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Originally Posted by JDmoving
Ok. Now I've even more confused.
So 56 g for dinner is too much? I suspected as such since that would be give me around 110 g per day which seems like a **** of a lot for a 5'1 121lb woman. I just assumed she was saying 56g because it is so low everything else.
What is the consensus on the amount of protein for dinner? 30 - 40 grams or higher? What have the other vegetarians gotten from their coaches?
It's weird that your coach said: 1) eat 56g of protein for dinner OR 2) eat half the recommended amount of vegetable protein PLUS one packet. I understand the second recommendation, maybe that ends up being lower in carbs/fat than straight up vegetable protein? Maybe you could alternate that plan with vegetable protein. Ignore suggestion #1 - 56 grams seems like way too much for a single meal! Ick. Did you follow up with this coach for clarification?
I don't have a coach but I have read a lot about low carb/ketogenic diets... the numbers wahoofan gives are common ... but I find on IP that I usually get a bit more than that. Let's say 15g for each of 3 packets and 30g for dinner = 75g, but then veggies have varying amounts of protein themselves....
In
an article about nutrient absorption:
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Fats are absorbed with about 97% efficiency (e.g. if you eat 100 grams fat, you’ll absorb 97 grams of them), animal source proteins are about 90-95%, vegetable source proteins can be in the 80% range and carbohydrates vary drastically depending on their form, fiber content, etc.
Maybe vegetarians need to aim a bit higher because of decreased absorption of vegetable proteins? I would still keep it at around 40g for dinner -
personally.
Anyway, if you read through the vegetarian threads linked here, you will find lots of information, some of which came from people with actual coaches. They do seem to allow nontraditional items like Greek yogurt and cottage cheese for vegetarians, though I haven't taken advantage of that. The list I have from someone's coach has a lot of name-brand stuff on it, so not that useful, but it includes: eggs, egg whites, veggie burgers, Smart Dogs, tofu, tempeh, edamame, Gimme Lean ground meat substitutes, Quorn products and cottage cheese. I don't recall ever seeing that vegetarians should eat more protein than the normal IP recommendations for dinner.
All that being said...
The bottom line is that 2 pounds/week is actually a good loss when you only have 20 pounds to lose and nothing should be changed based on that at all... I say carry on with what you were doing (maybe adding other protein sources beyond tofu if that was all you were eating for dinner...) unless you see weeks with no losses, then figure out if you need to change anything.
ETA:
FYI - My meal plan for today was: oatmeal with chayote, chili with peppers and mushrooms added, green salad, tofu/broccoli stirfry and a Quest bar. Calories: 952, net carbs 27, protein 91g (15 from each of 2 packets, 30 from the tofu, 20 from the Quest bar and the rest from the veggies)