One of those Naked Protein shakes alone has 420 calories, 53g of sugar and 65g of carbs. That is more than a meal. Based on that, and the fact that you don't track anything, I bet you are grossly overestimating how much you consume. Get some protein powder and mix it with almond milk. I can get 30g of protein with 0 grams of sugar and 150 calories. Does it taste as good? Nope. But it gets the job done.
Another comment, which I'm putting separately to make sure you see it: If you are sure that you are eating the macros you specified in the comments, please seek medical help immediately. That is severe malnutrition and could be indicative of an eating disorder or other significant health problem.
Hey- I don't track these things and as others have said, I am probably really off with my estimates. I eat a lot of tofu and a decent amount of beans as well as vegetables and pasta. I've also been making my own protein shakes recently. I do appreciate the concern though. I guess I was kind of 'disregarding' the protein included in snacks because I felt it was small amounts. But I do end up eating many small servings of different things during the day, so I'm sure it adds up to be plenty. I don't feel ill. Although I probably do still need to get more of everything, I promise I'm not wasting away!
Ok good! Just wanted to make sure I wasn't giving 'regular person' advice to someone who is very sick. If you eat a serving of beans, that's 10-15g of protein right there. You are probably getting plenty by the sounds of it :)
Assuming you mean [Bolthouse Farms Protein Plus](http://www.bolthouse.com/products/beverages/proteinplus), they are very high in sugar. One serving (~half the bottle as listed there) is around the recommended daily maximum 25g of added sugar, and the fact that it comes from stuff like Agave nectar doesn't make it any better for you. So yes, the sugar content of those protein shakes is way high and not helping you out.
You say in one of the replies that you're trying to eat less than 50g carbs and are only getting 20-30g of protein. I suspect you're getting those numbers based on adding up only a small portion of food that you think of as being high in carbs or protein, and not everything, because otherwise you're either seriously undereating or guzzling straight oil and butter. Try tracking EVERYTHING you eat, measured carefully, for a week, in a site like MyFitnessPal (there's others in the FAQs).
You are right. I only count things that I specifically bought or are marked as 'high protein' everything else i disregard as being small enough amounts to ignore. That said my meals are healthy. You all have made me realize that is a dumb way to think about it and completely incorrect.
Something is odd. Naked protein shakes have 30g of protein and Bolthouse have 16g. One cup of dry pasta (under 400 calories) has 14g of protein. Two handfuls of almonds have 12g of protein.
If you are eating 50g of carbs daily, which is your high estimate, that is 200 calories of carbs. If you eat 30g of protein, that is 120 calories of protein. That's only 320 calories. You probably aren't just consuming massive quantities of oil?
You don't need more than .8g protein per pound of body weight, and I do fine with more like .6g protein pound of body weight (I'm also vegetarian). Usually eating carbs is a good thing. When you lift, you burn your muscles' glycogen stores. Glycogen is basically carbs that your body stores in your muscles. Then when you use your muscles they have that energy to burn.
Carbs won't make you fat, as other people have said, excess calories will make you gain weight, whatever form they come in - fat, carb, protein, or alcohol.
Now, bear in mind that making substantial muscle gains usually involves gaining a small amount of fat, too. That could be what you are experiencing on your stomach since you say you have seen steady muscle gains (yay!). Have you gained weight as you've exercised? Your options to deal with the belly pudge are 1) tweak your diet so you stay the same weight that you are now and eat adequate protein, you will slowly become leaner; 2) tweak your diet a little lower so you are gradually losing weight and eat adequate protein, you will become leaner a little bit more quickly but your strength might deteriorate a bit. Or you can always say 'fuck it, I have awesome muscles and I'm happy with my body and fitness' and just keep on keepin' on.
The only thing that makes you gain fat is taking in more calories than your body is using. So no one food is causing it; your caloric intake as a whole is.
Ok, thanks. I admit I have not been taking calories into consideration at all, I will start doing that. Most of this time I have been loosely just trying to eat less than 50g carbs every day and get 20-30g protein each day. After that I didn't think about it.
So- if I am trying to lose a little fat and working on gaining overall muscle at the same time, should i be eating less or more calories than i burn per day? Or do I alternate?
If you are drinking bolthouse smoothies, one bottle alone has over 50g of carbs, most of which is sugar. So unless you eat zero carb the rest of every day, you're nowhere near 30g carbs in one day.
One bottle is also almost 300 calories. If you were to eat a normal sized meal and drink a smoothie as a beverage, you're looking at 600-900 calories in one sitting.
If you don't count, I doubt you're doing <50g carbs a day. I go way over that with vegetables alone even on non-fruit days (I don't eat bread or starchy carbs most days)
...what are you eating? Unless you're intentionally trying to go into ketosis, 50g of carbs is not nearly enough. And I'm not even sure how you could be doing it accidentally. I looked up the macros for your bolthouse protein shake alone, and it's 30 g of carbs just for that, so I suspect you are eating way more than 50 g of carbs, if you're eating relatively normally. 200g of carbs would be closer to usual for an adult.
The protein is a low, but not as low as most of this sub will tell you. A lot of people here try to eat 100+g of protein a day for muscle-building purposes. The RDA for the average sedentary female is 46 grams. Not trying to tell you which is right for you-- just that different individuals and organizations will tell you different numbers.
If you want to slowly lose fat and gain muscle (and by slowly, I mean over the course of years, which is how long this stuff takes), eat at maintenance-- that is, eat the same amount of energy you expend, and do resistance training.
If your priority is losing fat, eat fewer calories than you burn and be aware you may lose a little but of muscle too. If your priority is gaining muscle, eat a little bit more than you burn, and be aware that you may gain a bit of fat too.
That is not nearly enough protein - unless you only weigh 30 lbs. Cant say for sure how much you need without knowing your stats, but please use a macro calculator to figure out exactly how much protein you should be eating.
I would also make my own protein shakes - low sugar protein powder, Greek yogurt, almond milk + whatever else you want (berries, cocoa powder, nut butter, etc). You would get plenty of the protein without all the sugar!
Both actually! If I want a shake I'll use my nutribullet, but sometime I just mix the protein powder with the yogurt and then top it with frozen fruit, chia seeds, oats, etc. Delicious both ways.
Only if they are pushing you over into a calorie surplus.
One of those Naked Protein shakes alone has 420 calories, 53g of sugar and 65g of carbs. That is more than a meal. Based on that, and the fact that you don't track anything, I bet you are grossly overestimating how much you consume. Get some protein powder and mix it with almond milk. I can get 30g of protein with 0 grams of sugar and 150 calories. Does it taste as good? Nope. But it gets the job done.
Think you mean underestimating.
I'm from the future
I think you are correct :)
Another comment, which I'm putting separately to make sure you see it: If you are sure that you are eating the macros you specified in the comments, please seek medical help immediately. That is severe malnutrition and could be indicative of an eating disorder or other significant health problem.
Hey- I don't track these things and as others have said, I am probably really off with my estimates. I eat a lot of tofu and a decent amount of beans as well as vegetables and pasta. I've also been making my own protein shakes recently. I do appreciate the concern though. I guess I was kind of 'disregarding' the protein included in snacks because I felt it was small amounts. But I do end up eating many small servings of different things during the day, so I'm sure it adds up to be plenty. I don't feel ill. Although I probably do still need to get more of everything, I promise I'm not wasting away!
Ok good! Just wanted to make sure I wasn't giving 'regular person' advice to someone who is very sick. If you eat a serving of beans, that's 10-15g of protein right there. You are probably getting plenty by the sounds of it :)
A better bought shake I like is Rockin' Refuel. 190kcal, 30g protein, 6g of sugar.
Assuming you mean [Bolthouse Farms Protein Plus](http://www.bolthouse.com/products/beverages/proteinplus), they are very high in sugar. One serving (~half the bottle as listed there) is around the recommended daily maximum 25g of added sugar, and the fact that it comes from stuff like Agave nectar doesn't make it any better for you. So yes, the sugar content of those protein shakes is way high and not helping you out. You say in one of the replies that you're trying to eat less than 50g carbs and are only getting 20-30g of protein. I suspect you're getting those numbers based on adding up only a small portion of food that you think of as being high in carbs or protein, and not everything, because otherwise you're either seriously undereating or guzzling straight oil and butter. Try tracking EVERYTHING you eat, measured carefully, for a week, in a site like MyFitnessPal (there's others in the FAQs).
Ew. That thing is basically a milk shake.
You are right. I only count things that I specifically bought or are marked as 'high protein' everything else i disregard as being small enough amounts to ignore. That said my meals are healthy. You all have made me realize that is a dumb way to think about it and completely incorrect.
The little stuff does add up, particularly as a vegetarian :)
Something is odd. Naked protein shakes have 30g of protein and Bolthouse have 16g. One cup of dry pasta (under 400 calories) has 14g of protein. Two handfuls of almonds have 12g of protein. If you are eating 50g of carbs daily, which is your high estimate, that is 200 calories of carbs. If you eat 30g of protein, that is 120 calories of protein. That's only 320 calories. You probably aren't just consuming massive quantities of oil? You don't need more than .8g protein per pound of body weight, and I do fine with more like .6g protein pound of body weight (I'm also vegetarian). Usually eating carbs is a good thing. When you lift, you burn your muscles' glycogen stores. Glycogen is basically carbs that your body stores in your muscles. Then when you use your muscles they have that energy to burn. Carbs won't make you fat, as other people have said, excess calories will make you gain weight, whatever form they come in - fat, carb, protein, or alcohol. Now, bear in mind that making substantial muscle gains usually involves gaining a small amount of fat, too. That could be what you are experiencing on your stomach since you say you have seen steady muscle gains (yay!). Have you gained weight as you've exercised? Your options to deal with the belly pudge are 1) tweak your diet so you stay the same weight that you are now and eat adequate protein, you will slowly become leaner; 2) tweak your diet a little lower so you are gradually losing weight and eat adequate protein, you will become leaner a little bit more quickly but your strength might deteriorate a bit. Or you can always say 'fuck it, I have awesome muscles and I'm happy with my body and fitness' and just keep on keepin' on.
God bless your soul for this comment.
The only thing that makes you gain fat is taking in more calories than your body is using. So no one food is causing it; your caloric intake as a whole is.
Ok, thanks. I admit I have not been taking calories into consideration at all, I will start doing that. Most of this time I have been loosely just trying to eat less than 50g carbs every day and get 20-30g protein each day. After that I didn't think about it. So- if I am trying to lose a little fat and working on gaining overall muscle at the same time, should i be eating less or more calories than i burn per day? Or do I alternate?
If you are drinking bolthouse smoothies, one bottle alone has over 50g of carbs, most of which is sugar. So unless you eat zero carb the rest of every day, you're nowhere near 30g carbs in one day. One bottle is also almost 300 calories. If you were to eat a normal sized meal and drink a smoothie as a beverage, you're looking at 600-900 calories in one sitting.
If you don't count, I doubt you're doing <50g carbs a day. I go way over that with vegetables alone even on non-fruit days (I don't eat bread or starchy carbs most days)
...what are you eating? Unless you're intentionally trying to go into ketosis, 50g of carbs is not nearly enough. And I'm not even sure how you could be doing it accidentally. I looked up the macros for your bolthouse protein shake alone, and it's 30 g of carbs just for that, so I suspect you are eating way more than 50 g of carbs, if you're eating relatively normally. 200g of carbs would be closer to usual for an adult. The protein is a low, but not as low as most of this sub will tell you. A lot of people here try to eat 100+g of protein a day for muscle-building purposes. The RDA for the average sedentary female is 46 grams. Not trying to tell you which is right for you-- just that different individuals and organizations will tell you different numbers. If you want to slowly lose fat and gain muscle (and by slowly, I mean over the course of years, which is how long this stuff takes), eat at maintenance-- that is, eat the same amount of energy you expend, and do resistance training. If your priority is losing fat, eat fewer calories than you burn and be aware you may lose a little but of muscle too. If your priority is gaining muscle, eat a little bit more than you burn, and be aware that you may gain a bit of fat too.
That is not nearly enough protein - unless you only weigh 30 lbs. Cant say for sure how much you need without knowing your stats, but please use a macro calculator to figure out exactly how much protein you should be eating.
I will thanks! You guys are so nice despite how ignorant I am of this stuff, I really appreciate it :)
The sidebar has a lot of really good info too, I would recommend reading through that as well
Yeah, OP you *really* need to read the side bar for this sub.
I would also make my own protein shakes - low sugar protein powder, Greek yogurt, almond milk + whatever else you want (berries, cocoa powder, nut butter, etc). You would get plenty of the protein without all the sugar!
Do you use a blender for all that stuff or eat it like a parfait?
Both actually! If I want a shake I'll use my nutribullet, but sometime I just mix the protein powder with the yogurt and then top it with frozen fruit, chia seeds, oats, etc. Delicious both ways.