Low Cost, High Protein, Low Calories Food for Bodybuilding

stphnstevey

I am trying to build muscle and get rid of my beer belly-I'm looking for the classic abs and pecs. I'm weight training and doing cardio at least every other day. I'm progressively increasing my weights to increase muscle size and doing cardio to burn off fat. I've read that everyone has abs and the best way for them to show is to burn off the fat.

I have also read that diet is key - Protein, Protein, Protein! - about 1g protein/Lb weight/day. For me my target is 150g/day.

I also want to lose fat. I've researched that you need around 2500 calories/day to maintain weight so I am aiming for about 1500/day.

So I'm trying to maintain 150g protein/day and still stay under 1500 calories - but also on a budget, so looking for the cheapest ways of maintaining this!

I shyed away from Protein Powders due to the cost. I started using powdered skimmed milk, but these were 300 calories each drink. I realised that buying Whey protein in bulk is

1) about the same price (£33 for 5kg, 82% protein)
2) half the calories skimmed milk

But I can't just drink shakes, so I am looking for staple foods that fit the criteria to fill the rest of the day. I work from home, so some preparation and cooking is not a problem.

So far I have got the following list (least cost to most). I tend to shop in Tesco's, so excuse my reference to Tesco's Value Brand (TVB):

Liver
Chicken - Whole and portions (TVB)
Pork chops (TVB)
Pork Steaks
Diced pork casserole meat (TVB)
Eggs (Tesco Value Brand)
Tinned minced beef and onions (TVB)
Tinned Steak
Tuna Flakes (TVB)
Tinned sardines
Pork Loin Joint
Cottage Cheese (TVB)
Fish fillets (TVB)
Gammon Joint (TVB)
Diced Turkey Thigh (TVB)
Beef stewing/frying steak (TVB)
Chicken Joint
Chicken breasts (TVB)
Diced chicken


As you can see, just about all of this is MEAT!! I do add veg to it to bulk it out and stay healthy. I also like my fruit.

If anyone has any other Low Cost, High Protein, Low Calories food, please please let me know-I'm open to any ideas!

So far I've just been frying the meat with vegatables or grilling as appropriate. It goes together, but sure there must be sauces or seasonings I could easily do to make it more appetising?

Also, any bodybuilders that want to help, particularly on how they maintain their diets, would be more than appreciated.

Any ideas on anything else I could be doing to build my Abs and Pecs also appreciated

Cheers! :beer:

Edwardia

Hi, I'm not a dietician, nutritionist or doctor but I am a qualified ex chef and I'm a low carber. I would advise asking practice nurse at your GP's surgery to do a routine blood test before you start modifying your diet.

High protein also means ingesting more saturated fat so if your cholesterol and triglycerides weren't good, adding so much meat-derived protein wouldn't be the best idea. If your cholesterol was good, then adding meat, fish, poultry, game, eggs and cheese in larger quantities than people usually eat wouldn't be a problem. If your kidneys don't work well then a high protein diet would be an extremely bad idea. Plus 58% of protein converts to glucose and unused glucose will be laid down as fat.

I don't see anything wrong in your list though

terra_ferma

You mention calories, I would say don't trust 'averages' as there is no average person.
You may like myfitnesspal, it will calculate how many calories you need, and help you keep track of them through a database of foods and calories/carbs/fat content. It also has an exercise journal.
The database is not always accurate as it accepts entries from any user, but it's a very useful tool (and free)
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

EDIT looking at your figures, they look outright dangerous to me if you are planning to exercise heavily, you definitely need too get more accurate information as 1500 seems too low for an active man.

hlw1810

I look for the same thing as I eat a high protein BB diet. I like to eat a lot of fish and the best value I've found is the large tins of Princes Pilchards. They are 300g drained weight and at 21g protein per 100g that's 3 portions of protein for 99p. Hard to beat.

I eat them with a serving of rice a bit of thai green curry paste and make into a hot soup. Yummy

Approved food did have tuna a couple of weeks ago at 20p a tin so I'm keeping an eye out for that again.

Also Sainsburys had frozen chicken breast half price this week - £2.79 for 750g - very good deal - I've got 8 servings of protein out of that at 34p a serving.

I don't like to pay more than 50p tops for a 20-25g protein serving. It can be done!

HTH's

sophieschoice

Edwardia wrote: »

Hi, I'm not a dietician, nutritionist or doctor but I am a qualified ex chef and I'm a low carber. I would advise asking practice nurse at your GP's surgery to do a routine blood test before you start modifying your diet.

High protein also means ingesting more saturated fat so if your cholesterol and triglycerides weren't good, adding so much meat-derived protein wouldn't be the best idea. If your cholesterol was good, then adding meat, fish, poultry, game, eggs and cheese in larger quantities than people usually eat wouldn't be a problem. If your kidneys don't work well then a high protein diet would be an extremely bad idea. Plus 58% of protein converts to glucose and unused glucose will be laid down as fat.

I don't see anything wrong in your list though

Diet has little to do with cholesterol, it's mainly manufactured by our liver.
This is a piece about high protein by a former vegan

For years the authorities told us cholesterol-rich foods would kill us — but we’ve since learned that is utter drivel.
While Ancel Keys, the scientist whose research in the Fifties first raised concerns about cholesterol levels, suggested that heart disease was linked to large amounts of cholesterol in the blood, he never claimed those levels were linked to the amount of cholesterol we eat.
‘There’s no connection whatsoever between cholesterol in food and cholesterol in blood,’ he said in a magazine article in 1997. ‘And we’ve known that all along.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2105132/Damn-low-fat-diet-How-reformed-vegan-John-Nicholson-gorges-foods-granny-enjoyed--felt-better.html#ixzz1nEiFqCcZ

Edwardia

If your cholesterol level is high it isn't a good move to be ingesting more cholesterol if you don't need to - but yes predominantly cholesterol in the body originates from the liver not diet and it is found in every cell in the body.

Ancel Keys' research was extremely flawed, he didn't do regression, the team didn't even analyse all the data (maybe because they didn't have good computers) they cherry picked and Ancel Keys is the guy largely responsible for persuading the American Heart Association to adopt the low fat approach.

Fat doesn't become fat in the body, carbohydrate becomes glucose and if that isn't used up it is laid down as fat. Contrary to myth it's not the fat in the burger that makes you fat it's the burger bun and the sugar in the regular Coke.

I was reared on a low fat diet because my father had high cholesterol. It didn't make any of us healthier. He died of heart disease and both my mother and brother have high blood pressure.

I had already perused the article and I don't think anything in the Daily Mail is great health advice. He's trying to sell a book, is all. If you really want to learn the truth about fat, sugar etc there are some great lectures by medical professionals amongst the dross on YouTube for example Sugar: The Bitter Truth by Dr Robert Lustig MD

stephen77

Beside liver other offal like kidney.
Lean stewing steaks are pretty cheap if you got plenty of time to cook the tough joints.
unsweetend soya milk (taste rank though)

even foods like peas. 1kg is 99p but will give about 60g protein as your having shakes this will be fine.The peas will give lot of fibre and other nutritents as well.

Ken68

Pilchards at 84p per 425gr from Asda is good.
14.5g per 100g.
Did a list of low cost protein a while ago. Will look it up. Liver came tops but was high in cholesterol.
I would have thought 150g per day is way too much. Isn't 55g the normal male requirement.
And Lidl have just reduced their skimmed UHT to 39p per litre...34g protein per carton.
Also watch out for meat at Lidl half price weekend deals. Pork chops and mince.
Edit...my original protein list shows oatmeal and spaghetti and penne as good protein value.
e.g. penne 18pence for 60 protein g's.

Sparklyfairy

I have read a few people's research who have investigated the increased cholesterol diet which then lead to a lower over bad cholesterol - namely here about The Dukan Diet & here How to Lose 20lbs of fat in 30 days...both very interesting & I think there will be a lot more people/doctors investigating this further..The 2nd link above is but Tim Ferriss & he's majorly into body building & he's managed to get down to 5-6% body fat. He adds beans & legumes to his diet as well, eats as much veg & carb you want & recommends 1 day a week to majorly pig out on whatever you want to essentially let your body know you're not starving it, which believe it or not has worked. I can't recommend reading his blog enough & his book is outstanding.

stphnstevey

Thanks for all your replies!

Had made a mistake when looking at Pilchards and accidently just looked at small tins, but the bigger tins hugely better value. In Brine, there 20% protein compared to 14% in tomatoe sauce. Can you eat pilchards in just brine or do you really need the tomatoe sauce? What could I put with them? Veg? Jacket potatoe?

Thanks for the UHT tip off

With regards to pasta (and rice, porridge, bread), although EXTREMELY cheap, there very high in calories, so have shyed away from them. I'm bulking food out with lower calorie vegatables that are around the same price and have the benefit of vitamins and minerals. The peas are a good idea, although have to eat half the bag to get the protein from them alone!

Will have to look out for the deals-now not only the normal things search for, but certain foods as well!

Finding it really hard to judge the meat deals in store, normally bought processed meats and not raw meats. Pick it up and thinking-err??? pass! Even the yellow stickers finding it hard to get brain around pricing. Guess got to look at price/100g (aiming around 50p/100g and under) and protein content??

For body building it's generally recommended that need 1g protein/lb weight - so I'm only 150 punds, so 150g/protein day. Although I'm not sure I need to go this far, as although I am working out with weights, I'm only doing about 30mins a day. I'm bench pressing about 30kg (as well as other exercises), but trying to progressively increase. Maybe I need to not worry or workout more?

Ken68

The problem with processed and canned fish/meat, not always 100% protein. Chicken roll for example 84p for 400grams b ut only 58% chicken though some skimmed milk powder too.
And why pay for bones as in chicken legs. Plain frozen fish is ideal if you can discount the ice (and price £4 kg).And if you can get an offer chicken and turkey breast.
I grow my own fruit and veg so only shop for value protein and free stuff aka, Campbells soup of a few weeks ago.