Oh. Those are bad.

All Op needs to do is track macros like I mentioned previously. Tracking calories is a good start but not as effective as it seems. Coming from someone who eats 230g-260g protein a day, I think you only have 200 calories worth of protein a day.

This is a very good post. It is obviously straight forward but it is what some people need to hear.

Alright well how many grams of protein should I be aiming for with a 1600 allowance.

And lack of protein has had nothing to do with previous failures to the best of my knowledge. Laziness and some poor thinking about food are the primary culprits.

I certainly don't know everything and I'm more than willing to take guidance but you can't blame me for being surprised by being told "your day sucks" when I ate 1200 calories and have minimal processed foods in there.

My primary goal is weight loss with improving my fitness as a second goal, bearing in mind my age and prior injuries.

People do tend to find higher-protein diets easier to stick to, because they don't feel hungry. YMMV.

Most people recommend protein as a function of pounds of lean body mass. Using totally hypothetical numbers, let's say you weighed 100lb and had 20% body fat. You'd have 80lb of LBM. A common recommendation is 1g protein per lb of LBM so 80g protein. That would be for a *100 pound person*. I don't think your diary entry above is anywhere near 80g.

I can't comment if 1200 is a reasonably target or not. If you go strictly by calories my protein intake is like 60-65% of my calories, so for a 1200 cal diet that would be 720 cal or about 80-85g.

It's not that I have a problem with protein.

It's more that I love fruit and find subbing protein in for that, especially this time of year, makes me cranky.

I did an Atkins type thing in the Army (I was close to my tape weight and didn't want to risk getting sent back from PLDC) and of everything I had to give up, fruit was the hardest.

But based on what you said I should be looking at at least 150 grams of protein? I'll start working on that. Or at least get it up into a better range.

Rusty's heart is in the right place, but I think his recs are a little too high for your goals. Of course, as he said, everyone around here loves recommending tons of protein.

Rusty's rec of 65% of your cals coming from protein is extremely high (possibly due to an arithmetic error somewhere). Of course, Rusty needs more than you (you're certainly less than 80% lbm, he's much more active, you have very different goals, etc.)

I think for you 0.5g/lb of total BW would probably be fine, and certainly much more than what you're doing now.

There is data to suggest that you could even make significant gains (i.e beyond just newb gains) on that amount. There is also data to suggest that even more is better.

That's why I think doing some research on this may be helpful to you. It's either that or just blinding picking someone's recs. For the YTFs of the world this is required. And it is easier, so if that's what you want to do, then that's fine. But I think that reading for a few hours and coming to your own conclusions may be best. I'm sure the folks in the HC thread can point you in the right direction regarding what material to read. I don't have any links handy myself at the moment, but I think Alan Aragons stuff is pretty good.

80-85g of protein <> 720 cal

Hah whoops, yeah, arithmetic error. I used cals per g of fat instead of protein. So for my diet, it's more like 30% calories from protein. For a 1200 cal diet that's 90g protein.

There's still room for fruit. I am not suggesting atkins levels of protein consumption. Sorry for the math mistake, I had a few beers.

Alright I'll shoot for 100 - 120 and start logging my grams of brotein as well.

Today is my Saturday and weigh in day. I'm down five pounds from starting weight.

Incidentally I'm completely aware that water weight loss is common at the start of something like this and that ~5 lbs a week isn't a feasible goal, more a beginning of tracking aberration.

One more to more broettein and tracking the intake of it alongside your cals.

to aid in satiety, preserving muscle mass etc

Yeah it all depends how much you weigh. Either way, I would say losing 1-3 lbs a week is good.

My legs are like noodles. I may have to reduce my gym visits this way to help recover. I feel like one of those nature documentaries when you see a baby deer or giraffe stand up and tremble all over.

Breakfast was 2% milk, vanilla protein powder, and strawberries. Didn't drink all of it, kind of funny tasting. I still need to figure out the right ratio for the protein powder. 300 calories. Lunch was a sandwich with turkey and one slice of cheese, 260 calories. The two combined had ~ 50g of brotein.

Dinner was a salad to start (spring mix, carrots, celery, radish, cucumber and a bare TBLS of dressing) at about 200, mashed potato and cauliflower smash at about 300, trimmed ribeye with 1/2 TBLS of butter, and a hard cider at 210 calories.

I'm at 1270 without the steak, I knew I'd go over today but don't feel particularly worried about it. I don't eat ribeye that often and it's one drink. Estimates on the steak seem to vary really wildly, but given the weigh (I did trim the fat) I'm guessing 650 with another 50 some grams of protein. So 1920ish. Should have said no to the drink, I guess.

What do you mean ratio? Just use a scoop. Should be about 150 calories and 25g of protein. Also, IMO milk is gross and unnecessary. If you want the creaminess, use unsweetened vanilla almond milk. Like 30 calories per cup!

I mean like an ingredient ratio so the powder is palatable.

The vanilla flavor is pretty strong, can be overpowering.

Also water with it is 100x worse, and milk, water and diet soda are about all I have at least for now.

adjusting like a champ.

THIS is what your days should look like going forward.

minus the going over cals stuff, but if this is going to be a once-a-week thing then you're going to do well.

Well I'm not eating ribeye every day.

One of my favorite foods is pizza. We usually make it homemade, but if there's a whole pizza there, it's hard to resist.

So I've been hankering pizza, but I wanted to keep the portions under control. Solution - pizza buns (pizza toppings on english muffins). Toasted english muffins, sauce, two slices of pepperoni per bun, and 1/2 cup of mozzarella b/w the four halves (much less than I would normally use, I tend to load up on cheese but I measured this out carefully, and it didn't effect the quality of the end product).

Total calories 540, 20 calories of protein.

Tonight will be pulled pork and either green beans or sugar snap peas, which will bulk up the protein for the day.

I'll keep experimenting with the protein powder and find a recipe that I like for shakes a few times a week.

Dinner was slow cooked pork shoulder and green beans.

There are a metric ton of leftovers so if these numbers are off someone let me know. I had 7 oz of pork; site I checked said ~250 calories per 3 oz, so 83 calories an ounce, so 580 calories for the 7 oz. Add 100 for the sauce I used to cook it in (I didn't add any when I ate it, but it sat in it all day), so 680, plus 70 for 8 oz of fresh green beans for a grand total of 750 for dinner and 1290 for the day.

If those pork totals look wrong someone let me know, as I'll be having leftover pork frequently over the next week or so.

I may have some fruit later before bed but that would be it on the day.

Oh, the pork also had ~50 g of protein for a total of 70 on the day. Not in the 100 range, but I knew I'd be low today when I opted to sate my pizza craving.

Legs are already feeling better (as in less sore). I'm sort of surprised by my recovery time. Not that I'm doing such heavy lifting that I should be taking ages to recover - I'm very weak at this point - but given my age I thought I'd be sorer for longer.

Of course I also take regular pain medication, anti-inflammatories, and muscle relaxers for my back, so maybe that's helping.

I also need to talk to one of the people here who know about about MRT and get on a program for that. My back is a nightmare of spasms and trigger points and god knows what all else. The monthly massages I get help break up the constant tension (and maybe adhesions?) but if I'm going to work on improving my health and my body I may as well tackle my chronically bad back. Even a moderate improvement would be a relief. I've been in constant pain for 10 years now.

Did have a banana before bed yesterday, so 1400 on the day.

Breakfast was a protein drink with 2% milk, protein powder, and strawberries. Tweaked the ratios, was a bit less funky, but I think I need to make it thicker (add a banana, maybe) for me to really like it. 285 calories, 24g of protein.

Lunch will be a sandwich with 4 oz of turkey, a single slice of cheese, and mustard. All combined 28 g of protein and 265 calories. With in will be 6 oz of baby carrots (70 calories) and a nectarine (70 calories).

Snack will be a large apple (100 calories) and a pre-portioned snack that has 210 calories and 8 g of protein.

Total until I get home is 1000 calories and 60 g of protein. When I get home I'll eat leftover pork for dinner.

Walking tomorrow and doing another Bodypump class Friday. Still a bit sore but I'm surprised how quickly I've recovered.

Looks good. Way to make some good adjustments.

Last night wasn't pork, it was the same pizza buns I had for lunch on Tuesday. Boyfriend's request, he saw the English muffins and knows the only reason I buy them.

Today did not go according to plan. Woke up late so no walk. It was also raining, so the walk would have been scrapped regardless, but I shouldn't have overslept. I think I need to take my night meds the instant I come home for them to wear off for an earlier morning wake up.

So Greek yogurt + blueberries for breakfast, large serving, 363 calories and 40g of protein. Was doing my normal get ready for work routine, figuring I'd have 10 minutes to put together lunch, then remembered I needed gas and cash. Threw some fruit and string cheese and a protein bar in my bag for snacks, will have the pork tonight for dinner and tally all the calories and protein.

So 4 oz turkey is 120 calories/20g protein.

That only leaves 145 calories for two slices of bread and one slice of cheese, even wonder bread and a kraft single come in at 206 calories, what kind of bread and cheese are you using? Are you weighing them?

Please use grams when you weigh.

Keep it up!

I think in your case calories in vs calories out is WAY more important than protein, so I wouldn't sweat substituting an English muffin for pork chops. In fact, IMO counting protein consumed is pretty useless for you.

Its not like you are trying to build muscle, and even if you were, the fact that you are endocrinologically female, past your 20s, and not doing high intensity weightlifting limits your ability to add lean muscle regardless.

In fact unless you went to some weird juicing or salad diet I think it would be almost impossible not to coincidentally get enough protein to meet your goals.