Tips needed for increasing protein without increasing fat

[Zarabelle]

Hi Guys

I am on OWL rung 5 and currently 30g per day. I am having problems getting my protein up.

I am usually sitting at about 23% protein, 8% carbs and 69% fat. Is this OK or should I try to reduce the fat and increase the protein? I guess it's normal for the carbs to reach 7-8% on OWL?

Any advice?

Many thanks

Zx

[not2late]

Re: Tips needed for increasing protein without increasing fat

Are these net carbs or total carbs? I did some math and if they are 30 total carbs, then you are eating about 1500 calories per day and about 115 gr fat, about 82 gr protein. 1 ounce of cheese has about 10 gram fat, to give you an idea of amounts. So 115 gram fat is the equivalent of 11.5 ounces of cheese.

Please post your menu, include everything you eat and drink including the amounts. So we can get a better idea of what you are eating.

[Zarabelle]

Re: Tips needed for increasing protein without increasing fat

Hi Not2late

According to fitday: 61% fat, 19% protein, 9% fat. Assuming I have one burger (please see my other question at the end - I am taking advantage of your help now I have your attention LOL) then the cals will now be 1616 which I am much happier with.

Net carbs 30g (Carbs before fibre 54g), protein 75g, fat 111g - fibre figure is never reliable as I have customed a lot of foods on fitday pc and we calculate carbs as net carbs on our labels so I often just zero the fibre so it doesn't deduct it again IYKWIM.

OK, this is what I have had today. I have been trying to add a lot of carbs and eat minimum cheese as am trying to keep yeast down.

Breakfast
Jasmine tea
Mexican Scrambled egg (3) with drop of double (heavy) cream, 3 cherry tomatoes chopped and 1 sliced chilli chopped and 1tsp dried oregano
2 very small slices low carb bread (please don't tell me off - I know I can tolerate it from previous Atkins eating and have stopped at rung 5 but added occassional low carb bread - like 4 slices a week - I just happened to have it today!)

Lunch
Large courgette (zucchini) 261g, 2.75oz onion, green chilli, 5 slices streaky bacon (unsmoked), 50g boursin - fried in 1 tbsp olive oil.

Dinner (planned)
Home made burger with rocket, watercress and spinach leaves plus 1 tbsp avocado oil and 1 tsp cider vinegar
Mixed berries (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries) all weighed and 2 tbsp double cream and 1 tsp splenda
decaf coffee

Loads and loads of water. Only other beverages 2 x jasmine tea. No snacks needed as not hungry.

I am just a bit worried about the percentages. How am I doing?

Thanks so much for your help.

Other question:
Is it better to:

a) eat two home made burgers (medium size - quarter pound lean steak mince in total) to ensure protein percentage is higher or
b) eat one burger which is probably enough for my appertite but the percentage for protein will be a bit low - BUT the calories will be lower at the end of the day.

If I go for a) my percentages will be f62%, p22%, c7% cals 1773
If I go for b) my percentages will be f59%, p23%, c8% cals 1616 (better)


How important are the percentages?

Thanks in advance

[Zarabelle]

Re: Tips needed for increasing protein without increasing fat

Forgot to mention there was 1tbsp butter on the toast and it is small size (about that of a cracker and 1.9g per slice). All percentages etc. are correct.
Thanks so much - sorry to write such a long post!

[not2late]

Re: Tips needed for increasing protein without increasing fat

I'll answer this in reverse...

How important are the percentages? In my opinion they are only a guideline. And are most helpful to the folks who are so used to eating low fat that they inadvertently eat low fat on Atkins or to the people who are convinced that Atkins means eating an entire chicken farm for breakfast, a entire lake of fish for lunch and an entire herd of cows for supper. In other words, it's useful for the people who are unsure of portion size or who have doubts if they really ARE eating they way they should.

From the looks of your menu, your protein intake seems fine. A whole egg has about 9 grams of protein. So your 75 grams of protein is like eating 8 eggs. Or it's like eating 3.5 ounces of chicken breast (about 30 gram protein), 2 chicken drumsticks (about 14 gram protein per drumstick), and a chicken thigh (about 15 gram protein).

If you have fitday, do a sample menu and get rid of a tablespoon of cream or oil and see what happens to your fat percentage. It will most likely go down and the other percentages will go up.

But most importantly, are you losing weight? If you are, then at this point, I wouldn't worry about the percentages because whatever you are doing, your body is responding to it.

[not2late]

Re: Tips needed for increasing protein without increasing fat

Also, about tonight's supper. I wouldn't worry so much over it. Just play with a sample menu on fitday.com tonight and use that for your menu tomorrow. Like I wrote, I'm pretty sure if you use less added fat, you'll see the numbers change. And let's face it Zara----you're currently eating the amount of protein found in a half a chicken! So I don't think you are eating too little protein right now. I think you are eating an appropriate amount.

[Zarabelle]

Re: Tips needed for increasing protein without increasing fat

Thank you so much. That is reassuring. I was wondering if I am eating too much fat. I think I will try and reduce that slightly. I appreciate your advice. Cheers x
WOW! Half a chicken!

[Zarabelle]

Re: Tips needed for increasing protein without increasing fat

PS, yes, am losing weight apart from a blip in week 5.
Week 1 -7 Week 2 -2.5 Week 3 -2.5 Week 4 -1.5 Week 5 (same) Week 6 -2.5

[Zarabelle]

Re: Tips needed for increasing protein without increasing fat

Funnily enough, I didn't fancy the berries or decaf coffee so ended up on 20 carbs! x