need to up protein more with out added calories...help

Hello to all,

             Hope everyone is having a wonderful sunday.

             I am trying to up my protein more.  However I'm trying to not up the calories.  Yesterday did great  with the protein  Got 80 g of protein Woo Hoo !!!  But when I added up my calories it was 840. Not bad,, but I would like to increase the protein some more, but not the calories.

Please help with any of your favorite meal ideas...thank you Jane

I am always looking for more protein with the least amount of calorie impact.  So my go-to foods are grilled boneless skinless chicken breasts and plain non-fat greek yogurt.  I also like the SYntrax Nectar protein powders - each scoop is 23g protein with no fat and no carbs for 90 calories.  I buy mine at mybariatricpantry.com.

Each gram of protein contains 4 calories, so you won't get extra protein for zero calories.  Carbs are 4 calories per gram as well; fat is 9 calories per gram.

Good luck!

Yeah, so good luck with that, LOL! 

Kidding aside, I know what you mean - up protein and minimize calories.  In my experience, chicken breast has good protein and few calories.  I saute chicken tenders with salt, pepper, garlic powder.  You do have to count the oil or whatever you're sauteing them in, unless you use a spray which doesn't work too well IMO.  Saute on med-high for a couple mins each side, then stick in the oven to finish cooking, about 4-7 minutes at 350 works well.  Let rest for about 5-7 minutes.

Shrimp is another good choice, try jumbo shrimp with a little ****tail sauce, again count the sauce.

Another is fish, although I don't do a lot of fish.

The problem with getting protein from food is that it's pretty filling and limits the amount of protein you can get in.  Protein supplements are higher calorie, so to stay within your calorie limit you may need to cut out something else.  For supplementation, I find the Costco Premier brand at 30 gms for 11 oz. is pretty awesome.

All above sounds good, but maybe think about adding unflavored protein powder to food you already eat, you are never going to get a lot more protein with no extra calories. You can amp up your yogurt with it and you can add high preotein yogurt to some of your food. Good luck and let us know what you come up with.

 My favourite treat is to make decafinated chai tea, add 4 tbsp. of skim milk powder and a drop or two of stevia for sweetening.  The spices (cardamom, etc.) in the chai are very soothing to my new tummy and the warm sweet drink is very comforting.  Each contains around 9 grams of protein and I usually drink a couple a day.  It's a low calorie, comforting, yummy way to up your protein.

Good luck, and let us know what goodies you come up with!  
 

 This sounds delicious!

Do you use chai teabags?  This sounds heavenly!

fish

2oz of tuna= 13g of protein and 60 calories. 

I sometimes cut back on denser protein because it makes me feel so full before I make it to 2oz.  Tuna goes down with less resistance.  Check the stats on the different types of fish out there.

Did you ever think about protein shots? It would add some calories but a lot of them range from 26 to 45 and 50 grams of protein per shot.

Amazon seems to have the cheapest ones and if you are looking for the ones with just 26 grams of protein Walmart is the cheapest.

I hope this helps. They are zero carbs and zero sugar.

Watch the protein shots.  Most are made of collagen protein, which we don't absorb too well.  What you want is protein made of whey protein isolate/concentrate (best) or egg white (the only one I'm aware of is Jay Robb, there may be others).