Calculating Protein Intake

[VishVingers]

Hi. Im relatively new to this, probably 4 months. Am aiming for 70g protein a day as I am active male 70kg. When I calculate that I have trouble getting much over 60g a day.

I have porridge and bananna with soy milk for breakfast (15g protein), soup or veg chill and 2 slices seeded bread for lunch (20g protein), a latte and 2 cups of tea with soy milk (7g protein) and then dinner (15-20g protein). I was eating a handful of peanuts as a snack each day, but started putting on weight.

Everyone says its easy to get enough protein but I eat a lot and am always stuffed. I feel like I am missing something. Maybe I am calculating my intake incorrectly or something, or should swap normal carbs for legumes?

Thank you!

 

[Emma JC]

welcome to the forum

I am not a nutritionist... the "standard" recommendation is .75 grams per kilogram which would put you at a bit less than 70 grams

A cup of chickpeas is 39 grams... I can eat an entire can, pretty easily by myself and that is more than a cup. Add a few walnuts to your oatmeal and some more beans throughout the day. I personally wouldn't delete any of the starches I would just add more lentils (I put split red lentils in my steel cut oats and soy curl crumbs in my regular rolled oat porridge), beans, chickpeas etc.

I am sure that if @Lou was here he would recommend Cronometer and so I will do so in his stead.

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

 

[Lou]

First off congrats and welcome to the forum

The number one issue I encounter is that many people Over-estimate their protein requirements.
You may be doing that as well. Although usually the people I run into over estimate it so much higher. I am leaning on the idea that you might have it right.

However.... The RDA for someone like you is 57 g. WHO puts it at 66. So maybe your protein goal is a little high.

So maybe you have nothing to worry about.

But just for a minute lets address how you Could increase your protein intake,
(oh, btw, I really like your example meal plan)

One of the issues that most people overlook is Protein Absorption. It's still sort of a new concept. And it is hard to study but there is a consensus that you can only absorb about 20 g per meal. And you are almost doing that right now.

So the answer is probably not adding protein to your meals but adding a meal. Or a snack.

And forget the peanuts. Although a handful of nuts a day IS a good thing to include, peanuts are what I like to call little fat bombs.

Anyway, adding a snack is probably the way to go. And if you are full after each meal adding stuff to you meal isn't really a good idea anyway.
And you know I sometimes have two snacks- one between lunch and dinner and then one after dinner.

I've already added two links to protein calculators, I will also add a link to snack ideas.

---------------

Protein for Vegetarians (& the myth of incomplete proteins)

Protein Calculator

This free protein calculator estimates the amount of protein a person needs each day to remain healthy based on certain averages and recommendations.

www.calculator.net

30+ Tasty High-Protein Vegan Snacks (Portable & Easy) – Nutriciously

 

[VishVingers]

Hi Emma. Thank you so much for this! I was looking at a tin of chickpeas - 400g or 240g drained. On the tin it says 20g of protein. I can eat a tin of them but not rice and veg too. That means I struggle to get much more than 20g of protein per meal unless I have tofu or some more concentrated form of protein. I was eating nuts to get more protein but was starting to put on weight.

I do eat a lot - I notice this when I go away with friends, I tend to eat more than them, so I'm surprised I'm finding it difficult.

I'm sure I'm calculating it wrongly or something. I'm constantly full and can't eat enough.

Will take a look at that link. Thank you!!!! Jim

 

[VishVingers]

Hey Lou - thank you so much for this. Will take a look tonight. Thank you!!! Jim

 

[Lou]

Oh, on second thought.

Earlier I said, "The number one issue I encounter is that many people Over-estimate their protein requirements. "

Yes, that is true - but it's not the number one issue I encounter with new vegans. The number one issue I run into with new vegans is that they just don't eat enough calories.

And then @Emma mentioned CronOmeter. So I went ahead and put your sample meal plan into CronOmetrer. I took some liberties because I don't have all the data but I feel I'm close enough with as you stated, around 50 g of protein a day,

I was sort of surprised on how few calories you are eating.

One thing that doesn't add up is that without the peanuts you should be losing weight steadily. It's odd that a handful of peanuts would put you into weight gaining.

So the next thing that came to mind is exercise. You said you are active but what does that mean? in my book that means you are exercising almost every day. (150 minutes of moderate exercise per week or 90 strenuous)

So it might be that you can eat more and not gain weight - if you exercise more.

Chronometer info below.

 

[VishVingers]

Thank you so much for this. That website is great. Here is my diary for today. I exercise 6 days a week, alternating a 5 mile jog with resistance sessions, and tend to be moving around generally on my rest day. Average calories used per day for last 7 days according to Garmin are 2477.



So it doesn't look like I have much to worry about in terms of protein. I was eating quite a few nuts and seeds to try and boost my protein intake, which probably isnt necessary. I'm trying to lose a few kilos at the moment so running a bit of a deficit is a good thing.

I will be using this app quite a bit for the next week and see how it turns out. This is such useful advice. Thank you!!!

 

[Lou]

Thank you!!!

That's great. You are really doing great macro nutrient wise.

Have you discovered the CronOmeter app? It's free but with ads. You can update your dairy on it. and it even scans barcodes.

Also be sure to investigate the "recipes" function on the website. It's a major time saver.

oh, and check out the CronOmeter thread we have here.

How are you doing micro nutrient wise.
That is another way that Chronometer shines. you can see check at a glance if you are short on something. For instance, for some reason I have a problem with Magnesium and Potassium.

Are those the default nutrient targets or did you choose them yourself?
your target goals don't look right to me.
I set up my own targets.
You can set up fixed values but I prefer the macro ratios that are "the proportion of energy from each macronutrient."
A lot of people claim that the best or ideal ratio is is 20/60/20 (P - C - F)
I had a lot of trouble getting protein above 20 and fat under 20 on a regular basis.
Many other vegans have had the same issue.
So I changed mine to 15/60/25*
Just a minor tweak but I like seeing all green bars.

You can change yours by going to Settings> Profile +Targets>Macronutrient Targets

It's not important. It doesn't change anything but the color of those little bars. For me that is a quick guide to evaluation. And sort of some kind of feedback to make me feel good.


*. There is a lot of wiggle room here.
Dr. Sears of The Zone says for athletes you want 30/40/30
and raw food vegans shoot for 10/80/10.

 

[VishVingers]

Hi Lou. Thanks so much for this. I have the app on my phone and tried the barcode function this morning. Thanks so my for the custom recipe tip. That will save a load of time. Yesterday my micronutrients were mainly fine, minerals all 97%+, apart from vitamins A, D and E. Will monitor this after doing a week's diary. I really appreciate the help with this. I was significantly under-counting my protein and couldn't seem to eat enough.

 

[Lou]

I used to think that being in Sunny California, and getting outside for exercise a lot, I didn't need a Vitamin D supplement .But when I asked my Dr. to test for it - it was in the "too low" range. He recommended a Vitamin D supplement and the last time I had it checked it was at the low range of adequate. so I'm still taking it. I think we have a thread on Vitamin D, too

Vitamin B12 is complicated. I don't want to get into the specifics we already have a lot of info here in other threads. But as a vegan you Have to supplement it. At 84% you must be relying on fortified foods - which Is fine buy you need a little more or perhaps a supplement.

I don't see much downside to taking a multi. It Could be a waste of money. but most are so cheap. I take DEVA tiny tablets. They take the minimalist approach to a multi. And at 4¢ a day - it's just cheap insurance.

Vitamin B12

Dr. Greger’s Vitamin B12 Recommendations At least 2,000 mcg (µg) cyanocobalamin once each week, ideally as a chewable, sublingual, or liquid supplement taken on an empty stomach or at least 50 mcg daily of supplemental cyanocobalamin (you needn’t worry about taking too much) or servings of...

www.veganforum.org

 

[VishVingers]

Hi. Yep - B12 and D are coming just from Soya milk. Will look into the mulit-vits. Thank you!

 

[Lou]

Hi. Yep - B12 and D are coming just from Soya milk. Will look into the mulit-vits. Thank you!

Soy milk is great. there are the added vitamins and calcium, plus all that protein. I think 3 - 4 servings of fortified foods could meet your requirements.
I used to do 3 glasses of soy milk a day. One with my oatmeal or cold cereal. One with my afternoon snack. and one after dinner smoothie.
Around here soy milk has gotten expensive and the supply is inconsistent. So I'm going with D, B12, and a multi supplements.

 

[beforewisdom]

Just log your meals at cronometer.com. It will automatically calculate the protein you ate as well as the nutrients you ate. It will also tell you how far off you are from getting your daily requirements.

 

[Lou]

Just log your meals at cronometer.com. It will automatically calculate the protein you ate as well as the nutrients you ate. It will also tell you how far off you are from getting your daily requirements.

He just started doing that. Please keep up.

 

[VishVingers]

Hiya. Just a quick note to say thank you all for your help and advice. I finished monitoring my diet and it was as you said Lou. Protein no problem but there are a few nutrients that I'm not quite getting enough of and are difficult to get naturally so am taking mulitvits and minerals. Thank you again!

 

[Lou]

Hiya. Just a quick note to say thank you all for your help and advice. I finished monitoring my diet and it was as you said Lou. Protein no problem but there are a few nutrients that I'm not quite getting enough of and are difficult to get naturally so am taking mulitvits and minerals. Thank you again!

Although the supplements are a good idea, a better idea is to look at your diet and get those hard to find vitamins and minerals in real food.

Cronometer even gives you some help there, too. Just hover over any of the micronutrients and it will tell you some of the best sources. Although sometimes the best sources are meat. So then you have to google something like "best source for ______"

One of the advantages of real food is that they also contain some nutrients that we don't even know about or understand. Thinks like phytonutrients and antioxidants.

 

[VishVingers]

Thanks Lou! The ones I'm low on are vitamin D and B12. I get all my B12 from soya milk, but not quite enough and as it's a fortified product anyway I figured it didn't matter if I got the extra required from the milk or a pill.

For vitamin D I get a bit from the soya milk, but no-where near enough and a tiny bit when I eat mushrooms but still no-where near enough. I spend a fair amount of time outside and am white-skinned so will get a decent amount from sunlight, but live in the UK so probably won't get enough in the winter.

Otherwise I seem to get a good amount of most other things. Thank you!