Four months ago I was unhappy with how I looked and decided I needed to change.

I’ve been intermittent fasting and exercising and dropped about 10kg, so I’m down to about 70kg.

Now I’m looking at building muscle, but I almost certainly don’t get enough protein. When I looked up how much I should be eating, it’s about 1.6g per kilo, or for me about 115g.

I’ve been drinking a meal replacement shake for lunch which is advertised high in protein at about 14g, then eating a reasonably low fat dinner which is definitely not 100g of protein.

I need to get more in, but I just don’t know how, and looking online it’s lots of specific recipes but I’ll end up cooking 3 dinners a day for family which is a lot.

I’m looking at that Surreal cereal which is 15g a serving, which if paired with a protein shake I can bump up to about 35, but I’m still a way out.

How can I bump up the intake relatively easily?

  • theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    15 days ago

    100g of chicken breast offers you around 21g of protein, so two chicken breasts will be around 300g offering you 63g of protein straight away if you dump the meal replacement drink and just ate two chicken breasts for lunch. Couple it with a salad or something if you need to.

    A 300g pot of cottage cheese will offer you around 10.5g of protein so having one of those with some kind of meat or even by itself as a snack can help add on some extra.

    Tuna is another easy source of high protein that you can smash into other meals just to add additional protein into them.

    For breakfasts make something like “overnight oats” with Greek yoghurt and rolled oats, both the yoghurt and the oats are decent enough sources of protein, I often added a scoup of protein powder in with my oats as well as fruit for flavour and that will be a decent bump in your daily protein intake before you’ve even really started the day.

    I have always found the best way of hitting your protein goals is to find something you like best that has high protein in it (for me that is chicken breast) and then go looking for some recipes or create some dishes you like around that core source of protein. My super power is I can eat the exact same meals day in and day out for literally years and not get bored, so I find something I like then just keep making the same thing over and over, either way you need to get used to eating my quantity of those protein high foods which for a lot of people can get boring.

    Supplements like protein powders can be good for getting that little bit extra here and there to meet your goals but you are gonna struggle to hit those goals if you rely on them too heavily.

    If you wanna bulk and put on muscle mass you have to start eating a lot more basically. Muscle requires more to build but then also maintain.

    It will be hard to begin with but sit down and try and plan out a couple of high protein meals you like, start with them and then try and add variety if you need it over time I’d say otherwise you will overwhelm yourself with a shit ton of different recipes and numbers.

    Good luck!

  • Squirrelsdrivemenuts@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    How many calories are you eating approximately per day? And can you bump to three meals a day instead of two, like lunch, snack and dinner? Also, do you want to continue to loose weight or just grow muscle at this point? (70 kg is not that much, but I don’t know your sex, length)

    For starters the meal replacement shake either has way to few calories or is lying about being high protein. It is quite easy to pack 30 grams of protein in a lunch. I always calculate protein in food as a percentage of total calories so 14 grams of protein = 14*4 calories / total calories of the food. If it’s above 25% it qualifies for me as high protein, but that would mean your shake only has 224 calories total, which isn’t a meal, it’s a snack.

    • exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      15 days ago

      I’m with you that anything that purports to replace a meal with 15g of protein is probably not actually “high protein” the way the label claims.

      Either way, the only meaningful answers will have to come with an understanding OP’s calories per day.

      Whole wheat bread is something like 4g of protein per 100 calories, which actually is on target for someone who needs 112g of protein on 3000 calories per day. But it’s not on target for someone trying to get 112g of protein on 2000 calories per day.

      A glass of milk is 8 g protein with 122 calories.

      Even broccoli is 6.7g of protein per 100 calories.

      • Squirrelsdrivemenuts@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        I spent a while trying for 90 grams protein on a 1600 calorie vegetarian diet (small girl trying to lose weight without muscle loss). At that point I needed to supplement with powder and make only the right choices. It gets so much easier when you can eat more in total.

  • Señor Mono@feddit.org
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    15 days ago

    The good news is that about 80 Gramms of protein per day are enough to sustain your muscles.

    Do you separate in a bulking and a leaning phase? If so, the leaning phase demands even more protein to protect your muscles from degrading.

    In my (short) experience and for natural fitness 1,5ish intake should be enough, but I’m open for other inputs.

    Your body can process about 25-30 gramms of protein every 2 hours. A protein rich breakfast and two isolate shakes could already deliver about 75 grams of protein. Combined with a regular diet this should be enough to boost you up beyond 100.

    A good source of information is Proteins in sports nutrition Position of the working group sports nutrition of the German Nutrition Society (DGE). They even list some example foods and their protein ratio.

    • Lodespawn@aussie.zone
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      15 days ago

      Your body can process about 25-30 gramms of protein every 2 hours

      Pretty sure that’s been debunked, you body regulates aborbsion rates to accommodate the amount of nutrients it has available, there’s no real ceiling.

      • Señor Mono@feddit.org
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        15 days ago

        Pretty sure the linked study from 2020 (a meta study) and their sources as well as other studies still suggest that rate. Until I see other scientific sources I don’t consider it debunked, but take it as good guideline for efficient resource usage.

        • howrar@lemmy.ca
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          15 days ago

          https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38118410/

          Published about a year ago and I think it’s the first study that actually tested what happened with regards to muscle synthesis when eating a large amount of protein in one meal (~100g) compared to spreading it out. The summary is that your body does process it less efficiently when consumed in one sitting, but the difference isn’t big enough to matter until you start micro-optimizing things.

  • narp@feddit.org
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    15 days ago

    Personally I don’t care much about high protein recipes.

    I just eat whatever I want and supplement with unflavored soy-isolate protein shakes. I consume 30g of protein 4 times a day. I could drink a 30g protein shake with a side of fruit/veggies or eat a meal that has only 10g protein in combination with a 20g protein shake, or eat a single meal that has at least 30g of protein.

    KISS - Keep it simple, stupid!

    • madkins@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      This is the way. You can put unflavored, unsweetened protein powder in anything. Gatorade, soup, oatmeal, etc…

      • narp@feddit.org
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        15 days ago

        For your health? Yes, there shouldn’t be any downsides at all.

        Vegan weightlifters for example have to rely on them nearly completely for their daily protein intake.

  • CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de
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    15 days ago

    You shouldn’t need to supplement much more than say 20% of protein requirements, which works out to less than one whey scoop per day. It’s not too difficult to make the protein requirements until one is on a fairly severe cut. The grams per kilogram ratio is a starting point; 115g for a 70kg individual is towards the lower end, when consulting most fitness related materials; there are studies that say there’s lower requirements, but there are usually some caveats. The recommendations often thrown out for 2.2-3g/kg are to the higher end, and that’s where you’re going to need to supplement.

    Every main meal (dinner) should include a significant meat portion. Dairy and eggs in other meals. For example myself, I eat a (large) bowl of oatmeal made with milk, two-four eggs and a few slices of bread for my first meal, a portion of chicken (about 120g - 1/2 a breast) and potatoes or rice for dinner, and a portion of yogurt and some muesli before bed (and vegetables and fruits). I get 3200cal and 150g protein out of that, and maintain my body weight about 75kg.

    Consider using MacroFactor, which makes recommendations based on peer reviewed literature. It’s the best one I’ve used. I’m not affiliated in any way; it’s just so much better than MFP. I’ve also heard good things about the RP Strength Diet App. They’re a good resource in general. Be wary of influencers who speak in absolutes - absolute statements get views on TikTok, but don’t reflect reality.

  • GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml
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    15 days ago

    Are you vegetarian or vegan? If not, cottage cheese or whey can be pretty good ways of getting lots of protein in, with the former being better for people who want to limit their calorie intake and the latter is good for people wanting to increase their calorie intake.

    As an example, on a typical day I eat 750g of cottage cheese, netting me 97.5g protein at 600 calories. The rest I can easily cover in my remaining meals.

      • GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml
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        15 days ago

        I eat 3 bowls of 250g each, one for breakfast and two between meals.

        I don’t do it for the fun of it, it’s a strictly functional affair

  • sober_monk@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    First of all, congrats on dropping 10 kg and good luck on your muscle-building journey!

    I’ve been having luck by adding a bit more protein to every meal. For breakfast, I usually have a protein-powder boosted smoothie or low-fat Greek yoghurt with frozen fruits. For lunch, chicken breast cold cuts or a tin of sardines with cottage cheese and/or light mozzarella, along with whole-grain bread and lots of seasonal vegetables with a yoghurt dip. For dinner, some roasted or grilled meat with roasted veggies and rice, sometimes with beans or lentils on the side. For snacks, vegetables with hummus or fruit with peanut butter, maybe a protein bar.

    You can try this out but my point is that I was already eating yoghurt in the morning and I added a bit of protein powder before moving on to smoothies. I was already having smoked sausage and salami for lunch when I switched to sardines and chicken breast. From a cheese spread on white bread to cottage cheese on whole grain. From granola bars to protein bars. You’re better off taking a thorough look at what you eat in a day and finding a high-protein alternative to some things.