I read a lot on here about people having so much restriction that it's still difficult to satisfy your Protein requirements each day. Quite a few are lactose intolerant so it's not as simple as eating a Protein Bar or drinking a Protein Shake. Others are so sick of Protein Shakes that they're ready to do dire things! And still others have a lack of appetite (thank you surgery for doing your job--embrace it). But bottom line we ALL have personal responsibility to hack our own bad selves and figure out how to do what our surgeon and RD want us to do!
I thought it might help to see just what it would take in a world where you are limited to 1/2c-1c of food per meal by volume (about 2-4oz by weight) in a day. Whenever I meal plan, I start with the basics of things I'm either hungry for, or know are lean/dense protein. I don't try to get tricky. I keep those kinds of cheesy gooey meals for treats and feast days...not every day. So here's how I figure out how to plan my protein to get between 60-70g per day--if I'm trying NOT to use any kind of protein drink/protein cracker or sweet/protein supplement, etc.
RULE #1 Log your protein.
Begin with only 3 meals: B/L/D and see where you fall. As you can see, in 3 meals I'm getting 51g of protein from lean protein sources alone! Wow! Cool! 51g will do in a pinch, but it's still too low for everyday figures. Looks like we're gonna need some snacks! Ok, let's do it!
Breakfast: Microwave Egg Puff (no extra fat needed cuz it's cooked in a glass bowl in the microwave)
Lunch: Turkey and cheese Rollup (no extra fat needed cuz it's in the turkey and cheese)
Dinner: Grilled chicken (add up to 1 tsp of olive oil to cook the chicken with spices)
RULE #2 Add 2 Snacks to Your Day and Assess How Much Protein You Still Need.
It makes the most sense to add a Midmorning snack and an Afternoon Snack, but suppose you aren't hungry in the afternoon after your lunch? Well, I like going to bed on a satisfied tummy, so I'm inclined to add a Midmorning and a Bedtime Snack first just to see where we are with Protein Requirements! Here's the protein plan for the day with 2 snacks added into the mix. If you do nothing more than this, most of us will get by with protein until we're able to eat 3oz of protein at a meal. But, it's still kinda low so let's add 1 more Snack!
RULE #3 If Protein Is Still on the Low End, Add 1 More Snack!!!
If I need to add a snack #3 to the mix, I want it to be easy, low/no cook, maybe more sliderish in nature and be a little more less like a protein chore. So let's make it lactose free fun!?! And voila, for very little effort I'm smack where I need to be to get my daily protein in while only eating about 2oz of protein per meal by WEIGHT and around 1 ounce of protein by WEIGHT per snack. That's about 1/2c of protein by VOLUME per meal and about 1/4c of protein by VOLUME per snack. That assumes you will eat about every 3 hours. Now it's time to add your veggies!
RULE #4 You've satisfied your protein, now let's go add those veggies to flesh out our meal!
Most of you will be able to eat between 1-2oz of veggies by WEIGHT per meal. So let's start there! That's between 1/8-1/2cup of veggies by VOLUME depending on the density of the veggie and how firmly you chop or pack them into your measuring cup. Here's your immediate "requirements" for protein and veg/fruit:
RULE #5. Now let's make it taste good!!!
Let's add our fats in although we already have some fats in the form of avocado, and nuts/nut butters, plus the fat in our Proteins. So here's the full day! And it's filled with nutrient dense filling foods that taste satisfying and don't add a bunch of extra calories into the mixture!
Hope that helps you. The key is to break your day down and systematically look at what you need each meal to get you to the finish line. That way you don't end up at the end of the day and you have only gotten 20g of protein into your piehole! This type of planning takes me about 5 minutes every day to sit down either then night before or the next morning and fill it out. I might deviate from plan, sure, but at least you know where you are in the ballpark in case you need to make adjustments in order to meet your protein needs and keep calories in line with your other macro goals!! (By the way, if you AREN'T lactose intolerant, you save a lot of carbs by using regular Greek yogurt and if you are lactose intolerant, sub out the string cheese for a hard boiled egg or an ounce of lunch meat!
How do you plan your day so you get protein in?
Agreed!!! I had the sleeve done 3 mo. Ago. I had a quadruple coronary bypass 12/2017, and no matter what I did, ate healthy, I go to the gym 5 days a week 2 hrs a day, take my meds etc.., my cholesterol and tryglicerides were still going dangerously high, I became diabetic, my blood pressure was all over the place... in my case it was all genetic, and my body was over producing certain hormones that raised all of those levels. My only option was to have the sleeve done. When anyone asks me about weight loss I have zero problem telling them I had The surgery. I've had a lot of people say "why?? You didn't need to do that" well the alternative is having a heart attack and if I survive, additional heart surgery...so yeah I did NEED to do that!
To anyone who thinks having bariatric surgery is the "easy way"... NO ITS NOT ! It's work, and it's hard work at that! Learning to eat all over again , figuring out what works for you and what will make you run to the bathroom to get sick etc...
If someone asks..I tell them the truth, if they judge me for my decisions I don't care. My concern is my health, not a judgmental persons opinion who has no idea what they are talking about 😊 Just be happy with yourself, don't put too much stock in the opinions of narrow minded people.
" those that matter won't mind...those that mind don't matter"
PS... all of my blood levels were perfect within 8 weeks of surgery!
Agreed!!! I had the sleeve done 3 mo. Ago. I had a quadruple coronary bypass 12/2017, and no matter what I did, ate healthy, I go to the gym 5 days a week 2 hrs a day, take my meds etc.., my cholesterol and tryglicerides were still going dangerously high, I became diabetic, my blood pressure was all over the place... in my case it was all genetic, and my body was over producing certain hormones that raised all of those levels. My only option was to have the sleeve done. When anyone asks me about weight loss I have zero problem telling them I had The surgery. I've had a lot of people say "why?? You didn't need to do that" well the alternative is having a heart attack and if I survive, additional heart surgery...so yeah I did NEED to do that!
To anyone who thinks having bariatric surgery is the "easy way"... NO ITS NOT ! It's work, and it's hard work at that! Learning to eat all over again , figuring out what works for you and what will make you run to the bathroom to get sick etc...
If someone asks..I tell them the truth, if they judge me for my decisions I don't care. My concern is my health, not a judgmental persons opinion who has no idea what they are talking about 😊 Just be happy with yourself, don't put too much stock in the opinions of narrow minded people.
" those that matter won't mind...those that mind don't matter"
PS... all of my blood levels were perfect within 8 weeks of surgery!
I just got my baby fine, thinning hair cut yesterday. I was waiting to have my extensions put bacon but there just wasn't enough left so...here it is...
I just say, if there's an easy way out, I'll take it. I don't think it's the easy way out, but if people want to think that, I don't care. Like I really want to do everything the hardest way possible. What am I, stupid?
EJ's Mom got a reaction from rs in I lied