Hitting daily protein intake

[broseph]

Okay, you go ahead and live on protein powder and vitamin pills, let us know how you go.

^This is basically what i do. How am i going? I'm fucking kicking ass.
By an extremely large margin, whey isolate is my primary protein source.

Same. Come at me bros.

[Sergio07]

So you

want to know how can one make sure of hitting the daily protein intake without counting calories, im kinda tired of counting and want to stop for some time and see how it goes

but it's really

mostly when going out to eat actually

So you are looking for advice on how to get enough protein, without checking how much protein you are getting, on days when you go out to eat. But you think protein is just a supplement.

Why not just order a grilled chicken breast to come on the side of your meal?
Is this person serious? It's hard to tell.

No I'm being serious, but I think I'm worrying too much about this, if I'm going to make sure to hit my daily protein I'll just include more high protein foods, if I'm going out and know that that meal won't have much protein I'll just have more protein earlier that day, or have a protein shake with that meal. To summarize I do think whey works to supplement and that's all, from how I see it, whey shouldn't replace most foods someone has in their diet; that can work, as most guys here have testified, but I don't feel like having protein shakes on every meal, but hey that's me, a lot of people here need to consume >200gr of protein per day, I know that most be difficult to do with chicken/meats/fish, so whey it's pretty convenient there.

[ChasingCurls69]

@Sergio07 why do you have this feeling towards whey? There's nothing inherent in meat/beans/whatever that makes it more of a food than whey, and those are all lower quality protein sources. You are adding a lot of unnecessary constraints to your problem and these are likely why you have this problem in the first place. You don't want to track and you are making it harder to get enough protein for yourself without tracking, so I'm not sure exactly what you're going for here.

[Sergio07]

@Sergio07 why do you have this feeling towards whey? There's nothing inherent in meat/beans/whatever that makes it more of a food than whey, and those are all lower quality protein sources. You are adding a lot of unnecessary constraints to your problem and these are likely why you have this problem in the first place. You don't want to track and you are making it harder to get enough protein for yourself without tracking, so I'm not sure exactly what you're going for here.

Oh I really don't know why I see whey that way (lol), but I think people here are missing the point, I take whey whenever I need it, and now that I think so I can agree with you that I'm putting unnecessary constraints to this. I'm really overthinking this as many of my other forum posts.

[windflower]

My go to has been drinking a shake each night. I use low fat milk and I treat it as a snack after dinner. When I am unsure of my protein intake that day, I will just add a scoop more. Typically vanilla protein powder.

[Sergio07]

My go to has been drinking a shake each night. I use low fat milk and I treat it as a snack after dinner. When I am unsure of my protein intake that day, I will just add a scoop more. Typically vanilla protein powder.

I decided to instead of having just three meals pear day I'll have a shake in between lunch and dinner with milk and whey, in that way I'll be able to maximize meal frequency and protein intake.

[cgeorg]

Sounds like a great plan!

[Stenson]

My go to has been drinking a shake each night. I use low fat milk and I treat it as a snack after dinner. When I am unsure of my protein intake that day, I will just add a scoop more. Typically vanilla protein powder.

I decided to instead of having just three meals pear day I'll have a shake in between lunch and dinner with milk and whey, in that way I'll be able to maximize meal frequency and protein intake.

This is what I do as well. Three square meals and a shake right after work (~4 PM). I'll add a carb source (usually fruit or oatmeal) with the shake if it's a training day.

[Sergio07]

My go to has been drinking a shake each night. I use low fat milk and I treat it as a snack after dinner. When I am unsure of my protein intake that day, I will just add a scoop more. Typically vanilla protein powder.

I decided to instead of having just three meals pear day I'll have a shake in between lunch and dinner with milk and whey, in that way I'll be able to maximize meal frequency and protein intake.

This is what I do as well. Three square meals and a shake right after work (~4 PM). I'll add a carb source (usually fruit or oatmeal) with the shake if it's a training day.

I've been doing it with half scoop of protein and 1-2 cups of milk, reason why is because in that way I can hit my calorie intake easier later at night.

[Chebass88]

...
No I'm being serious, but I think I'm worrying too much about this, if I'm going to make sure to hit my daily protein I'll just include more high protein foods, if I'm going out and know that that meal won't have much protein I'll just have more protein earlier that day, or have a protein shake with that meal.

This is a good plan.

I stopped supplementing with protein powder a few years ago. It makes me feel bloated all the time, and I don't like worrying about having to force feed myself. I get ~200g of protein most days. Some days are more, some less (Saturdays are always less). My breakfasts and lunches are almost always the same (2c brown rice, ~1lb ground turkey or chicken breast, raw vegetables), so that becomes pretty reliable.

[ErminK]

To answer the original question, I make sure I get enough protein by eating the same couple of meals and rotating them every couple of days. I know the approximate protein content in each one and just eat away. 300g of some lean meat and 200g of pasta or rice comes out to 80-ish grams of protein. Two meals like that and I'm basically set and almost eat whatever else I want (within reason) to get the calories up.

[Sergio07]

To answer the original question, I make sure I get enough protein by eating the same couple of meals and rotating them every couple of days. I know the approximate protein content in each one and just eat away. 300g of some lean meat and 200g of pasta or rice comes out to 80-ish grams of protein. Two meals like that and I'm basically set and almost eat whatever else I want (within reason) to get the calories up.

Yeah basically I can do that too, altough I like more putting a minimum protein target for each meal, so that comes around 35-40 grams for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the rest I fill it in the shake I'm having in the afternoon, but if I need to distribute protein in just 3 meals I'll leave most protein for later at dinner because I have quite a lot calories left at that time.

[SeanHerbison]

The Australian Institute of Sport, who we would hope knows something about building muscle

I've recently learned a new phrase. I like it, and I think it applies here. "Hope is not a plan." I can't speak for Australia, but at least here, the government recommendations are not generally not made with athletes in mind. And the few that are directly targeted at the non-average population (people that actually exercise) are made by the type of people who think gardening is as good as lifting/running/sports for general health and wellness.

And if you want useful government recommendations for people who are actually competitive in their chosen activity, forget it.

All this would provide 132g of protein, ... 117g fat and 111g carbs
...
someone training very hard would ... perhaps choose higher-fat things like more eggs, steak rather than chicken, etc.

That is already a huge proportion of your diet as fat. If that's the starting point, I doubt fat would be the optimal way to get more calories.

Why not just put down 2 scoops of whey at the end of the day? Seems like a pretty simple solution...

Simple but it's not something I'd like to do, I prefer to get most of my calories/macros from whole foods, not supplements

I understand that whey is technically food, but for me, for ME, I rather have 25gr of protein from meat/yogurt/beans (?) than from whey. The way I see it is that whey (or protein powders) just serve the purpose of supplement

There's nothing inherent in meat/beans/whatever that makes it more of a food than whey

ChasingCurls gets it. A lot of people seem to have drawn an arbitrary line between "food" and "food-like supplements". Whey protein is no more or less a supplement than yogurt, cereal, or bread. It's all just food that's been processed a certain way.

Now, if you simply prefer those other foods for some other reason, go for it. And in general, I do recommend simple, whole foods over processed foods, but there's not some inherent difference that makes whey count as a supplement and other things just count as food.

Is this person serious? It's hard to tell.

I think I'm worrying too much about this

I'm really overthinking this as many of my other forum posts.

Yes, he is. And yes, you are.

Most or all of us were in a similar situation at some point in our lives. When you're starting off and seeing good results, it's hard to separate what matters most from what matters very little, and which things are contributing to your success. It takes time to learn.

Protein powder isn't harmful except perhaps to your wallet.

Assuming that you care about cost per macro, rather than cost per calorie (where I've found nothing that beats rice), protein powder is definitely one of the cheapest options. I just bought a 5 kg bag for $47 from MyProtein. That's two hundred 19 g servings, or 3800 g of protein. Compare that to chicken, or even tuna, and depending on local prices, whey probably comes out on top.

Protein powder is most useful for

1. those who are in caloric deficit ...
2. skinny people who are physically not used to eating a lot of food, and
3. those who want to gain weight in a hurry...

4. Those who like convenience and want something with almost no prep time.


I'm not pro- or anti-whey. I have a good supply at home, but I don't use it that much except when travelling. I generally prefer eating chicken and beef to drinking protein shakes. But there's nothing inherently inferior about whey from a nutritional standpoint, and no reason not to consider it real food.

Now I'm off to eat my chicken and potatoes.

[Wilhelm]

Whey isolate is by far my cheapest protein source.
I buy 18 ct racks of free range eggs for $4.99, and those come in 2nd price wise.

If whey is more harmful to your wallet than any other of your protein sources, you're doing buying it wrong.

[cgeorg]

Whey isolate is by far my cheapest protein source.
I buy 18 ct racks of free range eggs for $4.99, and those come in 2nd price wise.

If whey is more harmful to your wallet than any other of your protein sources, you're doing buying it wrong.

Costco has 24ct free range eggs for $4.79 btw. If you don't care about free range costco eggs are a dream, they have... 60ct? packs for some ridiculously low price. Maybe 72ct.

[Wilhelm]

Whey isolate is by far my cheapest protein source.
I buy 18 ct racks of free range eggs for $4.99, and those come in 2nd price wise.

If whey is more harmful to your wallet than any other of your protein sources, you're doing buying it wrong.

Costco has 24ct free range eggs for $4.79 btw. If you don't care about free range costco eggs are a dream, they have... 60ct? packs for some ridiculously low price. Maybe 72ct.

A costco here would probably double the town's population.

We are so damn lucky we can get things like kim chee at the local grocery.
They do pretty well, considering this is a former mill town, well north of anything called a city.

[cgeorg]

Whey isolate is by far my cheapest protein source.
I buy 18 ct racks of free range eggs for $4.99, and those come in 2nd price wise.

If whey is more harmful to your wallet than any other of your protein sources, you're doing buying it wrong.

Costco has 24ct free range eggs for $4.79 btw. If you don't care about free range costco eggs are a dream, they have... 60ct? packs for some ridiculously low price. Maybe 72ct.

A costco here would probably double the town's population.

We are so damn lucky we can get things like kim chee at the local grocery.
They do pretty well, considering this is a former mill town, well north of anything called a city.

Ah yes, I forgot for a moment that you live in the arctic.

[damufunman]

Whey isolate is by far my cheapest protein source.
I buy 18 ct racks of free range eggs for $4.99, and those come in 2nd price wise.

If whey is more harmful to your wallet than any other of your protein sources, you're doing buying it wrong.

Costco has 24ct free range eggs for $4.79 btw. If you don't care about free range costco eggs are a dream, they have... 60ct? packs for some ridiculously low price. Maybe 72ct.

5 dozen for about $10! It's awesome, might even be free range (cage free?)

[Sergio07]

The Australian Institute of Sport, who we would hope knows something about building muscle

I've recently learned a new phrase. I like it, and I think it applies here. "Hope is not a plan." I can't speak for Australia, but at least here, the government recommendations are not generally not made with athletes in mind. And the few that are directly targeted at the non-average population (people that actually exercise) are made by the type of people who think gardening is as good as lifting/running/sports for general health and wellness.

And if you want useful government recommendations for people who are actually competitive in their chosen activity, forget it.

All this would provide 132g of protein, ... 117g fat and 111g carbs
...
someone training very hard would ... perhaps choose higher-fat things like more eggs, steak rather than chicken, etc.

That is already a huge proportion of your diet as fat. If that's the starting point, I doubt fat would be the optimal way to get more calories.

Why not just put down 2 scoops of whey at the end of the day? Seems like a pretty simple solution...

Simple but it's not something I'd like to do, I prefer to get most of my calories/macros from whole foods, not supplements

I understand that whey is technically food, but for me, for ME, I rather have 25gr of protein from meat/yogurt/beans (?) than from whey. The way I see it is that whey (or protein powders) just serve the purpose of supplement

There's nothing inherent in meat/beans/whatever that makes it more of a food than whey

ChasingCurls gets it. A lot of people seem to have drawn an arbitrary line between "food" and "food-like supplements". Whey protein is no more or less a supplement than yogurt, cereal, or bread. It's all just food that's been processed a certain way.

Now, if you simply prefer those other foods for some other reason, go for it. And in general, I do recommend simple, whole foods over processed foods, but there's not some inherent difference that makes whey count as a supplement and other things just count as food.

Is this person serious? It's hard to tell.

I think I'm worrying too much about this

I'm really overthinking this as many of my other forum posts.

Yes, he is. And yes, you are.

Most or all of us were in a similar situation at some point in our lives. When you're starting off and seeing good results, it's hard to separate what matters most from what matters very little, and which things are contributing to your success. It takes time to learn.

Protein powder isn't harmful except perhaps to your wallet.

Assuming that you care about cost per macro, rather than cost per calorie (where I've found nothing that beats rice), protein powder is definitely one of the cheapest options. I just bought a 5 kg bag for $47 from MyProtein. That's two hundred 19 g servings, or 3800 g of protein. Compare that to chicken, or even tuna, and depending on local prices, whey probably comes out on top.

Protein powder is most useful for

1. those who are in caloric deficit ...
2. skinny people who are physically not used to eating a lot of food, and
3. those who want to gain weight in a hurry...

4. Those who like convenience and want something with almost no prep time.


I'm not pro- or anti-whey. I have a good supply at home, but I don't use it that much except when travelling. I generally prefer eating chicken and beef to drinking protein shakes. But there's nothing inherently inferior about whey from a nutritional standpoint, and no reason not to consider it real food.

Now I'm off to eat my chicken and potatoes.

Wow Sean what an awesome reply. Thank you, I really appreciate any guidance that you could offer. Since the past week I made some changes to my diet, guess I'll need to get used to it and the results will come, I do not need to stress with little things like this, and you know what, after posting this thread I started seeing whey differently, although I still prefer eating beef or chicken, now I use whey seeing it as any other type of food.

Also a side note, MyProtein is one of the cheapest online protein sellers, I bought like 11lb of whey for just 30 bucks.

[SeanHerbison]

I bought like 11lb of whey for just 30 bucks.

Dang. And I thought I got a pretty good deal at $47.