it!
I always have eggs for breakfast, usually with an M&S high protein roll, though not usually a whole one as they are very filling and I go to the gym in the morning so don't want to be too full.
The main protein that I eat is chicken, I steam roast one in my Ninja and we eat it over a couple of days. There's also a nice M&S Mexican Chilli Bean Soup which has 12.8g of protein per can, or one in a plastic tub which has more protein but is twice the price. The soup is good for a quick meal if I don't feel like cooking.

Tbh @angela1952 It's a high Ramona's to celery ratio!
I am only 5'2" and closer to 60 than 50 so need to eat pretty low calorie to maintain my current weight i.e. it took me until the 4th March to get back to 109lbs again having put on 5lbs at Christmas, so I need to pad out meals with things like celery from time to time.
Nice tip on the M&S soup too.

As a couple of PPs have said, the only way to prevent muscle loss is to do some exercise that uses the muscles.

You’ll be getting more than enough protein from your current diet so it is pointless worrying about eating more. Any surplus will be converted to fat.

Baby bel lites are great at only 50 cals and 5g of protein

Whey vanilla protein powder is really nice and you can mix half a scoop into porridge when cooked, or into your yogurt.

I use cottage cheese like I do yogurt, so it doesn't always have to be savoury - it goes well with fruit and honey.

Prawns are great, I like them with a simple spaghetti, chilli, tomatoes.

Greek yoghurt like you’ve already mentioned is a big one for me. I prefer the full fat variety but the 0% fat is more protein/less cals per 100g so I try and buy that where I can.

Babybels or the little 20/30g cheddar blocks are good for a snack.

I have a protein shake every day as I would just be nowhere near where I need to be without it. I use the My Protein chocolate brownie one and do genuinely enjoy it.

Ive noticed since I increased my protein how full I am all of the time, to the point of struggling to eat everything I need to in the day!

I'm actually 74 and have great difficulty losing weight, though going to the gym has built up my muscle so presumably there is less fat than previously - though it isn't obvious!
My problem is that I do quite well during the week but we always go out for lunch on Friday so I undo all the careful work. To be honest my weight is more or less static, but I do feel a lot more perky with all the exercise!

Eating protein isn’t enough. It won’t help. If your body doesn’t need to convert it to muscle you will puddle it all out

you need weighted exercise

in fact you could do the training and not up your protein and that would work

get To the gym or get following some videos

start light

Ooh I do understand that @angela1952 as I love good food.
I sort of have a rule that in any meal I don't eat above the calories shown on my Fitbit at that point in time so if I am going out for lunch and know I need 800Kcals for it then by the time I sit down to eat it I have to have burned that figure on my watch. It is not a perfect system as obviously Fitbit isn't perfect and calories on restaurant menus are not either but it's a a system that works for me 95% if the time.

Not a hope in hell of me sticking to any sort of calorie limit on Fridays I'm afraid, though I do burn getting on for 300 calories three days a week at the gym and am pretty good most of the time. I think that this has given my metabolism a bit of a kick up the whatsit over the past five months and the gym machine tells me my muscle percentage is excellent. Shame about the fat percentage though?!

I understand @angela1952. Sounds like you are doing what works for you and this is my way of ensuring I don't need to limit myself by burning it is advance.
Well done.

The best of luck to you.

Same age as me - I am seriously struggling. No gym for me, my knees just could not cope.
I wonder how many others there are here who are over 70? It would be interesting to read how all are coping -

You need to retain and build muscle by weight training. A benefit is that muscle burns more energy so can help with weight loss. It's also weirdly addictive and I enjoy the challenge of it more than I thought I would. In fact, I've been looking for gyms that I can use whilst on holiday.

I'm not over 70 but exercise a lot (I'm nearly 50) as I saw my Mum do very little and lose a lot of function. She was told over a decade ago to still exercise and was given painkillers to do so but she hardly did it. The GP said that weight made the knee pain worse etc.

Of course GPs are frankly useless though when it comes to female perimenopause and post menopause weight gain in my experience. The amount of times I've been told to eat less and move more is frustrating. (I exercise 5-7 days a week, eat healthily and don't drink.)

Have you tried some things like swimming, aqua aerobics, pilates etc? Also if you do want to get started with some weights, concentrating on upper body? It might also be worth getting some physio for the knees. As I'm a runner, I've had plenty of injuries over the years and found NHS physio very variable. When I've paid for private (spendy but worth it) they've often suggested exercises to strengthen other muscles which then takes weight off the area causing pain. Also they've helped me understand what pain is ok to tolerate (if you can). So for example, when I last had a shoulder injury, they got me lifting weights quite quickly because the pain in that case wasn't going to cause more injury but help longer term (and it did).

I've also found that a type of acupuncture called dry needling can support with some muscular pain. The results aren't permanent but they've been helpful when you're in that acute phase, to release tensed muscles for you to then be able to do some exercise to resolve the issue long term.

Thank you Lemonthyme - you may just have given me the push I needed 🤔

try this work out, really working for me

How.much protein are you currently eating? If you're eating chicken and high protein yoghurt, plus whatever you have for dinner, then you're probably doing quite well already. Do you do any exercise?

I work out and track my protein and fibre, but cottage cheese can absolutely fuck right off.

Why on earth do you need 100g of protein per day?! That’s way too much. Recommend protein intake for an average sized women is 45g.

There are some suggestions that the old advice may not be enough. Especially in perimenopause. There's a lot of disagreement in this area. Also protein is good for satiety. I'd agree with other posters though that it's only really worth upping your protein if you're also doing something to use it, i.e. strength training.

I don't weigh what I eat but I do try and prioritise protein over carbs but then I also run 3 days a week and lift weights or do pilates 2-4 days a week.