Getting macros in check?

Hey everyone. Ive followed calorie counting for a while now. I was really good for a while to lose weight and went from 190lbs to 163lbs. Than I got tired of being so strict and let myself go again. Im now between 180-185lbs. I have been following SSLP and maintaining weight on the program. The one issue that I find though is I struggle to hit my macros. If I’m home ill be good with eating all day and tracking. If I go to work I try to be good with my macros but I still don’t come near my protein number. Breakfast is easy to hit macros as I love eggs and have no problem getting that in. Lunch varries but dinner even if I have chicken and rice its never enough. Ive upped my protein shake intake to 2 shakes a day to help boost the numbers.

I work at a correctional facility and sometimes food is hard to come by. They have vending machines and sometimes they have decent food in the chow hall but measuring and estimating the macros is a lost cause. I work odd hours so I try to bring my food with me all the time. Some days Ill get up and eat a light meal before the gym than come home eat breakfast shower and try to eat again but will be sick to my stomach for packing more food on with limited time between. I go to work and can sit in a unit for a period of time with no food just snacks which can be tricky as well. I can get a lunch break and be pulled away for an emergncy and unable to finish my food or wont be able to eat all in one sitting.

My question is what ideas have worked to help increase your protein when your restricted to limited time or food?

Most effective thing you can do imo is buy a big tub of protein powder and make a quick shake when you need to. Other than that, Greek yogurt has like 22g of protein per serving depending on the brand, that’s one I’ve gone to for a long time. Easy right before bed too.

Can you take food with you to work?

I bulk cook on weekends (steak, rice, chicken thighs, chicken breasts, beef/venison/pork mince/ground tomato sauce) and store the stuff in the fridge. Come work day I take out two tubs, chuck some rice (also pre-made and in the fridge), a protein source (pick from pre-made food), and some veggies (surprise, surprise, also pre-made by steaming them) into each tub and hey ho, two meals ready to go. Breakky and dinner I have at home, the latter of which is also from pre-made stuff or sometimes freshl made.

For my macros at the moment it is 100g rice and 200g protein and say 75g to 100g veggies, yours will of course differ. Easy and done within 5 to 10 minutes. I get it done the evening before so in the morning I reach into the fridge and grab the tubs, into a plastic bag (to catch any possible spills - which there have not been any) and into my backpack and hi ho, hi ho, off to work I go.

If you do it the night before there is no planning nor fussing in the morning.

If a meal doesn’t have a chunk of meat the size of my palm, I make up the difference with Whey in my drink. I keep a tub under my desk at work, and another in the pantry at home, and I have a smaller tub I fill for travel.

Whey, “the KING of all proteins.”

Also, I did a brief cost per gram of protein analysis on several of my favorite sources. Chicken, Ground Beef, cheese, eggs. The only thing that beat Whey was Milk, which sometimes doesn’t fit the macros, and 80% of that is casesin which doesn’t get absorbed as fast as the others on the list so it isn’t as potent for initiating a spike in Protein Synthesis.

There are 2 keys. 1. Always bring your food with you.
2. Always plan your day in advance. I open up MFP every night and literally plan my entire next day in advance. This is easier than it sounds because I eat a lot of the same foods for a given week. I usually cook a crap ton of food on the weekends so my lunches and dinners are covered during the week day. So I really only have to balance everything out once a week. If you plan in advance you can find ways to hit your goals. You might even have to plan in advance of going to the grocery store the first week or two, after that you should easily get the hang of what you need to hit your targets, as most protein sources, carb sources, veggies, etc can be rotated out with similar foods each week to keep your meals similar. So each week only requires minor tweaking. I use protein shakes when I have to, but most days I get my protein macro simply through whole food sources. It’s really not that hard with a little planning up front.

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I think I might try doing something like this. I prep my food now and always try to get as much whole food as I can. Lately I have noticed it wasn’t enough so I added a second protein shake which got me closer or hit my protein numbers. I can bring food in the issue is I sit in a unit a majority of the time where we don’t have access to the food or a microwave so unless its heated up and brought into the unit it would be me bringing two containers of food that has to be eaten quickly or cold. I think if I could prep two larger containers with rice and a protein that I can keep and eat besides my main meal that might help with both snacking and hitting my numbers

Hey everyone,

I’m a 100% disabled Army captain, with an SBS (Spenobasilar Symphasis) Override with sidebending. My walk-around head pain is 8-9/10, and most exercise is like hitting myself in the head with a brick.

My Specs:

Age: 52
Height: 6’ 0" – 182 cm

I started at 212 lbs./96.16 kg in early November 2018, and hit 180.2 lbs/ 81.73 by EOM January 2019. I’ve taken a break, and have seem to hit a set point at 184 pounds. I combined intermittent fasting with a bastardized form of the Ketogenic diet I made from parts of several diets that made common sense to me. Mostly I did it keeping my mouth shut, and replacing my comfort eating with drinking water with electrolytes. Not cheap/not expensive/usually not very hungry.

I am taking a break because I’m afraid shorting myself on carbs for so long just might be a little stupid. And, I want to try to add some lean muscle, and I haven’t got a clue how to make that happen while on keto and doing intermittent fasting. The upside has been that the ketones really help with my pain. Supposedly, they are 50x-100x better than NSAIDS, and 10x better than steroids for inflamation.

Bottom Line Question: can I grow lean muscle on keto? Thanks for listening.