Im a vegetarian: protein is about 53g a day...

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I am 147 pounds right now, 5 foot 2 so my BMI is very high, I would like to get down to at least 130, but I have a couple of concerns. First is that many many people have scared me into believing that I am gettting an amazingly low amount of protein. Now, for awhile I believed this, becasue my hair was falling out (not too much..just..shedding quite a bit). Well, Im hoping that due to a dramatic diet change 6 months ago, the added workouts from a near sedentary lifetyle, and my husband being deployed, all of it is added up to mean stress and hair loss.
I was 174 pounds. Im starting to see muscles and I feel good while I work out, my upper/lower body parts arent in incredible pain the day after either. I jog/walk about 2 miles a day..a little more thatn that, and I work on my bad spots, like arms, legs and belly, and back. I dont use weights, its all my body against itself. Im all about quality and not quantity, and although I am sore the next day, it isnt an overwhelming pain.
But Im still paranoid I amnot gettign enough protein. Ive looked and researched and used calculators and decided between 55-65 grams of protein a day was good. any less than 50 is bad. A comment from a friend " how in the hell are you surviving on that little protein?" Her husband is weight training and consumes about 200 grams a day. Im not sure how he does that, or where its going, but I think thats excessive.

I think my point right now is that I need alittle reasurance that Im doing ok, and not killing myself from lack of protein. :cool:
 
i just wanted to add that a typical days meals are this:
yogurt
myoplex lite shake (primarily for protein)
"chicken" nuggets
spaghetti

thats breakfast, lunch a snack and dinner, 58 g protein, 162 carbs, 1160 calories, and 5.5 g sat. fat.
 
This is a most difficult post. I dont know a great deal about diet, but I know that to loose fat your doing exactly what you should be doing, cardio-vascular. Running\jogging is the perfect thing for loosing fat. In the way of diet however, it seems like you not getting enough protien OR carbs. I would expect the numbers to be higher than that. But I can only compare my own numbers, which is unfair as physicaly we are worlds apart being as I am about 125 pounds and 5'8" this would be good if I were a woman but when your a guy, this is pretty lame. So I cant realy give you advice on diet. But trust me to loose weight you doing just what you should be doing. anything that involves your whole body will help you loose fat.
 
good job on your progress so far ...
as far as your protein intake .. i think you friend may be a little un-educated if she thinks you need to take in as much protein as her husband.

the reason why her husband eats 200g a day is because
a.)he is a guy
b.)he is most likely having more intense workouts and is trying to build a good amount of lean muscle.

now unless your trying to get fairly muscular, you dont need 200g of protein per day. 53 grams for you is not insufficient for you. Although i do not know what your goals are... whether you want to be a female bodybuilder or not ... or just lose weight and have a toned body (i assumed option 2).

the reason why its beneficial to eat protein is because it raises your metabolism, as it is harder for your body to digest and breakdown protein..thus burning more calories to do so. another benefit, it helps tone your muscles ... since you do not have as much lean mass as your friends husband, you dont require the same protein. i'd say eat between 50-100g per day if your realy want to tone your muscles and help shed the fat ... 53 isn't too bad ... but in my opinion, i would go for 80-90... to get 80 its only 30grams more... (3 1/2 cups of milk = 30g 6tbsp 100% peanut butter = 30g
1 protein bar can = 25-30g)
hope this helped :)
 
fellow vegetarian

hey, I'm also vegetarian, and have done a lot of dieting in past. I did the whole strict diet thing, went on peanut butter diet, worried about protien, fat... blah blah... Igot down to 140 pounds, but I was extremely weak. I'm 160 now, and bulky, but I train for sports now, not for how I look. But I'm also a lot leaner than before. I can tell simply because my belly doesn't stick out. The best advice I can give you is that increase you're overall eating. Rice is a good source of carbs, but switch to brown rice. You're already drinkg a protien shake which is good, an extra one wouldn't do you too bad. Don't worry about the numbers worry about the results. The scale lies. It can't differentate between muscle and fat. Look in the mirror and ask your friends.

Best of luck!
 
Hi there
Within body building circles the genral rule of thumb is one and a half grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. So for you that would be way to high however, i would suggest aorund a gram of protein per pound of bodweight as a rough guide. So that would mean around 147 grams per day, that may seem too high but i would say 50 grams ? per day is borderline. If you are on a good exercise program and working out you will need to consume more protein on the days you workout. Protein is the building block of life....when you exercise you break down muscle tissue, this needs to be rebuilt this is where protein comes in. Don't forget it's the quality of the protein also, a good protein has a full amino acid profile. Try whey protein this a great source of protein have a great range of proteins to offer.If i was you I would up your protein intake just to be sure you are getting in enough shakes are easy to digest and take hardly any time to prepare, if you need help with your diet and need to know exactly whats waht try this program its been designed by a nasa scientist and is highly thought of in the Nutrition world
 
I was a vegetarian for 11 years. I did just start eating meat but I know a lot about veggie diets, and I am a PT and a figure competitor. So i definately know what it's like to work hard at leaning out. I managed to eat 150 grams a day while being a vegetarian. I ate a lot of lentils and soybeans to get my protein intake up, plus some supplements. I also noticed that your total calories are really low. They may be too low. You rbody needs enough fule to keep your metabilism running. If you don't eat enough it might think it is starving and it might cling on to that fat like crazy.

If I can help, please feel free to send me a message.

Sarah :)
 
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