High protein foods for my boyfriend?

This is a rather strange problem!

My boyfriend is counting calories with me.  6'0", 22 years old, CW 198, GW around 180.  At his highest, about 3-4 years ago, he weighed 280, and he has lost all of that weight with diet and exersize, with my supervision (I'm a DTR).  It's a really amazing transformation.

About a month ago, I started to get worried about the amount of and calories protein he was eating, and I asked him to start logging his foods.  He ended up to be eating about 1200-1400 calories a day and only 20-30 grams protein (!!!!)

After becoming conscious of the problem, he's doing better, but still only making 1400-1800 calories a day, and 30-60 grams protein.  Yesterday, he worked out for an hour and still only totaled 1450 and 38.  I was horrified. 

Does anyone have any suggestions for REAL foods that would be convenient enough for a college student (who DOES have a kitchen) that would be high in protein and calories, so that his lunches are no longer a Luna Bar and a piece of fruit?  He eats several small "lunches" throughout the day.  He often expects to make up his protein during dinner, which is silly unless we go out to eat, as I rarely cook meat.

He does not like lunch meat, hard boiled eggs, or cottage cheese. 

He DOES like "ants on a log" (peanut butter, carrots, raisins), beef jerky, tuna salad w/ light mayo (but "stirring the tuna" is "gross," so I have to make it for him), cheeses, yogurt, beans (we eat a lot of beans), granola bars (the Kashi and Luna bars have a good amount of protein), and chicken.  He LOVES fruits and veggies.

I may be asking a bit much to have anyone read all of this, but does anyone have any suggestions?  I really want him to eat real food when I'm not around to police him!  Or at least chose high-protein processed foods...

Just typing all this gave me some ideas!

Green vegetables are usually higher in protein (Broccoli, Peas, Asparagus).

Nuts are a pretty good idea, but I'm afraid that if they were in the house, I would go overboard.    I have trouble keeping my calories low enough -- which just makes this all the more frustrating for me!  When I get home from work, he will typically be 200 calories BEHIND me, and he's supposed to be getting about 500 more than me!  So I'll have about 500-600 calories for dinner, and he will have over 1000.

actually it sounds like he is getting just the right amount of protein.  i don't think he needs to worry about adding anything at all...... you need 10% of your diet to be  protein, so at 1400 calorie diet, 10% =140 calories. 4 calories = 1 gram of protein, which equals 35 grams of protein. if he's working out and eating 30-60 grams of protein he's doing fine....

 

how bout veggie burgers?  or the soy ground meat? my bf loves adding that stuff to everything and we use it to make tacos, burritos, chili, put it on pizza, pasta sauce.... and it's pretty much fat free...  hummus and veggies... apples and peanut butter.... yogurt... i don't know how he does with veggies, but they have protein in them too so eating a good variety of those is good.... trail mix/nuts.... lentil or minestrone soup.... add beans to salsa.... hope some of that helps.

I think for most women with boyfriend or husbands it is a struggle with calories because they can inevitable eat more than we can.  The key is to find a healthy balance and learn to have will power, which is easier said than done. 

For the average person, protein consumption should be 0.8 x lean body weight in kg. So lets estimate that my boyfriend has a lean body weight of 180lbs. 180 / 2.2 = around 82. 82 x 0.8 = 65-66 grams protein a day. If he's getting a little under that now and then, we aren't going to freak out. But he's consistently significantly below.

undertherainbow: It is SO hard to have that willpower! I've gotten much better, but it's very difficult. In some ways, it doesn't help that I love to eat ALMOST anything, so there are ZERO foods that he likes and I don't. I'm not allergic to anything, either.

A high-protein hummus is a good idea. If we had more room in the kitchen, I would want a food processor and would make my own... any suggestions on brands that are high protein?

I had the same problem when I first lost weight in college.  In October 2000, I was 6'2", 240lbs, approx 25% body fat.  I lost 50lbs in 6 months, but after I stopped working out 3-4 days/week, and paying close attention to my food habits, I continued to lose weight over the next year or so. 

By March 2002, I had gone down to about 160lbs, which worried me that maybe something was wrong.  I happened to be taking a basic nutrition class at UMD, and through a diet analysis, I realized I was averaging about 1600 calories a day, far lower than the 2400-2600 I needed to maintain weight.

For the last few years, though, I have hovered around 175, which is decent for me.  Now that I am back in the gym, though, I now need about 2700 calories to maintain, which is honestly tough for me to do, short of eating gobs of junk food.

It is probably just as tough for someone trying to lose weight as it is for someone trying to maintain/build on an athlete's diet.  Our lives are so busy that it is far too easy to pack in tons of saturated fat, sodium, simple sugars, and preservatives.

So, if anything, let him know he's not alone.  I'm working on this one too!

-Chris

not liking hard boiled eggs sucks. just make sure that when he eats eggs that he just doesn't eat the whites because just the whites are an incomplete source of protein. for example when i eat eggs i have four egg whites with two whole eggs. other foods could be lean chicken and turkey, tell him to stomach as much veggies as he can(i easily go through two whole cucumbers a day), get smart-balance omega-3 pb to put on that celery, oats, flax seeds, try to get the protein from real food rather than protein bars, and he might have to supplement with a whey protein shake. and tell him to not worry about going over the recommended amount of protein because it won't hurt deffinately since he works out. 

greengenuity: He actually goes to UMD.  XD  I just thought that was an amusing coincidence. 

wvumaniac: There is nothing wrong with eating an incomplete source of protein -- you just need to eat a different incomplete source of protein to balance it.  The different food doesn't even need to be consumed at the same meal.  And why are protein bars bad -- but protein shakes advisable?  That's completely stupid.

lots of protein bars are filled with sugar lots with HFCS. whey protein shakes are so much better and are also filled with other stuff that is good for you.

ex: regular detour bar, 310cals, 7g fat(5gsat. f), 20mg cholesterol, 350mg of sodium, 150mg of potassium, 32g of carbs, 4g of sugar, 30g of protein, no vitamin a, no vitamin b, no vitamin c.

serving of myoplex whey protein mix: 280cals, 3g fat(1gsat. f), 50mg cholesterol, 270mg of sodium, 780mg of potassium, 24g of carbs, 3g of fiber, 2g of sugar, 42g of protein. daily values= 50% vitamin a, 100% vitamin e, 50% vitamin b6, 50% pantothenic acid, 50% zinc, 80% chromium, 50% vitamin c, 50% thiamin, 50% folate, 45% phosphorus, 35% selenium, 70% molybdenum, 70% calcium, 60% riboflavin, 90% vitamin b12 and many more

but getting everything you need from actual food is the best way to go if possible hence why whey is a supplement.

My trainer has me on a high protein diet right now, and I basically eat a lot of chicken, fish, egg whites, green veggies, almonds, and drink a lot of protein drinks. You can buy frozen chicken fillets at any grocery store that can be cooked rather quickly... or, buy a roasted chicken (those already cooked rotissery chickens or whatever they are) in the deli section and pick off the meat, portion it out into little baggies and it'll be ready to eat when he is (white meat is best, the dark meat has too much fat). Canned tuna or even the flavored tuna in the pouches is good for you as well. You might want to invest in some 100% Whey Protein Powder, just be careful of the sugar content. GNC's Pro Performance 100% Whey Protein is good (chocolate flavor seems to be the best) - it only has 2 or 3g of sugar. You can also get one at Walmart - it's by EAS and comes in a purplish container and has only 1g of sugar per scoop. It's kind of expensive, but so is meat... and this you can mix up and drink on the go. I do 1.5-2 scoops for about 16oz of water, usually two-three times a day. Helps with water intake too.

Good luck!

I'm guessing he will do a minimum of cooking?

At my grocery store you can buy frozen pre-cooked cocktail shrimp that thaw in <1-2 minutes under running water. I nuke some soba noodles in the microwave, nuke frozen veggies, defrost the shrimp, and toss it together with sesame oil, lemon juice, Sriricha, soy sauce, salsa, or whatever. They also sell individually frozen Tilapia filets that thaw in <10 minutes in water.

Rather than peanuts I buy raw unsalted sliced almonds. They aren't as snackable as peanuts are, and you can add them to pretty much anything. Yogurt, cereal, green beans, rice, etc.

Frozen edamame in the shell is easy to cook and fun to eat. Low fat turkey dogs have high sodium, but aren't that bad otherwise. I make hummus in my blender and it comes out fine. No food processor needed. You can also make your own beef jerky if you have an electric oven with standard dials (no fancy digital display). Then you can control the salt/sugar & other ingredients. What about cottage cheese? A glass of soy milk? Roasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds?

Thanks for all the suggestions!  Some good ideas here. 

Puffwa: He actually will cook (with me) in the evening, and will eat the leftovers for lunch if he's at the apartment.  Usually he's running from class to class, though.  I like all your suggestions -- he hates shrimp and hot dogs, though.  XD

THAT'S what the problem is here -- he needs more protein but he's pretty picky about meats.  A vegetarian diet would suit him just fine -- except for the protein!

The other night I sliced up some Top Blade steak and threw it in a cast iron skillet (without added oil). I had a 40g serving of protein ready in less than 10 minutes.

I don't like cottage cheese either, but  for a snack today a put 1 cup of 1% cottage cheese in my mini food processor with 1 cup of frozen strawberries and 1 packet spenda.  I processed it until smooth like ice cream.  My husband and I split it and it was pretty good.  Not as sweet as ice cream but a nice texture and satisfying.