Labs and Protein

i was feeling very weak, dizzy, tired and foggy, in short unwell. I contacted my surgeon and he had blood testing done, which showed everything normal except for the reading that indicates your protein intake is very low. It's a surprise because I get 60 to 80 protein a day, all tracked in my fitness pal. How much protein is everyone eating to be fit and strong? My recommendation was 60 but clearly it's not working.

My nut always tries to tell me that a woman only needs 55-60 grams of protein a day but when I eat that little amount of protein I feel like you described above so for me I keep it around 85-100 a day and I feel great.

Where are you getting your protein? Not all protein sources are created equally.

Weekdays mostly greek yogurt, protein drinks, cottage cheese, hummus, lentils, beans. Weekend those and or chicken and fish.

What is the source of protein in your protein shakes? (The first one or two ingredients listed.)

I drink premiere protein. I don't like it, but it has a lot of protein.

First, congrats on your weightloss and for using mfp! It's a great tool for keeping track. I had the same problem when I was consuming 60 grams a day & was told to up my protein intake. You may want to skip the hummus & lentils, for now, & try adding "dense" proteins to your diet. These are foods that will give you at least 1 gr of protein for every 10 calories. The proteins in seafood, poultry, beef & pork may be a better option for you, even during the week (and eventually, you should be getting all your protein from your food & not the shakes). If you're working during the week, it may be worth taking the time to pre-cook & freeze some meals. Try a slow cooker or an instapot (aka pressure cooker). There are lots of recipes on pinterest that you can import to mfp & tweak the ingredients for lower carb/calorie options. GOOD LUCK!

I get 120 - 160 grams per day (5'10 35 year old active woman). During weight loss phase I was usually around 100grams.

It's hard to overeat on protein (carbs and fat -- completely different).

That's a lot. Maybe I need to really up my intake.

A couple of things to look into -

The animal protein is good - the meat and dairy - it is a "complete" protein that provides all of the essential amino acids the body needs. The vegetable proteins - the beans, lentils, hummus, etc. - are "incomplete" proteins which need to be eaten with a "complementary" vegetable protein to make it complete. Rice and beans or peanut butter and whole grain are good examples. Many who are dieting today are overly worried about "carbs" and miss out on those complements, so they don't get the protein that they think they are getting. I am no expert on being vegetarian/vegan, but you can look up to see what the appropriate complementary proteins are.

The other thing that we occasionally see here is that peoples' diets are overly deficient on carbohydrates and their bodies strip the protein to make up for it. The diet books like to claim that all you need to do is consume more fat, or let the body use your stored fat to get the sugars that it needs, however our bodies don't read those diet books so they don't always know what they are "supposed" to do. This doesn't mean that one needs to load up on chips and Twinkies - just adding whatever complex carbohydrates that are in the complementary vegetable proteins will probably do the trick, or at least is a good start toward balancing out your diet some.