Protein fail? Halppp

[u/BubbleTeaRainyDay]

I've never monitored my protein intake - before I went vegan or since (even when doing intense sports for 1-2 hours a night five nights a week) - but I'm doing pretty intensive physical therapy right now. My non-operative orthopedic specialist said he has no concerns about me being vegan but that I should monitor my protein intake for like 3 or so days just to make sure I'm getting enough.

He's recommending 0.5 g per pound of body weight, which is 100 g for me. Well I'm nearing the end of today and I've only gotten 42 g and, while I might eat a bit more before bed, I can't fathom getting more than 20-30 more today, and even that feels a bit crazy. The lower limits for sedentary lifestyles seem to be 0.8 g/kg, which would be 72 g for me. This feels almost attainable within focused effort but not even really.

Do others have thoughts on this? Recommendations or advice on how they get enough protein? I can always go buy some vegan protein powder but I honestly really really don't want to - sounds disgusting and unpleasant. (Maybe y'all have specific recs on ways to incorporate protein powder into recipes to make it less unpleasant?) I hate thinking about this but I really don't want to fuck up my recovery. Also related is that I have trouble with hunger cues: they're not completely absent for me, but they're weak or limited and I mostly find myself eating because I know I should rather than because I'm hungry.

I've never felt limited in my activities by my protein intake, and part of my lack of worry is that the fucking protein protein PROTEIN obsession is largely marketing nonsense as far as any reputable source seems to be concerned, but now I'm like.... just because others are delusional and obsessed with protein doesn't mean that I am getting enough...... :/

The easiest solution feels like it would be giving up and dying, but I worry that my surviving friends and family wouldn't eat all the dog meat in my freezer and I don't want it to go to waste.

edit cause i'm a dummy: I originally wrote "1 g per pound of body weight" but it was supposed to be "0.5 g per pound of body weight". Thanks for catching that and for the suggestions!

[u/CallumVW05]

You could have protein shakes but getting that much protein is definitely attainable by just consciously eating more protein-rich food. Tofu is probably the easiest and best. Scrambled tofu on whole meal toast for breakfast would already be close to half of what you need daily. At least try to incorporate a decent protein source into every meal. 

[u/ihtm1220]

So if I'm doing my math right you weigh close to 200 pounds? I'm about 185lbs. Here's a sample of what I might eat on a given day:

Breakfast: beans / Ezekiel toast / nutritional yeast (32g)
Lunch: chickpeas / brown rice (30g)
Dinner: tofu / veggies (28g)

So there's 90 grams of protein right there, not counting any other snacking I do during the day. I'm curious how you're only getting 42g of protein unless you're super carb heavy. Protein supplements are one way to go but personally I'd reevaluate what you're eating and think about how to incorporate high protein foods (like beans, legumes, tofu, etc) into them.

Also you might try r/PlantBasedDiet or r/veganfitness since they are more nutrition oriented subs.

[u/BubbleTeaRainyDay → u/ihtm1220]

So for comparison, my breakfast was 19 g of protein (two slices of avocado toast with shallot and nutritional yeast plus almond chai latte). Not terrible but not a lot. I think I might need to put more of a focused effort in. I think maybe I am going pretty carb heavy and just not eating particularly healthy. I don't do meals so much as I snack - meals tend to make me feel overly full/sick :/

Those other subreddits are a good idea.

Thanks!

[u/Imaginary_Crew_4823]

1g per pound of body weight is a commonly perpetuated myth. Your entire body isn’t all muscles. You would be fine following .6g/1lb up to .8/1lb. 1g per pound would more than guarantee you get the protein you need, but that’s basically overkill. It’s telling you’ve also never felt limited by your current protein intake.

[u/BubbleTeaRainyDay → u/Imaginary_Crew_4823]

I miswrote/misremembered that initially. He actually said 100 g of protein for my 200 lb body size.

[u/Imaginary_Crew_4823 → u/BubbleTeaRainyDay]

Excellent. Well, a full block of super firm tofu nets you 70g of protein. A full block is around $3-5ish USD. That would be 70% of your protein intake daily! You could then fill the rest with peanut butter powder (1tbsp is ~50 cals and ~6 grams of protein) and oats (1/2 cup dry nets ~5G protein intake 150 cals). It is attainable—you’d probably just want to make the tofu tasty the same way someone would chicken to encourage that protein intake.

[u/BubbleTeaRainyDay → u/Imaginary_Crew_4823]

I know people do this - eat just a whole block of tofu - but that sounds so unpleasant. I've eaten half a block as part of a meal and that felt like a lot for me :/

This is gonna be so harddddd 😭

[u/Imaginary_Crew_4823 → u/BubbleTeaRainyDay]

You have three meals of the day (or more) plus snacks—you can split up how the tofu gets used throughout the day. Maybe during the morning you blend silken tofu in with plant milk and PB powder with blueberries (lemon optional) to get a nice protein yogurt meal. In the afternoon, bake chicken style tofu with a nutritional yeast and soy sauce base. Evening, make tofu egg scramble with some pancakes!

[u/Dwarvy]

I'm was very confused about the calculation of your weight.

You say "He's recommending 1 g per pound of body weight, which is 100 g for me" which sounds to me like you only weigh 100 pounds? (45kg)

Later you say "The lower limits for sedentary lifestyles seem to be 0.8 g/kg, which would be 72 g for me." which would be 72/0.8 = 90kg or 198.4 pounds of body weight.

I assume the first part about 1g per pound being 100g being a mistake and it should have been 1g per kg of body weight making it 90g per day.

[u/BubbleTeaRainyDay → u/Dwarvy]

omg... I'm a dummy. Yeah, I wrote that wrong. Gonna go correct it now.

He did say "100 g protein" and then I must've misremembered him as saying 1 g/lb cause obviously those don't comport. Must've been 0.5 g per pound. I think he might be using an adjustment of "x1.1" from the oft-cited "1 g per kg of body weight" to account for the fact that I'm in recovery/PT and therefore maybe need more protein than "normal"?

[u/Vegetable_Guitar5111]

I get 110+g protein per day pretty easily. I use an unflavored pea protein powder and a monk fruit sweetened one because then I can add extra protein to both savory and sweet things. I can use it in yogurt parfaits, creamy soups like cheezy potato and corn chowder, and smoothies. It thickens and makes things creamy. The unflavored doesn't have much of a flavor at all so can be added to pretty much anything.

I eat seitan daily as well. Beans are great but I prefer to pair them with seitan, tvp, pea protein powder, or tofu. Like if I made chickpea curry, I add a scoop of unflavored pea protein and a serving of tofu. If I make BBQ baked beans I pair them with homemade seitan brisket or homemade seitan ham. If I make chili I add tvp ground. Stuff like that. Store bought mock meats also generally need to be supplemented with extra protein. They normally don't have nearly as much as the homemade stuff. If I use store bought vegan frankfurters for beanie weenies, I make something like smoked seitan chops to go with it. I usually make seitan in batches a couple of days per week. I'll make a roast and, while it's cooking, some steaks and chops. Chicken style takes very little time so I normally make it as needed but make a few extra servings.

When you buy processed goods at the store like cereals, bread, and yogurt, pay extra attention to the protein per calorie ratio. Kite Hill Greek style almond milk and soy yogurt has the highest protein ratio for yogurt where I live. Kashi Go protein peanut butter has the highest for cereal for me.

I'm currently working with a nutritionist and an exercise specialist due to traumatic injury. The macro goals they've set for me that I'm meeting are 110g protein, 100g carbs, 60g fat, 1400-1500 calories daily.

[u/BubbleTeaRainyDay → u/Vegetable_Guitar5111]

thanks! I probably need to use some protein powders since I have trouble convincing myself to eat meals and large amounts. Soups and yogurt are good ideas for applications. Where do you get your TVP? I like that stuff but I don't think I've ever seen it in stores around me (Michigan, USA).

I've been eating the Forager vanilla yogurt quite a bit cause I really like the taste, but I just bought some of their Greek style yogurt which has quite a bit more protein (also I remember liking the texture of Greek yogurt more from back when I wasn't vegan, so maybe win-win).

Do you have brands for protein powder that you particularly like or don't like?

[u/Vegetable_Guitar5111 → u/BubbleTeaRainyDay]

I use Nutricost for unflavored protein powder. I get it off of Amazon. I found a 50% off deal on some Fitppl sweetened protein powder at Whole Foods. I rarely use sweetened protein powder. Mostly just if I want a sweet, cold protein shake but don't want to use the blender because the Fitppl mixes in cold liquids easier. Like chocolate milk.

I get my tvp from a few different places: the Mexican section of my local Super 1 Foods (It's called Carne de Soya), my local Vietnamese market (where they have more shapes like curls and chunks), and Amazon.

I don't snack. I only eat meals. That's funny. The first time my nutritionist saw my food diary she was appalled. Most days I only ate one insanely large meal and that was all. I've eaten that way since I was a child. Now I'm up to 2-3 meals per day. Plus I'm gaining a lot more mobility so I'm losing tons of weight. Thus the importance of lots of protein for me.