How do you eat protein w/o including fats on it?

[kris2pe]

I've been wondering since fat can also make you fat. How does one get lean when eating protein cause honestly protein and fat usually go hand in hand!

[WonderPug]

You seem to be remarkably confused about nutrition.

To start learning the basics about nutrition, please read the relevant stickies at the top of the nutrition forum as well as this:

COMPOSING A RATIONAL DIET

Advice on diet and nutrition is often based on myths and, even more so, on the marketing message of supplement companies and self-proclaimed diet gurus with agendas contrary to your interests. Please don't allow yourself, your health, your fitness goals or your wallet to be compromised by the prevalent misinformation. Learn the basics of nutrition and start engaging in healthy, rational dietary habits that can last a lifetime.

The first step is to discard biased advice on nutrition and diet, and, in its place, embrace simple logic:

Compose a diet that ensures micronutrient and macronutrient sufficiency, derived predominantly from whole and minimally processed foods if possible, with remaining caloric intake being largely discretionary within the bounds of common sense.

Caloric Intake

Energy balance is the primary dietary driver of body weight and it also impacts body composition. A chronic surplus of calories will result in increased body weight and a chronic deficit of calories will result in a loss of body weight.

In other words, in order to gain about one pound of tissue weight (as opposed to transient flux in water weight), you need to consume a total of about 3,500 calories more than you expend. And to lose about one pound of tissue weight, you have to do the opposite -- consume about 3,500 calories less than you expend.

Thus, the first step in constructing any rational diet is to get a sense of how many calories per day, on average, you should consume in order to progress towards your goals.

The average number of calories you expend per day -- called total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) -- is a function of your basal metabolic rate (BMR) and your average weekly activity level.

To estimate your BMR, it's important to have a sense of how much lean body mass (LBM) you carry. If you're not sure, post a photo or two and we can estimate your percentage body fat and, from this number and your total body weight, it's easy to estimate LBM by using the following formula:

LBM = body weight * (1 - percentage body fat)

To estimate BMR, use the the Katch-McArdle formula:

BMR = 370 + (9.8 * LBM in pounds)
or
BMR = 370 + (21.6 * LBM in kg)

The next step is to estimate average weekly activity using the following guidelines to calculate an activity factor (AF):

• 1.1 - 1.2 = Sedentary (desk job, and little formal exercise, this will be most of you students)

• 1.3 - 1.4 = Lightly Active (light daily activity and light exercise 1-3 days a week)

• 1.5 - 1.6 = Moderately Active (moderately daily Activity & moderate exercise 3-5 days a week)

• 1.7 - 1.8 = Very Active (physically demanding lifestyle & hard exercise 6-7 days a week)

• 1.9 - 2.2 = Extremely Active (athletes in endurance training or very hard physical job)

To estimate TDEE (the calories at which you will neither gain nor lose tissue weight), use the following formula:

TDEE = BMR * AF

Now that you've estimated your TDEE, it's important to refine that estimate empirically. To do so, consume an average amount of calories equal to estimated TDEE for two weeks, monitoring weight change. The results will confirm your actual TDEE.

Once you know your actually TDEE, set your caloric intake to match your goals as follows:

To maintain weight, consume an amount of calories equal to TDEE.
To lose weight, consume 10% to 20% less than TDEE.
To gain weight, consume 10% 20% more than TDEE.

Monitor weight change via the scale and also body composition via the mirror and how clothing fits, making adjustments as needed biweekly.


Macronutrient Intake

Ensure that your intake of macronutrients meets sufficiency (as defined below), with remaining macronutrient composition of the diet being largely a function of personal preference.

Ideally, ensure macronutrient sufficiency predominantly or, ideally, entirely from whole and minimally processed foods.

Protein: ~0.6 to ~0.8 grams per pound of bodyweight (or target/ideal weight in the obese) -- the highest amount justified by research.

Fat: ~0.45 grams per pound of bodyweight (or target/ideal weight in the obese) -- the lowest amount implied by clinical observation.

Remaining caloric budget: whatever mix of macronutrients you prefer -- as implied by research.

Micronutrient Intake

Take care and use good judgement in food selection and portioning to ensure that micronutrient sufficiency is reached without excessive intake from dietary sources and/or supplements.

As with macronutrient sufficiency, one should ensure micronutrient sufficiency predominantly or, ideally, entirely from whole and minimally processed foods.

To get a good sense of recommended intake of vitamins and minerals, please review this USDA guidelines webpage.

You'll find the following information particularly helpful:

Intakes: Recommended Intakes for Individuals

RDA and Adequate Intake for Vitamins and Elements

Upper Limit for Vitamins and Elements

Electrolytes and Water

Meal Timing, Composition & Frequency

The number of meals you consume, the timing of those meals and the macro/micronutrient composition of each meal is largely a function of personal preference.

While it might be "optimal" to consume more than one meal per day and less than 5 meals per day, the simple truth is that any difference that directly results from such fine tuning is likely too small to notice even after years of training.

Thus, base your meal timing, composition and frequency on your subjective preference such as to optimize your sense of energy, performance, satiety, palatability, convenience, social/business life and sustainability.

Do not hesitate to very all three factors from day to day as circumstance dictates. In other words, do not become a slave to routine, with inflexibility compromising your quality of life.


Pre & Post Workout Nutrition

What (if anything) you consume before and after your workout does not play a significant direct role in the outcome of your diet, beyond personal preference.

Why? Because what matters in terms of direct impact on outcomes is total daily intake of all nutrients.

Thus, you should optimize based on how you respond to training in a fed or fasted state, and based on your hungry after exercise. In other words, use common sense.


Supplements

Supplements are just that, products that are intended to supplement deficiencies in your diet. If your diet is properly composed then there's no need or unique benefit to using supplements.

If your diet isn't properly composed and, thus, you have deficiencies, try to fix your diet to cure such deficiencies though the consumption of whole and minimally processed foods. If you can't fix your diet, then use the lowest dose supplement(a) needed to cure any remaining deficiencies.

[Connor1226]

Fat doesn't make you fat.
In fact, if your fat intake is too low you will have a much more difficult time losing weight.

If burning fat is your main goal, you want to eat a lot of it. You want your body to use it as it's fuel source right? Can't do that if you aren't eating it. The only macro you should be limiting is carbs. Protein and fat should not go below minimum standards.

I cut low carb for the first time this year. I really like it. I went from marathoner to weight lifter so it was very odd to me to have to cut the carbs way down. I found my body works very well on low carb.
When you take away your body's preferred energy source (carbs) it will burn more fat as fuel. This is why lower carb diets require higher fat intakes.

Fat doesn't make you fat.

[Caezar07]

Fat doesn't make you fat. Eating at a caloric surplus for an extended period of time makes you fat.

To answer your question though, there are plenty of low fat protein sources. Chicken, turkey, egg whites, greek yogurt, and protein powder are my main sources of low fat protein. Still, I am able to eat fatty sources of protein like beef and nuts, and still get close to my macro targets for the day very easily. This is because I eat a substantial amount of fat more than my "minimum". My minimum for fat is probably around 70g, but I shoot for around 120g. I do this because if I ate only my minimum of fat, I'd have to eat around 450g of carbs to get to my calorie goal, and I get extremely bloated if I eat over 400g of carbs in a day.

You didn't say what macronutrient levels you typically eat in a day, but my point is to not restrict fats purely for the point of thinking they will make you fat. It's good to have low-fat protein options available if you're struggling to hit your protein intake for the day. Unless you're eating so much fat that fat calories are preventing you from getting enough protein, there's no reason to avoid fat.

[kris2pe]

Fat doesn't make you fat.
In fact, if your fat intake is too low you will have a much more difficult time losing weight.
If burning fat is your main goal, you want to eat a lot of it. You want your body to use it as it's fuel source right? Can't do that if you aren't eating it. The only macro you should be limiting is carbs. Protein and fat should not go below minimum standards.
I cut low carb for the first time this year. I really like it. I went from marathoner to weight lifter so it was very odd to me to have to cut the carbs way down. I found my body works very well on low carb.
When you take away your body's preferred energy source (carbs) it will burn more fat as fuel. This is why lower carb diets require higher fat intakes.

Ok I hate the stickies its soo convoluted!
Ok my other problem is the salt content of my food! I personally don't cook.
Second all of my fiber are from fruits either from banana or mango or anything that's sweet so yeah that's carbs as well.
Third I tried eating veggies and I often eat them as raw sadly I got amebiasis from it.
Yeah so these are some of the things is probably keeping me from getting a lower body fat!

[Mdenatale]

None of those things you listed are keeping you from getting lower body fat. You just see them as good excuses.

[shesprints]

Learn to cook.

[InItForFitness]

Ok I hate the stickies its soo convoluted!
Ok my other problem is the salt content of my food! I personally don't cook.
Second all of my fiber are from fruits either from banana or mango or anything that's sweet so yeah that's carbs as well.
Third I tried eating veggies and I often eat them as raw sadly I got amebiasis from it.
Yeah so these are some of the things is probably keeping me from getting a lower body fat!

Stop being lazy and take 5-10 minutes to read and understand them.
They're not that difficult or "convoluted".


Additionally, none of the things you listed are preventing you from losing body fat.
The only thing stopping you from losing weight is eating too much.


That being said, based on your AVI I see no reason you should be losing weight, as you need to build muscle first before you have muscle to show.

Stop cutting and start bulking.

[kris2pe]

None of those things you listed are keeping you from getting lower body fat. You just see them as good excuses.

Yeah but don't you think salt & carbs make you retain water? BTW I'm currently around 16% bf I haven't update that pic btw! I got tired!

Learn to cook.

Yeah that would really nice if it were only easy and that my work is from 7am- 6pm 6 1/2 days a week .

That being said, based on your AVI I see no reason you should be losing weight, as you need to build muscle first before you have muscle to show.
Stop cutting and start bulking.

Ok! But again i don't have the time to meet my dietary needs!
I can barely meet that 3000 calories especially my protein.
I'm not sure I got my calories on to the wire though cause its hard to accurately get the right calories especially fish. From where I live fishes don't have an english equivalent.

To answer your question though, there are plenty of low fat protein sources. Chicken, turkey, egg whites, greek yogurt, and protein powder are my main sources of low fat protein.

That doesn't seem to be alot choices there!

You didn't say what macronutrient levels you typically eat in a day, but my point is to not restrict fats purely for the point of thinking they will make you fat. It's good to have low-fat protein options available if you're struggling to hit your protein intake for the day. Unless you're eating so much fat that fat calories are preventing you from getting enough protein, there's no reason to avoid fat.

I would agree that I no longer do calorie counting cause I don't cook my food, having to painfully strip all foods of their bones & separate each veggies from one another.

[ironwill2008]

Your post history indicates you ask the same questions over and over again on this site.



Maybe you'd do better to just reread all your old threads; you've already received the answers to your questions, and on multiple occasions.

[CeloMagz]

OP is probably a troll.


If not, learn how to cook OP, you're 30 and still don't know how to? If the problem is time, take ONE day of the week and make meal prep.
There are a lot of lowfat protein sources, as someone said above.
If you REALLY want to accomplish your goals, you need to have a little time, don't you?

[ghay73]

If you REALLY want to accomplish your goals, you need to have a little time, don't you?

Listen to CeloMagz. Make time for meal prep if you really want to accomplish your goal.

[Mdenatale]

Yeah but don't you think salt & carbs make you retain water? BTW I'm currently around 16% bf I haven't update that pic btw! I got tired!

Yeah that would really nice if it were only easy and that my work is from 7am- 6pm 6 1/2 days a week .

Ok! But again i don't have the time to meet my dietary needs!
I can barely meet that 3000 calories especially my protein.
I'm not sure I got my calories on to the wire though cause its hard to accurately get the right calories especially fish. From where I live fishes don't have an english equivalent.

That doesn't seem to be alot choices there!

I would agree that I no longer do calorie counting cause I don't cook my food, having to painfully strip all foods of their bones & separate each veggies from one another.

Well since you're tired, work all the time and too lazy to cook just give up now. You might as well come to terms with the fact that you will be a lazy out of shape POS the rest of your life.

[Caezar07]

That doesn't seem to be alot choices there!

Those are just my choices, how are we supposed to tell you what food you would like? There are also lean cuts of beef and pork, cottage cheese, fish, and other seafood. With these protein sources along with what I mentioned before, there are plenty of protein sources out there that are low in fat. If you don't mind getting carbs with your protein, beans and some grains are also an excellent source of protein.

At some point you need to just start reading nutrition labels and find new food combinations yourself. This ain't rocket science.

[rhadam]

My work here is done.