Realistic Food Portion Size

[Phdpaul]

Can anyone help clarify what portion size I should have when on a HFLC diet? Generally, I have a low carb regime of about 40-60g per day, 200- 300 g’s protein and the remainder fat so that my daily diet is something like:

Breakfast – 2 eggs, 2 pieces of bacon and 2 mushrooms fried in olive oil
Mid-morning – coffee with butter or a splash of avocado oil
Lunch – cold meat/oily fish salad with full fat mayo or olive oil/balsamic vinegar dressing
Mid afternoon – the aforementioned coffee
Tea – usually meat/prawn casserole or curry only

I drink plenty of water throughout the day and am generally pleased with the results – 2.5 stone weight loss without really trying and blood sugars and well under control and within ‘normal’ range. However, I’ve read a couple of times that protein portion size should be determined by 1gram per kg of healthy body weight ratio which would mean I should be only having about 85 grams of protein per day. Is that right? Likewise, I’m about to start weight training to build muscle so is this right or should I just carry on with what I am doing?

Many thanks,

Paul

 

[Fraddycat]

Hi Paul, I too have heard that your body turns excess protein to fat and therefore you should have 1g protein per kilo of target weight, and this was confirmed to me by my dietician. However ... I have yet to manage to get my protein intake that low, I should be having about 72g of protein a day but find that impossible, I am normally in the range of 90 - 100g. I am still losing weight, all be it slowly.

I'm not sure about extra protein when weight training, I will leave someone else to answer that one

 

[GraceK]

Personally, I don't count my protein or fats because my body tells me quite quickly when I've had enough and I find I can't overeat on those two. I notice if I haven't eaten enough protein my head can get a bit dizzy. I don't eat meat every day, I rotate between meat, eggs, fish, cheese meals.

But carbs - yes - I find they're easy to overeat on so I just keep an eye on my carbs. I've found that completely cutting out bread, pasta, rice, cakes, biscuits etc has cured me of carb cravings and it didn't take long either, just a week or so.

My friend and I went for a coffee at a cafe the other day and he was deliberating over whether to have a piece of chocolate cake or not. He worries that he'll make me fall off the wagon if he eats sweet things in front of me. But I looked at the array of cakes and pastries on offer and instead of feeling 'Ooooh yummy, I'll have one of each' ... I felt 'Ewww no thanks, too sickly sweet for me.' That's because I'd had a good protein filled breakfast earlier on and wasn't hungry for anything.

 

[hanadr]

My principle for LCHF is:
Try to keep away from carbs
at fats liberally
eat proteins modestly.[for example if i had 2 eggs and bacon for breakfast, I'd probably have a cup of bouillon for lunch and a light dinner of a small portion of meat with a LOT of green veggies or salad.
Today
I've had a piece of cheese for breakfast, I'm cooking meatloaf and brussells for lunch and being Sunday, we'll have a dessert Half a poached nectarine with raspberry sauce[ home made and sugarfree]. With whipped cream. Tea will probably be a ricecake [the thin kind!] with a little cream cheese and a sliced gherkin on it.
Coffee drunk pretty liberally all day.
Hana

 

[Indy51]

I personally wouldn't worry about whether you're eating too much protein, because there's a built in satiety factor for most people. Most people can't consume more than about 30-35% of their daily intake as protein. If you're losing weight at a rate you're happy with, it shouldn't be a problem. If you're doing heavy weight training, you can probable get away with more than most of us, especially us females.

One recommendation I read was for 0.8-2.1g per kg of body, up to a maximum of 35% of total daily calories.

There's also a chart from New Atkins based on sex and height here (scroll down the page to see the chart):

http://www.askthelowcarbexperts.com/201 ... n-phinney/

 

[Phdpaul]

From what's been said I think I going 'bout it the right way but my protein ratio still seems to be on the generous side. Do you think the best thing to do is to:

1. increase my fat content via more butter coffee's, cream deserts and/or oil based salad dressings;
2. have a cup of bouillon instead for lunch (thanks Hana, I had forgotten about the value of soups);
3. have a greater number of feeding times but with smaller portion sizes so that I don't go overboard with protein?

It seems that I still have much to learn.

Many thanks,

Paul

 

[lucylocket61]

Maybe a stupid post:

It took me a while to realise that 1 egg = 6g of protein and a 6oz steak has only 42 grammes of protein.

I was making the mistake of thinking that the weight of the meat/egg/cheese was the amount of grams of protein I was consuming. But they are not.

So, in order to get 60g of protein, I would need to eat 10 eggs. or about 18oz steak

But you lot have probably already worked that out............

 

[Indy51]

Not a stupid post, Lucy.

I make assumptions too, like that people are weighing their food and getting the calculated macronutrient values from some sort of reference book/site and I realised after reading your post that maybe it's not good to assume anything, so thank you :thumbup:

 

[Tootse]

Controlling protein intake, that's my next step...

I have cut down the carbs but am still having large portions of mainly protein and some fats.

Brekkie:- 3-4 rashers bacon with 2 poached eggs, or 3 egg omlete with mushrooms chopped leek & onion
Lunch:- large portion of Asda mixed salad (red cabbage, grated carrot, lettuce) with 4-5 cherry tomatoes, 4-5 sliced radishes and spinach leaves added. With either tin of mackrel in chilli oil or something like a half of mattesons pork sausage (both 0 carbs).
Evening meal could be something like. chicken liver and onions with caulie, broccoli etc.

Now I know my portions are way too large, always have been. I really struggle to change my thoughts from 'I am depriving myself' to 'I am doing myself a favour'.

I didn't know there was a protein to weight ratio. Thanks Indy51 for the link. It seems I should consume approx 70-145 grams (up to 15oz) protein daily. Now I need to start looking at my portions in earnest.

Today
I've had a piece of cheese for breakfast, I'm cooking meatloaf and brussells for lunch and being Sunday, we'll have a dessert Half a poached nectarine with raspberry sauce[ home made and sugarfree]. With whipped cream. Tea will probably be a ricecake [the thin kind!] with a little cream cheese and a sliced gherkin on it.
Coffee drunk pretty liberally all day.
Hana

I admire your restraint. A thin ricecake with cream cheese and sliced gherkin... I'd starve!! (I know I won't but like I said, my mind would tell me that I would starve).

 

[GraceK]

That's where I'm at now Tootse ... I've had to take it in stages, starting with concentrating on carbs. Now I feel more confident about how to handle them, I'm looking at my portion sizes of protein and fats.

To be honest, the shock of not feeling hungry all the time is a lot for me to get my head round because I've become so used to thinking about food 24/7, in case I get caught out somewhere without access to food, highly unlikely in this day and age but that's the level of panic I could get to sometimes. That diabetic hunger has gone and I'm having to learn a whole new way of thinking and learning to forget food for a few hours at a time is a real change for me.

I used to marvel at people who didn't panic when they felt hungry :shock:

I found this site yesterday and it's great for recording your food diary, you can set it so that you know how much carbs, protein, fat, cholesterol etc you're eating and you can tailor it to any kind of diet you happen to be following. I filled it in yesterday and have just done today's and it's told me I've only had 68% of my Recommended Dietary Intake today, so I've got some more food to look forward to this evening - helpful if you've a tendency to not eat enough sometimes.

It's very simple to get the hang of and I'm finding it's helping me to discipline myself without making me feel like I'm depriving myself.

http://www.fatsecret.com/ - :lol: Not a terribly PC title but it does what it says on the tin

 

[Tootse]

Thanks for the link GraceK I will look around the site.

My downfall with things like that is I always forget to record. I start off with good intentions, but within 2 days it all goes to pot. Leaving it until later then forgetting altogether.