After I finished reading this book, and many podcasts from Peter Attia, I’m convinced that I should pay more attention to protein intake as I am getting older. I am not a big meat eater, if I am not concerned about nutrition, I could happily be living in carbs and some fat.
To assess my current intake, I used chronometer for few days this week. To my surprise, it’s not bad as I am averaging 80g-110g per day. Usually equally distributed across 3 meals. Very happy about it! 🙂
My main protein sources this week:
- tofu
- nuts/seeds
- chickpea flour
- egg
- fish
- shrimp
- bok choy
- broccoli/cauliflower
I was surprised to see how much protein derives from vegetables. Maybe it’s due to the amount I consumed, usually 1-2 lbs of vegetables per day.
I also realized how much work it is to track food!!! Maybe worth doing it from time to time but really hard everyday.
Do you focus on getting enough protein? What are your main sources? Do you notice any physical change when having enough protein?
Our New Journey 
Well, as you know, I’ve been tracking my macros the last few weeks. It IS hard work- and I can already feel myself starting to get burnt out from it. haha. My protein goal is 125 grams. This is definitely more than I “naturally” or would probably prefer to eat. Let’s say I eat 20 grams at every meal (sometimes I definitely consume more in a meal, but 1 large egg only has 5 grams of protein… so in order to get 30 grams of protein from eggs or egg whites alone, I’d have to eat 6 eggs! That’s a lot. So, I will often mix with veggies, cheese, or sometimes meat for breakfast. For lunch I often have tuna or chicken salad, so that can pretty easily be another 20-25. Then with dinner, if I have meat or fish, that’s another say 20-30. But if you add up the 3 meals, let’s say 25 each, that’s only 75 grams of protein… I need another 50 then! I don’t love protein shakes, and in order to watch overall calories, too, it can get tricky- like using the chickpea flour example- has a lot of protein, but also a ton of carbs… 1 cup= 356 calories with 20 grams of protein, but also 53 carbs. Which is fine, but sometimes I might not want to use up so many carbs at that meal if I want a more carby dinner, or whatever. ANYWAY, I don’t know. I am having mixed feelings again now. haha. I do think tracking food works and increases awareness, but I also don’t like the overstuffed feeling I sometimes get from SO much protein… or I guess sometimes I would rather just eat a smaller, lighter meal- like maybe avocado toast and 1 egg and some fruit. But that is not “enough protein”….
Do you think your tracking day was indicative of how you normally always eat? Or were you intentionally aiming to eat a bit more protein since you were tracking? How many calories did you eat in that day? Just curious! It is kind of fun to have the data now and then, even if you aren’t want to track all the time. I was thinking maybe I could keep doing this long term, but I don’t know. I’m starting to doubt it now… hahaha. I’m weak!
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And, my comment was longer than your entire post. 😂😂
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I think overall is indicative of my average daily food intake. since my experiment with glucose monitor last year, I’ve stopped snacking plain carbs like crackers, but switched to nuts and higher protein content snacks like homemade protein brownie. My calorie intake this week averaged 1600, and most of days I felt full so I guess I could be consuming less on days that I don’t run, usually I don’t get hungry when I am not active. Monday, day after my long run, I tend to use more, so that day was 1800.
I do find that tracking makes me more aware of what I am consuming but I wouldn’t do it for long term as it’s convenient if one wants to be accurate, and also kind of against the intuitive eating style. sometimes I’m more hungry so I should be eating more, sometimes I am just not and I don’t want to hit the protein goals just because it’s recorded somewhere. But everyone’s style is different, you’d know what works for you once you figure out what’s the purpose of tracking. To me, tracking it once in a while is good to see how my current diet is working or not working, things I could twist. Maybe I’ll do one week per quarter.
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I don’t track typically unless I am trying to rein in my eating a bit. When I am tracking, I make different decisions. But I am tracking at higher level, I don’t track macros. I think my protein intake should probably be higher. I don’t eat a lot of carbs since I have a gluten intolerance, so that cuts out of a lot of foods. I have a protein fortified yogurt and have been eating a hard boiled eggs for breakfast. But there is room for improvement!
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