Protein intake

Okay - so this talk about consuming more calories than you're burning, etc. is confusing to me. My adamant refusal to "diet" now seems to have stymied my weight loss in spite of exercising more in a week than I've been known to do in a year.

How do I figure out how much protein I should be eating? I've signed up for spark people, and according to my weight loss goal, I was given a figure, but I don't think that includes or accounts for the amount of exercise I'm doing.

[HouseofWool]

I dunno Jenn - I haven't used spark people. With lose it, you can log your exercise and it automatically adds it to your calorie budget for the day. So, right now, I should be eating ~1350 calories a day plus what ever I exercise in order to lose 1-1.5 pounds a week. I have been using a HRM to calculate the exercise calories because the calculator on our treadmill is awful and the numbers in lose it didn't seem right for me.

[Michele]

When gestating, the Brewer diet recommends 80-100g per day. I shoot for 60-80 now that I'm not pregnant anymore. Though most days I'm happy when my protein grams are more than my fat grams.

FWIW, I shoot for around 2000 calories a day. Though I'm usually over that. Less than that and I don't make enough milk.

[PrincessFiona]

Jenn, I went through a period of time where I was working out a lot and the numbers on the scale weren't moving down at all. It was so frustrating. A lot of people suggested that I needed more calories. Surprisingly, boosting my calorie intake a little bit did the trick and I dropped a size pretty quickly. Maybe you are approaching a loss? See if you can up your protein a little bit. You might need to play with it to make it work for your body...we're all different...

Kris

I'm neither gestating nor producing milk, and sparkpeople told me to eat 1680 to 2030 calories/75-178 grams of protein. I showed the MD I saw this morning (just for a checkup), and she said my food log looked great, and the recs did too, but mentioned to make sure I was eating enough protein to balance the exercise. I've only done sparkpeople for a day, and I am entering my exercise, but at this point, it can't really be basing suggestion on more than my weight and desired loss goals.

[MissCrabette]

No, SparkPeople doesn't take your activity level into account. http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.php Try using this to figure out your true caloric needs, then update that number on SparkPeople.

Jenn, I went through a period of time where I was working out a lot and the numbers on the scale weren't moving down at all. It was so frustrating. A lot of people suggested that I needed more calories. Surprisingly, boosting my calorie intake a little bit did the trick and I dropped a size pretty quickly. Maybe you are approaching a loss? See if you can up your protein a little bit. You might need to play with it to make it work for your body...we're all different...

Kris

That's so interesting, Kris. I read an article recently about hitting a plateau during weightloss because our bodies go into starvation mode and our metabolisms slow, so what helps is increasing calories to "trick" our bodies into revving up the metabolism again and speeding up weight loss. That's why bodybuilders like pop tarts, hehe.

Jenn- everything I've always read recommends 1 to 1.5g of protein per pound of body weight.

[MissCrabette]

KarrotKake, that number seems really high. Are you sure you don't mean per kilogram or per pound of lean body mass?? I don't think Jenn is going into bodybuilding.

[MarissaNicole]

I used to reach more for carbs just because I enjoyed the satisfaction more than the same amount of calories in protein per se, but when my weight loss plateaued someone suggested adding more protein instead of carbs. At first I had to make a huge conscious effort, but when I realized how they kept me fuller longer I began craving protein.

A few things I used at first to boost my protein rather than just meat were: Kashi golean cereals, eggs, protein bars and peanut butter.

Also this is gonna sound crazy but everyone I tell about it who tries it loves it, DH read the recipe in a runners mag:
Yogurt, peanut butter (tbs or two) berries and then add a high fiber cereal on top for some crunch. If you add the pb before the berries it should mix right into the yogurt. Try it - it's good!

Also this is gonna sound crazy but everyone I tell about it who tries it loves it, DH read the recipe in a runners mag:
Yogurt, peanut butter (tbs or two) berries and then add a high fiber cereal on top for some crunch. If you add the pb before the berries it should mix right into the yogurt. Try it - it's good!

That's hilarious Marissa - that's nearly EXACTLY what I had last night for my last "mini-meal". I make my own yogurt, and finally learned how to make it successfully from skim milk, so I had yogurt, pureed berries and 1/3 c Kashi Go Lean Crunch!

@Cristina - You're right - that would be crazy high (especially for me), and while I do totally dig my new pilates muscles and try to flex my biceps at every opportunity, I am most decidedly NOT going in to bodybuilding.

[MissCrabette]

I make my own yogurt, and finally learned how to make it successfully from skim milk

You're going to have to share that recipe with me. I only made yogurt that one time after we went to Costco together, and it didn't taste quite right to me. Maybe it wasn't sour enough, maybe it triggered my gag reflex since it wasn't nice and smooth like you buy it in the store. I don't know. Right now we buy "Mountain High" in a huge blue container, but I'd love to be able to make my own.

[diggitydot]

We make our own skim yogurt, too. Love it. We also use it as a substitute for sour cream. Tastes identical, even if the texture is a tad different. My favorite treat is either yogurt and frozen berries or vanilla almond milk and frozen berries.

I just scheduled an appointment with a nutrition counselor at LTF, but I'm waffling. It costs $79, and I'm sure that there will be another $100 to $200 in supplements pitched at me. She, unlike everyone else I've spoken to, scoffed at my 60lb weight loss on my own, saying "You should have lost a lot more by now." Bite me. Not the way to get a client. I'm torn between giving this multiple-mini-meals/day & logging food, and going through this meeting with her. She claims that her clients have fantastic results, and I'd love to see that, but we're leaving for Hawaii in 25 days, and I don't plan on following a diet while I'm there.

Thoughts?

[MissCrabette]

I'd tell her to shove it. I think you're doing a fantastic job, and you'll get long-lasting results from this if you implement it as a lifestyle change as opposed to a diet. I'm sure her clients have lost a lot of weight, but how many have kept it off for years? Sorry, but she already sounds like a quack. I'm mad on your behalf for that rude comment.

[Tenacious_D]

Wait until you get back from Hawaii. My gut says go with someone else BUT I also find the more hardcore/unsympathetic types to produce more results.