Cannot reach my protein minimum intake

Lilaioan

Any ideas how you can eat 1300 kcal / day and still reach at least 60 gr of protein which is my minimum requirement? I am a female of 72 kg.

Susan_RD_101

@Lilaioan

The lower your calorie target is the more intentional you will need to be with your food choices to ensure protein requirements (and other nutrients) are being met.

If you are omnivore, I would try to include lean sources of protein like:

• chicken without skin
• tuna/salmon
• 0%, plain Greek yogurt
• low-fat cottage cheese
• eggs (focus on egg whites)

Good sources of plant protein include:

• tofu and tempeh
• pulses
• seitan

Adding some protein powder in or including a protein bar can also help.

Kind regards,

Lilaioan

Thanks a lot! I switched goat milk yogurt with eggs, chicken and fish in dinner and reduced high-carb veggies, as I was eating too many of them, and now my diet is more balanced in protein and carbs!

AJ_in_CH

I top up protein using Erdschwalbe organic powders. I buy rice, pea, hemp and soy. All have zero additives and are above 80% protein by weight (except hemp) I eat solely plant based and these additions have also been useful helping a throat cancer patient (who is plant based) to get optimal nutrients while on a reduced volume intake. Erdschwalbe is in Europe, but in the USA there are suppliers selling organic powders without additives. They are easy to blend into smoothies. Other high protein sources are seitan / gluten flour, and chickpea flour.

Kiashu

1,300kCal daily is very low for a 72kg woman.

jefmcg

https://forums.cronometer.com/discussion/comment/10411#Comment_10411

Can I suggest we don't start judging people's diet based on poor information, especially if they haven't asked for it? It's pretty patronising.

Mainstream health authorities recommend a 500 or 600 calorie deficit to lose 1/2 kilo/week, so it's likely this diet is in that range, depending on her lean mass and activity levels.

@Lilaioan, another thing look out for is quark. It's similar to Greek yogurt nutritionally, but tastes different. It's a cheese, so it has no healthy bacteria, but you can use it like yogurt or spread it like cream cheese.

starchivore

If you can pick up a used copy of a paperback written by Roy Walford in 1988 called the 120-year diet, on pages 265-286 he outlines sample menus for a 20-day period. I believe these foods were consumed by him on a daily basis! The menus averaged 1300-1400 calories and contained about 90 grams of protein. Some days contain up to (4) cups of skim milk! In the early days of computing, he had access to some of the most advanced ones and was able to analyze diets "six ways from Sunday"! He popularized the acronym CRON, which stands for Caloric Restriction Optimum Nutrition.