how much protein to eat?

[owlsie]

hello all you lovely vegan people

Comments

[devolute]

100g is definitely overkill. I've heard 60g is "ideal", but range from 40g-70g is pretty good. This info is coming from non-veg sources, so it depends on who you want to believe. I think at least 40g is recommended even by most veg sources, but I don't particularly remember. Personally I find it hard to eat over 30g some days because I find it hard to incorporate a protein-rich food (like seitan or tempeh) into more than one meal per day (and sometimes they don't make it in). I aim for 60g per day because I can rarely meet it (it's not hard to find tasty foods that will get you there, but I end up eating a lot of carbs instead because I'm lazy). I think most days I range from 30-40g, and I feel fine. I do sometimes wonder if my energy levels would be higher if I were better about my eating habits. I love healthy food, but I'm so so lazy some days about cooking and grocery shopping that it just doesn't always happen.

[owlsie]

i'm p lazy too, so I make my bases [pea/lentil/bean stews/soups and rice] in my slow cooker at the beginning of the week, and freeze them. Then simply throw in the microwave for 2 minutes :] easy protein.

[devolute]

I'm too lazy for planning :( I do sometimes buy this delicious kind of soy jerky though.

[laceyslostlove]

it's not necessarily overkill; you don't know how much the OP weighs. the amount of protein you need per day is based on your weight.

[miss_bonzai]

Im pregnant and I only need 60-75. 100 is just huge. And yes, too much can overtax the system in a number of ways. I really wouldn't suggest getting more than 70-80 g on a regular basis. I'd aim lower though, around 60. Just make sure you're getting a balanced amino profile. Lysine can be hard for vegans to get, so make sure to include plenty of corn and mushrooms which are high in lysine.

[asmallplanet]

It's good to ask this. The protein phobia out there needs to be watered down a bit

[owlsie]

thank you so much!

[asmallplanet]

Welcome. As some of the others say, needing that much may not be true, as no one really knows how much we 'need'. Need to not get protein deficiency diseases, yes, but need for best health or even growth, no. So less than 100 is likely fine. I'm on more but that's because I'm weightlifting and wanting to gain weight. With the extra protein and my calorie sources this is working. Hooray.

[ageless]

You also need to look at how much you weigh. Not to insinuate anything on your part, but there are a lot of obese people who, when they first start paying attention to their eating, are in a place where 100 grams of protein a day makes sense. My brother started his journey toward health at over 400 lbs, and after I discovered that, I realized there were a whole lot of people out there who had a similar build to him walking around out there

[stone_in_focus]

That sounds like a ton of food, and what is the deal with the %? 67g is 28% but 100g is 21%?

I am a 25 year old male who is actively trying to build muscle and goes to the gym a couple times a week to do serious weight lifting. I might try to get somewhere near 100 grams of protein a day for this reason. Training or not I would never want to eat anywhere near 250 grams of carbs in a day - I would get extremely fat.

I don't know your activity level, sex, goals in life, etc. but it sounds like this calculator (or some of the info you put into it) is causing the dietary needs to be grossly overestimated.

[complexzeta]

You get 9 calories per gram of fat, but only 4 calories per gram of protein or carbohydrate. Hence the strange-looking percentages.

[owlsie]

yeah, that's what i thought. thanks

Hrm

[weeona]

"Training or not I would never want to eat anywhere near 250 grams of carbs in a day - I would get extremely fat."

I'm a normal weight (22 BMI) and have lost about 50lbs in 10 months eating 250ish grams of carbs a day. I workout 6X a week (lots of running - carbs are great for runners) and have done nothing but steadily lose without ever even considering my carb intake at all. It's all been about calories.

I really don't think that is an unreasonable amount of carbs. You eat enough fruit/veg and you get tons of carbs quickly but they are complex. YMMV of course but I don't get the whole 'carbs = fat' thing at all. For me, carbs have helped me get thin!