Started tracking my Macros, anyone have trouble hitting Protein numbers?

[gotsmack]

I started tracking my macros. I'm thinking of targeting 40% protein 25% carbs and 35% fat on a 1700 cal diet, but I'm just tracking it now to see what my normal numbers look like.

That's 680 cal of protein or 170 g I need to hit. 1 oz of chicken breast is 9 g or 36 cal of protein.

That means I have to eat 18.9 oz of chicken. Which is OK for a day or two, but my normal intake of total animal protein is like 6 oz for the entire day. I can hit my total cal numbers no problem, but it seems like I'm normally eating like 60% carbs.

How do you guys hit your numbers? powder?

I can't have legumes and eating so much meat makes me feel lethargic for a few hours.

***Update*** I ordered some powder and started force feeding myself 3 hard boiled eggs a day. I'm still not sure I can hit 40% protein.

I think I'm not counting right, because according to the numbers I should be a stick figure as I'm only getting around 1k calories a day. I don't think I'm eating this little.

Meal 1, (lunch) 1 large salad (spring mix, 1 large salad spinner full) with 2 slices of cheese and 3 tablespoons of olive oil.

Meal 2, 1 cup of pitted dates

Meal 3, 1 cup of quinoa cooked in chicken stock and wilted spring mix (salad portion size is equal to lunch meal)

Meal 4, 3 hard boiled eggs, sometimes I eat 6-8 oz of chicken here, but I'm going to try to do both.

Meal 5, handful of raisins

********UPDATE 2*******
I tried eating a bunch of chicken, couldn't do it. I can do maybe 2 chicken leg & thighs a day + 4 wings in 1 day, but not on back to back days.

Costco has a sale on Whey Protein so I bought 2X 6 lbs bags of Cytosport. I'll do 2 scoops a day at 27 g a scoop and 1 cup of Fage greek yogurt at 23 g of protein. That gets me to 77g for the day before I eat my 4-8 oz of chicken a day and that kicks me to about 105 -133 and I'll pick up a few g here and there from the other foods I eat. I'm not hitting 170 but I'm OK with being in the 150g range an just eating more fats and carbs.

 

[Zivic]

I started tracking my macros. I'm thinking of targeting 40% protein 25% carbs and 35% fat on an 1700 cal diet, but I'm just tracking it now to see what my normal numbers look like.

That's 680 cal of protein or 170 g I need to hit. 1 oz of chicken breast is 9 g or 36 cal of protein.

That means I have to eat 18.9 oz of chicken. Which is OK for a day or two, but my normal intake of total animal protein is like 6 oz for the entire day. I can hit my total cal numbers no problem, but it seems like I'm normally eating like 60% carbs.

How do you guys hit your numbers? powder?

I can't have legumes and eating so much meat makes me feel lethargic for a few hours.

I supplement 100 grams, eat 16-18 oz of chicken breast, 4 whole eggs, and get another 20-40 between oatmeal, peanut butter, other things

 

[Koing]

2-3 shakes and bcaa but I was taking on 220-240g per day.

Koing

 

[SociallyChallenged]

I used to eat a lot of canned tuna (just as a temporary thing), chicken, fish, and pork when I was bulking to hit my macro splits. In addition, I would drink a ton of milk and supplement about 50g in whey protein per day. At that stage, I was getting about 200-220g of protein at 160lbs of body weight... Way more than necessary.

 

[KingstonU]

Started keeping track if this as well and also finding it very difficult to get my protein levels up. Guess I will making sure that meats take up a larger portion of my meals as well as protein powder. But more meat will really hike up my grocery bills!

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Started keeping track if this as well and also finding it very difficult to get my protein levels up. Guess I will making sure that meats take up a larger portion of my meals as well as protein powder. But more meat will really hike up my grocery bills!

If you can, aim for leaner meats (chicken, pork) and fattier fish (wild caught ideal). Meat is a bit expensive, but I can get most of my meat on sale at the local grocery store if I'm flexible. I may have to take ground chicken instead of chicken breast, shrimp instead of fish, or a different cut of steak, but I haven't had much problem getting it for $2-4 per pound.

 

[z1ggy]

Nope no problems.

going to hit 217g today of protein. 2 whey shakes, 2 cups of almond mind, 5oz chicken, 3.5 oz sirloin, 1 serving of almonds, 1 serving greek yogurt, 4oz turkey breast, and 2 small salmon fillet.

If you are lifting intensely, you should be hungry almost always (at least I am) and eating like that shouldn't be an issue as long as u have a job where you can eat 4-5 times during the work day.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

mix it up or use shakes. cottage cheese, greek yogurt, frozen fish fillets, eggs, cartons of egg whites. chicken all day gets boring for some people. you might want to look at your carb sources. A slice of white bread is something like 70-90. 85g of broccolli is something like 25 calories. That gives you more space for protein.

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

I eat 1.5-2lb of chicken every day. It gets boring but whatever. I also get post workout shake 50g protein and for breakfast I either eat a crap load of eggs/egg whites or 40g protein powder. Before bed I have either 2 cups Greek yogurt, 2 cups lf cottage cheese, or 6 oz beef.

When I get bored of chicken I can replace with tilapia or Mahi Mahi or something but that is much more expensive than chicken breast.

 

[smackababy]

I eat 1.5-2lb of chicken every day.

That's a lot of chicken. >_> Although, if I ate chicken every meal I'd probably hit that. I eat ~8oz breast most nights of the week.

 

[KingstonU]

If you can, aim for leaner meats (chicken, pork) ....

I swore I though that was a typo when I first read it. Pork is considered a Lean meat?!?!

I always thought that the #1 worst ever meat for you was Pork by a mile. Have I had it all wrong all this time???

 

[CalebRockeT]

It really depends on the cut. Pork tenderloin is the leanest cut of pork. According to porkandhealth.org, "a 3-ounce serving contains 120 calories and 2.98 grams of total fat – as lean as a skinless chicken breast."

 

[SociallyChallenged]

I swore I though that was a typo when I first read it. Pork is considered a Lean meat?!?!

I always thought that the #1 worst ever meat for you was Pork by a mile. Have I had it all wrong all this time???

Don't get the short ribs or something. Tenderloin and pork chops can be fairly lean. Definitely leaner than most marbled red meat cuts.

 

[Zivic]

It really depends on the cut. Pork tenderloin is the leanest cut of pork. According to porkandhealth.org, "a 3-ounce serving contains 120 calories and 2.98 grams of total fat – as lean as a skinless chicken breast."

I like Pork tenderloin, but I have an issue with pork once it hits the fridge. If I don't eat it all when it is first prepared it always has a funny, almost metallic/chemical taste to it after being in the fridge for a day.

 

[smackababy]

Tenderloin and pork chops can be fairly lean. Definitely leaner than most marbled red meat cuts.

Which is a plague on meats. Since pork got a reputation for being unhealthy, we started getting this dry, zero fat garbage cuts of pork. =(