Hitting Protein but staying low carb / low calorie troubles....

[despondent]

Hey guys, first post. Looking for a place to find ideas and insight thought this community was the best.

What does everyone do to hit their protein for the day without going over on carbs and/or calories??

Vegan for 6 years (M/26/5'9"/210lb) and have been consistently lifting for about 4 months now: full body workout every other day & cardio most days in between. I have not been losing weight. I can tell some shirts fit better but my waist has not shrunk any noticeable degree. My weight was hovering around 206 since before the lifting, until a month ago when I started adding creatine to my daily routine and shot up 4 pounds (which I have attributed to water retention via creatine... I hope). I can see the muscle I'm putting on which is nice but most of it is still covered in this fat that just won't seem to let go.

I follow a IF protocol of fast 16 hrs / feed 8 hours each day. I eat a lot of tofu and beans for protein and just a crap ton of veggies & leafy greens (like I couldn't possibly consume more leafy greens and veggies). I don't do a ton of fruit out of fear of the high sugar.

My greatest issue is getting my macros in the right ratio: 30/35/35 p/c/f with 2100 cal / day. How do you guys get the protein you want without overdoing the carbs and fat (esp carbs)? The beans usually put me over but I don't want to only eat tofu all the time. What should I tweak? Any ideas? Cause I'm kind of floundering about right now.

 

[pastmoon]

@despondent I’ve had the most success with nickel and dining and just picking the better of my two options.

The number one high protein low carb low calorie heavy hitter for me is vital what gluten. You can make so many different things. It can be incorporated in doughs for bread, batters for pancakes and muffins, and made into faux meats. I’d do some experimentation with that if you’re not trying to avoid gluten.

With everything else I’ve just tried my best to find a low carb version. Peanut butter is notoriously high in calories because of the fat so sometimes I use powdered peanut butter. The Walmart Great Value brand actually has a better protein to carb/calorie ratio than the PB2 brand.

I use the same principle with veggies. If I’m watching my carbs I rarely have butternut squash or sweet potatoes or corn. But I’ll have peas and edamame and lots of leafy greens because at least I’m getting a big kick of protein for a decent amount of carbs.

Hemp seeds aren’t necessarily low calorie because they’re fairly high in fat, but they are low carb and fairly high protein.

 

[rinastar93]

@despondent You need to be in a caloric deficit in order to lose weight. You can eat 0g of carbs and still put on fat if you are in a a caloric surplus. You can also only eat carbs and lose weight if you are in a caloric deficit.

 

[jasonspaulding01]

@despondent I've done 100G protien from powder (shakes morning and post workout), 40G from tofu or meat alternative, and 30 from a can of beans. This puts me in the neighborhood of 175G protien, 150G carb, 50G fat. One option I haven't pursued yet is some sort of a snack from wheat gluten, would is high protien and low carb.

 

[tywilliams98]

@jasonspaulding01 How bioavailable are powders?

 

[stellae]

@despondent To cut down on carbs and fat, go with protein powder. If you can find good quality bean pasta and they fall in your budget range, they are a pretty good choice too. I am a pretty tiny person who eats ~1450 calories on rest days and ~1600 on training days. Close to half of my protein intake comes from soy isolate protein powder.