Fritzy 22's Journal, 19 Jun 22

Great loss! Do you eat chicken/tofu/beans? How much protein are you trying to get? How low is your fat? I eat a lot of egg whites. If you cook them gently, they don't get rubbery or tough.  

Thanks are1981 - I did have chicken breast in a stir fry and had tuna on an English muffin this past week for protein. I'm trying to stay around 20 grams of fat or less. I'm not crazy about egg yolks. Usually I try to limit eggs to 2-4 a week because they are so high in cholesterol. I tried tofu a few months ago and in spite of lots of advice on FS on how to use it I was not crazy about it and likely won't try it again any time soon. One day I had half a can of kidney beans and 1 cup of peas to get enough protein. I get most of my daily protein from fat free milk. My goal is to get at least 40 grams of protein a day which my doctor says is enough unless I get a job chopping down trees. 

Gotcha. I would definitely check out boxed egg whites. You can cook them on low heat in a non-stick pan with a little salt and pepper. I like mine with veggies (you can use a splash of chicken broth to help soften the veggies in place of fat). Bone broth is also great - you can find low-sodium options with 10 g. protein, average 40-50 calories per cup. You could also cycle in a few higher fat days (30 grams) to get a bump in protein if need be (if you find yourself running low for a few days). I am usually not a fan of super low-fat diets, but so long as your Dr. is on board and you can stick it out, that's really more important than some stranger's obnoxious opinion. Keep it up. 

Tofu isn't everyone's thing. Are you OK with gluten? If so, you might consider seitan. That's my go to for protein. There's also a lot of protein for few calories in many green veggies -- broccoli is one that's really good on that front. If you do go with some nuts or seeds, I've found the seeds have more protein and less fat than the nuts. Pumpkin and chia are my two favorites  

Good luck! Sounds like you are successfully navigating the struggle. 

Since you can tolerate dairy, have you tried Greek yogurt? It has about twice as much protein as regular yogurt and is about the same number of calories. 

Yes! Good call, JB. NF/low-fat Greek yogurt is fantastic. 

Thanks are - I've tried boxed egg white and wasn't crazy about them. I don't usually eat things just to get the protein - I have to like what I'm eating. 2 scrambled eggs is fine for me, even doing a low fat diet. Just once or twice a week. The fat isn't so bad but they are high in cholesterol. But I just had my cholesterol checked and it was all good so I limit eggs to keep it good. I normally don't eat meat more than 2 or 3 times a week so that's why my protein levels are low. And my doctor wants me to eat low fat with very limited processed foods. I try. 40-60 grams of protein is what I aim for. My goal was around 20% of calories from fat or lower. It's not that hard if I don't use butter. Writingwo - I am okay with gluten. I gave it up once for a month or two and had no problems when I added it back in. I remember seeing your pictures of meals with seitan because I had never heard of it. I am just a lousy cook so I am not likely to try to cook something that I don't even know if I'll like it. If someone else cooks it and I like it then maybe I'd get the recipe and give it a try. I was having raw almonds every day to get around 5 grams of protein. But I haven't been having them while I've been trying to get the fat grams low. The only seeds I eat are sunflower seeds that I put in salads. I also bought some nutritional yeast but haven't really tried it. I may put a tablespoon in scrambled eggs to see if I like it. Brussels sprouts and asparagus and mushrooms have a good amount of protein in them for vegetables so I've been stir frying them. Thanks Bill - I just keep trying different things but always focus on calories. Thanks Bananas - Sometimes I have yogurt and almost everything I buy says it's Greek. I don't like plain yogurt so usually buy a fruit flavor when I have it. I used to have it almost every day and just got tired of it. 

I have a egg and egg white. chicken alot of protein little fat 

edamame and chickpea pasta. both have tons of protein and fiber and you can add your stir fry to it for variety.