Idk how ppl in this sub are able to do low cal w/ 100 g+ of protein daily and workout so rigorously- I’m struggling with 1700 cals😭

@dikaioumenoi 100g protein in 1300 cals a day:

The main thing to remember is …. Almost all food has protein

Breakfast: protein powder (40g) , soy milk (400ml) fruit (100g) coffee (3 shots)

Lunch: either homemade sandwich ( brown bread (2 slices), goat cheese (20g) , mock meat (30g) , salad (50g) some sort of flavour like mustard) or overnight oats (oats (45g), protein powder (20g) , soy milk (100ml), fruit (100g))

Dinner: brown rice (120-150g cooked), vegetables (200g), ‘protein’ of choice which varies eg beans, lentils, salmon, shrimp, chicken, eggs.
 
@dikaioumenoi I eat 1374 calories a day at the moment, with 121g of protein. Granted I eat low carb but it might give you some ideas

Breakfast: 236 cal, 24g protein, 4g carbs, 13g fat
A green smoothie with spinach, kale, 1/2 an avocado, and a scoop of protein powder

Lunch: 397 cal, 28g protein, 29g carbs, 18g fat
Tuna salad sandwich on lower carb bread

Dinner: 452 cal, 47g protein, 12g carbs, 24g fat
Chicken & veg traybake

Snacks: 290 cal, 23g protein, 2g carbs, 21g fat
Marinaded chicken chunks
A babybel
A boiled egg
2.5L water
Multivitamin
Inositol
Vitamin D
Calcium & magnesium
Chamomile tea
 
@dikaioumenoi Tuna, vanilla protein in your coffee, Fairlife if you use milk. Avoid empty carbs (not all carbs, complex carbs are super important). Doing this I can easily get 100g in on 1200-1400 calories a day.
 
@dikaioumenoi I eat around 1600 and I do:
- chia seeds + hemp seeds + protein powder + half cup almond mill. That’s 35g of protein for breakfast. Sometimes I’ll put collagen in my coffee - so total morning protein is 42g.
- lunch today was 4.5 oz rotisserie chicken with Greek salad, romaine, and avocado - 37g of protein.
- dinner was 6oz meatballs in tomato sauce with half cup of cottage cheese - 38g.

Still had room for snacks!!
 
@dikaioumenoi Eggs and canned fish are my go-tos, in addition to various flavors of protein powder and soy milk. I also recently discovered skyr recently, and found our that i have more protein content than the usual greek yogurt i buy. I will eat more of it now that it is slightly warmer.
 
@dikaioumenoi I think if you cut out the protein bars you’ll have more room. At 300 a pop they aren’t worth it. Try Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, some cubed chicken or even cubed ham as a snack. That’ll give you another 150 calorie for dinner.

Protein shakes can be ok, but look for ones that give you at least 25g of protein for 10-120 calories. Higher than that and it’s a bunch of filler.
 
@dikaioumenoi I try to get less than 50g a day from supplements, with ~160g of protein & 1600 calories. I do a scoop of protein powder in my oatmeal for 25g & sometimes a scoop of collagen for another 18g, that's less than 250 calories. I also like adding cottage cheese to things or eating as a snack & base my meals around 6oz of protein (chicken breast is 52g in 6oz).
 
@dikaioumenoi I eat between 1600-1700 and get about 100-120g of protein a day.

For work day breakfast I do 300 g of whole milk cottage cheese with 10g chia seeds and 150-200 g berries. This is between 450-500 calories with 40 g protein and 15 g fiber. Super super filling.

Other breakfasts include overnight oats using Greek yogurt, chia seeds, almond milk and berries, or hot oatmeal with berries and chia seeds and either a vegan protein powder and water that's 130 cal 20 g protein, or 3/4 cup egg whites that also add about 20 g of protein. The goal is to start most days with 30g+ of protein for me.

Lunch is usually leftover dinner from the day before.

Easy dinners are either a combo of 6-8.5 oz of a protein (usually chicken thighs or salmon once a week) and either a starchy veggie like squash or sweet potato and a green veg, and sometimes I add a serving of carbs like quinoa, farro, or rice depending on what I've got left calorie wise.

I make a lot of soups that are high protein, either chicken soup, lentil soup, bean soup, curry with tofu...And I do ground meat skillets that include turkey or beef, beans, quinoa, veggies, and some sort of tomato or enchilada sauce. Basically just a good balance of a protein, carbs and some fat.

Snacks are usually fruit and maybe a 1/2 serving of nuts.

Honestly, loading up on 30-40 g of protein in the morning sets me up for success! And not relying on protein bars/snacks lets me eat a higher volume of food and add more fiber. I aim for 30+ g of fiber a day as I'm a high risk for colon cancer. It lets me have more variety, too!
 
@dikaioumenoi For more micronutrients: drink a greens and reds blend and take a multivitamin.

Food:
I use an egg cooker from Sam’s club and in the AM I drop 2 eggs, cut up some deli Turkey or chicken (4 slices), and add pre prepped spinach, onion, pepper etc and cheese into the omelette thing and it cooks it for me in a few minutes. So easy!! Usually around ~42g, can remove any ingredients to lower cals but it’s only around 345 cals as is.

Mid morning I have a protein shake 30g (premier protein) and pre lunch I’ll have a protein forward snack like hummus, or tuna with a cracker or veggie if I am hungry.

Lunch is usually a salad or bowl with small amount of protein, I rotate mine so I don’t get bored but think 3oz of chicken or salmon.

Dinner is generally something with 4oz protein, whole grain, and veggie

For dessert I have Greek yogurt with a scoop of vanilla protein powder, pb2, and banana. You can sub the fruit or just eat the Greek yogurt protein mix to cut cals.

This gets me to my goal of 110g consistently, and I don’t feel hungry. Sometimes I can’t even get it all down in a day but I try to focus on protein then veggies under those circumstances.

I measure everything out per meal to make sure I’m not busting over on calories and am hitting my macros but regardless of whether I cut or bulk I can typically keep this structure of meals in rotation and have also forced myself to learn how to enjoy cooking so I create variety as I go!

I’ve been going strong for almost 4 months and have only lost around 5lbs, but my body is starting to look completely different.
 
@dikaioumenoi For breakfast I have
3 chobani zero sugar yogurts 180 cals 33g protein
And 1 cup of liquid eggs (fried) 125 cals 25g protein
305 cals 58g protein

For lunch I have
4oz oscar mayer turkey 100cals 18g protein
2/3 cup Greek yogurt 100 cals 17g protein
2 slices 35 cal bread 70 cals 4g protein
Yellow mustard
270 cals 39g protein

For dinner I have
5oz chicken breast 234 cals 44g protein
Stovetop stuffing (no butter) 330cals 12g protein
Random veg 100cal estimated.
664 cals 56g protein

Total day 1239 cals 153g protein

Sometimes I have porkloin instead of chicken 🤷‍♀️
 
@dikaioumenoi I drink two protein shakes with fat free fair life and two scoops of iso protein powder. It’s about 80g protein right there for 300 cals. Always eat a lot of meat in my meals, the leanest like chicken breast. I take in about 138-153g a day at 1500 cals.
 
@dikaioumenoi A low calorie high protien snack for me has been cocktail shrimp. I'll buy one of those 60 piece appetizer trays and that will be 4 servings for me, 22g protein and 140 calories (before the cocktail sauce)
 
@dikaioumenoi half my protein comes from protein powder

Also I have SICK protein oats recipe that I'm gonna share. It's soo good and clocks in 30g+ protein

Ingredients:
  • 30g plain quick oats
  • 1 scoop (go big, get a real big scooop) of your favourite (sugar free, clean as possible) flavour of whey protein powder (i guess others might work but whey acts similar to milk) I like vanillla best
  • frozen strawberries
  • frozen raspberries
  • banana (preferably fresh)
Method:
  1. add frozen strawberries (like 3 or 4?) to a the 30g dry oats.
  2. add JUST enough water to make everything wet
  3. microwave for 2 min
  4. while the oats are microwaving, scoop protein powder into jug
  5. add JUST enough water for it to become like paste/yoghurt consistency
  6. mix with spoon
  7. when oats are done, add protein powder to cooked coats
  8. mix with spoon
  9. crush some frozen raspberries on top
  10. slice your banana on top (if using frozen banana slices, add in with strawberries in step 1. it's not as nice but still fine)
  11. take a photo and show your mum/grandma/discord group/reddit/instagram followers
  12. mix everything together and thoroughly enjoy
I hate protein shakes, but there is much you can do with protein powder besides drink it! (if you have a chooclate one, you can make a shake and microwave it in increments of 10 seconds to create protein hot chocolate)

The calories are about 390-400 depending on how much banana and protein powder you use. But I have this every day for my first meal, and it tastes so good and amazing.
 
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