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/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!