Confused by protein limits

(mole person) #21

Actually, this is the question I’ve had while reading this thread. You say the protein is too low to satiate you but are you actually hitting your daily fat macro? This is a high fat diet. The satiety is supposed to come from fat, not from protein at all. If you are eating a lean protein, like chicken breast, and NOT using plenty of non meat fats to satiate you than you will be hungry if you don’t eat either too much protein or too much carbs, both of which will hinder your weight loss. So do make sure you are hitting that fat target BEFORE you consider increasing protein if you want to maximize the efficacy of this diet.

(Lindsey) #22

Oooooooh, I thought the 37g figure was a maximum to eat rather than a minimum! That’s a relief! I try not to go overboard, which I think I may have been doing last month - going a bit crazy on the cheese, which is why I’m trying to keep an eye on it now… I’m hoping I can relax it after a while when I get a handle on exactly how much protein is in everything.
I’m not diabetic or pre-diabetic, so I don’t have any worries on that front.
Episode 70 is one of the ones that’s slipped by me since I don’t eat steak but it sounds like it might be good to listen to just from a protein angle so thanks for that pointer. :slight_smile:

(Lindsey) #23

Yup, I’m hitting my fat macros fine. And my carbs are always under 20. I’ll try to explain.

It’s not that the protein is too low to satiate me, it’s that I’m worried it’s too low to make a meaningful meal.

On a typical day I don’t eat in the day, doing IF, and when I get home I’ll often make a keto curry. If I make a butter chicken the sauce is made using a lot of butter and double cream (with plenty of spices). If I make a keto korma I’m using a lot of coconut oil, double cream and coconut milk (half a tin). Both of these curry sauces are very fat heavy and make up the majority of my fat target for the day.

My problem then is what do I put in the curry? If, using the 37g as an example, I have a low amount of protein to play with then I’m left with sauce (mostly yummy fat) but not a lot else. A chicken breast (being 37g) in the sauce, which already contains some protein in the cream and coconut milk would immediately take me over limit. I love veggies (which I carefully keep in my carb macro), but they too have protein.

So upping my fats isn’t an issue - I’m already hitting it, and I am satiated after my dinner. But I’m worried that if I’m going too much over my protein I may be sabotaging any weight loss goals without realising it.

Sorry it’s a long-winded answer. Hopefully that makes sense…?

(mole person) #24

I just want to check to make sure you’re doing your macros correctly. If you are having a chicken breast with 39 grams of protein the total weight of the chicken breast is going to be 125 grams, which is most of a chicken breast. Is that what you are eating, or are you trying to only eat 39 grams of chicken?

(mole person) #25

I miscalculated above. I was using cooked values of chicken breast rather than raw. The amount of chicken breast that actually gives you 39 g of protein is 184 g of chicken breast which is the size of a full breast of chicken.

(Lindsey) #26

On Friday my curry had 175g chicken (which came up on the tracker as 42g protein…?), along with bell pepper, broccoli, mushrooms. To be fair that day was more chicken heavy than an average day, and I tweaked my sauce to try to compensate, but it shot me straight over without adding on the veggies.
Whilst that might be a rare amount of chicken, I’m just using that as an example rather than it always being chicken (I don’t eat it that often). Cheese sauce for example can be a bit of a nightmare when you tot it up.

(mole person) #27

Do you find that you are losing weight despite going over? Not everyone needs to be quite as strict and based on your age and weight you may very well fall into that category. The macros these sites spit out at you are just guesstimates. They can have no idea what your actual metabolism is like. For example I’m regularly over both my protein and carbs by 10 grams each and stay deeply in ketosis and continue to lose weight.

If you are losing weight while eating more protein then I wouldn’t worry at all.

(Lindsey) #28

After my first two weeks on keto I started putting on about a lb a week, but this was before I was tracking my protein and why I decided it might be a good idea to look at it - I suspect I was going massively over without knowing it, grazing on too much cheese. I’ve only been keeping a close eye on the protein for a week, but keeping an eye on it without knowing what range it was supposed to be in was a bit tricky! :smiley: I’m in my second month so I’m doing a lot of playing around to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

(mole person) #29

I have to say it sounds to me like you are doing everything right. Playing around and finding the correct tolerances for your own body is EXACTLY what you should be doing. :slightly_smiling_face:

(Lindsey) #30

That’s good to hear, thanks! I keep having my moments of wondering if it’s going to work at all, or if I’m doing everything wrong, but I’m determined to stick with it.

(Karen) #31

I think Brenda did have some problems, and wouldn’t do it again. Might have needed offal. Who knows?. It was all muscle meat.

K

(Todd Gamel) #32

I think I should clarify my response, what I meant to say was I do not think the higher protein levels caused Brenda or Donna to gain any weight or hinder their ketosis. My intent was that she should not be overly concerned if she eats a few extra grams of protein. I know it caused some “wonky” labs, but I must admit I was pre-occupied in the kitchen when I was listening to this episode, so if there were any additional problems I may have missed it. It is true for some people depending on how insulin sensitive you are that higher levels of protein can cause an insulin response. Yea, I remember her saying she was not ready for another steak challenge :). Anyway, if my response confused anyone I apologize.

#33

How does one check their insulin sensitivity?

(bulkbiker) #34

I don’t think you are doing anything wrong at all. I usually eat about 140g of protein a day (thats my 2018 average so far) and don’t stress about it. I’m a guy weighing in at about 95 kg so should be way under that. Avg carbs 16g per day avg fat 177g per day.

(Brian) #35

You mentioned the protein content of your vegetables. To be honest, I pretty much ignore that. Maybe I shouldn’t, but I do. Most of the veggies that have any appreciable amount of protein I tend to avoid anyway. Mostly, they’re beans. The highest protein content in the veggies I eat would be spinach, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and avocado. I don’t think I make it to 10g of protein in my veggie consumption most days.

(Mike W.) #36

Do you only eat curries and only eat once a day all the time?

(Lindsey) #37

Nah, I eat a fair bit more on the weekends if I’m at home.
I do make other things too, it’s just curry is probably my favourite. If it’s a hot day I’ll make a tuna salad with a load of homemade mayo, and I like making cauliflower cheese too. I’m still expanding my go-to recipes for a bit more variety.

(Mike W.) #38

Meals or snacking?

(Lindsey) #39

On the weekends? Meals. I tend to make a fairly large breakfast, often a cheesy mushroom omelette, which usually tides me through to dinner.

(Mike W.) #40

Excellent.