Thread: Increasing Protein intake

I've been monitoring my nutrients in MFP for a few weeks now. My aim is 10%carbs, 45% fat and 45% protein. I do quite a bit of exercise, including running, weights and swimming.

I consistently have calories to spare. My carbs are about right. But the balance between fat and protein is wrong. More fat and not enough protein.

Can anyone suggest some high protein snacks I can incorporate into my day to redress the balance and keep me ticking over between meal times.

At the minute my days menu looks something like this

B stewed rhubarb or berries with full fat Greek yog and chopped nuts

L tuna and egg salad with full fat mayo

D meat or fish with veg or salad with olive oil dressing and more mayo

S 25g bar of 85% cocoa chocolate

The atkins ideal ratio is 65% calories from fat, 30% from protein and 5% from carbs. If you're doing Atkins, you want high fat snacks, not high protein. You may be on a different plan though. I cook in butter and oil, eat a lot of cheese and add mayo to things. I'm on owl level 1 so I also add small amounts of nuts, which are great for upping fats.

For high protein snacks, boiled eggs are hard to beat. I used to have chicken satay sticks too if you can find them cooked without sugar.

Thanks moonlights. I've been doing a ratio of 10% carbs, 30% protein and 60% fat. My carbs sneak up to about 12%, fat about 65% and proteins low for where it should be. I've read the Atkins book (as well as lots of other low carb literature) and am sort of tinkering around with various plans to try and find the optimum way for me to maintain my weight. Low carb is a definite must. As is unprocessed food.

But as I workout a fair bit I've been finding I'm struggling a bit for energy sometimes during my workouts. I wondered if increasing my protein intake would help with that. I've been in ketosis for several months so I'm nicely converted to using fat for energy. I could just do with a bit more energy for the longer training sessions or maybe I'm just pushing myself too hard?

I take Q10, chromium, milk thistle, l-carnitine and omega 3s so supplement wise I'm well covered.

I'll add some more eggs into the equation as you suggest and see how that works out. I know there are protein shakes available does anyone use them? Could recommend one?

Take a look at marksdailyapple - he specifically talks about what and when to eat to manage exercise both endurance and strength

I nearly gave up low carb because I couldn't run as well on it (you can probably do a minimins search on it and find posts by me asking for advice). Now, 2 months on I have no problems doing resistance or cardio, although I haven't yet tried endurance workouts over an hour.

Heres what made the difference for me (can't say if it'll work for anyone else, but worth a go)

- wasn't eating enough. Upped the volume significantly, and eat around 60% fat)
- didn't give myself long enough to adapt, it took 4-6 weeks before I was fully fat adapted and could readily access fat to fuel a workout
- started off at too high an intensity. To get your body used to burning fats as a primary fuel during exercise, start off at a lower HR (65-70%) and build up from there.

Great link from katie too.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.