Hi

I've been tracking my diet on fitday as of late, and I'm kind of astonished at how little protein I seem to be taking in, and how many carbs I eat .

I'm in weight loss mode, so I'm keeping myself to 1300 - 1500 calories. I eat oatmeal for breakfast, and have two slices of whole grain / seed bread per day. Other than that, I shy away from the bread products. I am a vegetarian however, which makes my fruit and veggie (carbs) intake rather high. It's in the 60% + range.

I'm looking for suggestions re: my carb intake, and ideas on how to up my protein intake. I'm already hard boiling eggs and eating the whites ... any further ideas? I'd prefer to eat real food rather than processed soy products or protein shakes if I can help it. Protein at the moment seems to make up about 15 - 20 % of my diet, and that's with me now trying to up it. Nuts aren't very attractive to me at the moment due to their high fat content.

All ideas welcomed. I'm female and log about 7 - 10 hours per week on the trainer. Weather here has not let me outside yet.

Soybeans are the only complete vegetable protein. There are lots of soybean options out there.

Your next best bet, I believe is a combination of beans and corn. Between the two, I believe they contain all the elements to be a complete protein.

Can vegetarians eat yogurt? If yes, then fat free yogurt is an awesome source of protein. The Greek Fage yogurt from Trader Joes is really delicious.

d'oh! I'd forgotten about yogurt. thanks for the reminder! and yes, soybeans are cool ... but limited. I try to stay away from the (yummy but suspicious) soy 'meats' and other processed products. Tofu is great, but only in limited doses, and only if I have the time to cook it.

I will up my bean intake, and I should eat more corn. thanks!

any other tips? esp. low cal / low fat protein sources other than egg whites that would be good post ride snacks?

Not quite correct, there are other sources such as quinoa.

And beans and grains don't need to be combined in the same meal as long as you get a good balance of them in your diet.

I agree on avoiding the processed versions. Tempeh is another "whole food" version of soy (fermented soy beans), I actually prefer this to tofu myself.

Take a couple eggs and beat them for a couple seconds. Whole eggs. Add some milk and beat some. Fry using Pam. It is a strange and exotic dish called scrambled eggs.

Quinoa, which is a grain is a complete protein. Try grains and legumes to get a complete protein. You could also try protein powders that are soy based. Lentils are almost a complete protein. If you will take in dairy, fish or eggs those all contain protein.

Is it true that you should aim for a rough 40% - 30% - 30% split between carbs, fat and protein? I seem to be more like 60% - 20% - 20% split, which, if the former is true, is way off. Calories are under control, but everything else seems out of whack, yes / no?

Spread some organic almond butter on your toast. Black beans on toast is great too.

Broccoli !!!!!!

That's a lot of broccoli.

I guess I don't see anything wrong with throwing some protein powder and making up a delicious smoothie....but there are plenty of good options already mentioned here. You might want to check into cottage cheese as well.

Nuts do have a fair bit of fat, but they're a great source of protein and other nutrients, and you don't typically eat a lot of them.

I'm also a vegetarian. Beans, cottage cheese and definitely the trader joe's greek yogurt are all good low fat protein sources.
I also agree about the nuts. I keep a bag of trail mix at my desk. Just a small amount is a healthy snack and I find that I don't get hungry again for quite a while after just eating a hand full. I keep a measuring cup handy to measure out servings.

Tempeh rocks! Crumbled up, sauteed in olive oil with garlic, and thrown into a salad. Mmmmm, good!

You might also look into whey protein - it's convenient.

Of course, if you're trying to eat like an athlete, it's hard to get enough high quality protein on a vegetarian diet. It's so much easier when you can include fish, chicken, turkey, etc. in your diet. Just one reason most elite athletes are non-vegetarians.

1 out of 4 = D

Spinach is loaded with good protein..

I believe mushrooms are also good for protein. I've seen "burgers" with a huge portabello instead of a patty.

there's a product available here that's called "just whites". ironically, that's what it contains, just egg whites.

i'll sauté some cubed tempeh, add some black beans, onion, salt and pepper, pour in a large bit of egg whites and cover it with good, fresh salsa once it's done. eaten w/ whole grain pita or corn tortillas i really enjoy the taste and think it's a well-rounded meal w/out a ton of calories.

as an aside, that is a ton of broccoli to eat to get 11g of protein.

of course you could eat 1/2 a kilo of romain lettuce... that's what? 5 gallons by volume? :-D

Either you either fail to understand statistics or you are extremely overestimating the fraction of the population that is vegetarian.

thanks for the tips everyone! some things I had just for some reason not thought of for a while, and others are new to me. I will try Tempeh for sure.

Thanks again.

btw - how much fat is generally considered OK for a diet which is focused on weight loss? I've been successful with the weight dropping thus far, but again (thanks to fitday) am a little shocked at how much fat I seem to be consuming ... I seem to be averaging about 25 - 30 grams a day (1300 - 1500k per day). This is too much, yes / no? It seem to be "good" fat, based on its sources (grains, seeds etc) for what it's worth.

Nah it's just filler in yet another vegetarian substitution to a historically meat containing recipe. At least they aren’t going as far as they normally do by processing the hell out of it to make a fake meat product… then calling it healthy.

Boca = processed garbage.

Nutrition Highlights
Portobello mushroom (raw), 100g
Calories: 26
Protein: 2.5g (far cry from the 40g+ you would get from a patty)
Carbohydrate: 5.1g
Total Fat: 0.2g
Fiber: 1.5g
*Excellent source of: Niacin (4.5mg)
*Good source of: Potassium (484mg), and Selenium (11mcg)

30x9kcal/g / 1400kcal/day = 19% of calories from fat, which is not much at all really.

Less than 3 grams of protein per 100 grams of spinach. For an athlete, that's not even close to a good source of protein. Most experts recommend 0.75-1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day.

And, as is true of nearly all vegetable proteins, it is not a source of "complete" protein (i.e., it lacks one or more of the 9 essential amino acids).

Yet another reason why it takes much more work and dietary vigilance to eat an "athlete's diet" as a vegetarian.


FWIW, I'm not opposed to vegetarianism, and acknowledge that there are many positive health measures associated with a diet that is mostly plant-based. But, for athletes, protein intake is critically important, and it's just too much work to ensure adequate, balanced amino acid intake on a veggie-only diet (at least, it is for me...YMMV).

Are you sure that's not .75-1 gram per kilo of body weight? If I tried to eat 170 grams of protein every day I think my kidneys would explode!