An Economical Protein Diet

emperorstevee

Hello,

I have been neglecting my health for quite a few years now, buying the cheapest and unhealthiest food, more for pleasure and cheap living, than a balance between healthy living and money saving.

However, I would like this to change and in the last few months I have been making efforts to incorporate a diet that will be healthier, lower in fat, and supportive of getting a well built body. The two most important things I think when it comes to food and getting toned, is to eat lots of protein and reduce as much fat intake as possible.

What are the cheapest and easiest to prepare sources of protein that you know of?

parking_question_chap

emperorstevee wrote: »

. The two most important things I think when it comes to food and getting toned, is to eat lots of protein and reduce as much fat intake as possible.

What are the cheapest and easiest to prepare sources of protein that you know of?

Point 1, couldnt be further from the truth. Fat is an essential macronutrient (ie your body needs it for various functions). Please understand that eating fat does not necessarily make you fat. Of course this doesnt mean you can eat three fry ups a day, just be sensible about intake.

You really want to be getting rid of foods with refined sugars which have little nutritional value.

Point 2, tinned tuna is pretty cheap per gram of protein.

Chickabiddybex

Yep, you want .8g of protein per lb of body weight and .4g of fat. Make the rest of your calories up in carbs.

(4 cals per gram of protein and carbs. 9 per gram of fat)

There is another important thing when it comes to getting toned... exercise!

The easiest protein sources... eggs, Greek yoghurt, cottage cheese, wafer thin turkey/chicken.

Conrad

Eggs, chicken nuts and I personally eat a fair bit of fatty bacon etc, but I burn it all off with high intensity high impact and high intensity low impact exercises 6 days per week, usually in short bursts of 20 minutes or so.


Protein shakes etc are a waste of space and to be truly healthy they are rubbish.


'The look' now seems to be based around how UFC cage fighters (mixed martial arts) look, and not the old fashioned bloated gym bunny look which is now almost comical.


I happen to have spent a life in full contact martial arts and so have long know over sized muscles absolutely hinder true fighting ability in every way - it's quite funny when a gym bunny /bouncer type comes to try it out and realises how unfit and un-agile they are, they are usually heaving for breath at fight intensity level after 1 minute.


I say all this so you don't waste time trying to get the wrong old fashioned look - I have to admit to watching 'Love Island' (trash) at the moment - and the gym bunny guy is not popular with the women - he looks comical in that overly bloated gym bunny way


I'd strongly recommend these free vids on You Tube - not martial arts exercises, but brilliant for short burst high results training - use weights that require a bit of effort


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieKKFSLfTY4


I also do other body weight routines - not much in the way of weights now - look up 'MMA bodyweight exercises' etc


Crossfit is also a far superior training method compared with old school body building - you get genuine strength and fitness, not bouncer gym bunny 'stregnth'

Credit-Crunched

Conrad wrote: »

Eggs, chicken nuts and I personally eat a fair bit of fatty bacon etc, but I burn it all off with high intensity high impact and high intensity low impact exercises 6 days per week, usually in short bursts of 20 minutes or so.


Protein shakes etc are a waste of space and to be truly healthy they are rubbish.


'The look' now seems to be based around how UFC cage fighters (mixed martial arts) look, and not the old fashioned bloated gym bunny look which is now almost comical.


I happen to have spent a life in full contact martial arts and so have long know over sized muscles absolutely hinder true fighting ability in every way - it's quite funny when a gym bunny /bouncer type comes to try it out and realises how unfit and un-agile they are, they are usually heaving for breath at fight intensity level after 1 minute.


I say all this so you don't waste time trying to get the wrong old fashioned look - I have to admit to watching 'Love Island' (trash) at the moment - and the gym bunny guy is not popular with the women - he looks comical in that overly bloated gym bunny way


I'd strongly recommend these free vids on You Tube - not martial arts exercises, but brilliant for short burst high results training - use weights that require a bit of effort


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieKKFSLfTY4


I also do other body weight routines - not much in the way of weights now - look up 'MMA bodyweight exercises' etc


Crossfit is also a far superior training method compared with old school body building - you get genuine strength and fitness, not bouncer gym bunny 'stregnth'

I agree with 98% of what you say Conrad, but I have been to many cross fit gyms and they are generally shocking.

People putting weight and reps above form, shocking examples of clean and jerks, over head squats and pull ups. In theory its a great training style, but the form people show is dangerous to say the least. I have been training for many years, and have seen many gimmicky training styles, and I believe this to be one.

I am possibly at my fittest and strongest at this stage of my life 35. My training routine consists of

Deadlifts, Squats, bench Press, chin ups and pull ups.

I also train BJJ once a week and Muay Thai twice a week.

In my opinion BJJ is one of the most useful and interesting martial arts, where size really does not matter.

parking_question_chap

Conrad wrote: »

Protein shakes etc are a waste of space and to be truly healthy they are rubbish.

Please elaborate.

MoGTR

If you reduce fat intake, you will start to feel like rubbish. To lose body fat, it's your calorie intake you need to reduce, not your dietary fat intake.

Huskyrunner

MoGTR wrote: »

If you reduce fat intake, you will start to feel like rubbish. To lose body fat, it's your calorie intake you need to reduce, not your dietary fat intake.

that is utter rubbish you can consume 3000 calories and drop body fat providing its the right 3000 cals and not high fat/unclean carbs

personnel trainers that dont have a clue come out with that twaddle.

Huskyrunner

parking_question_chap wrote: »

Please elaborate.

so are they useless post workout then?

parking_question_chap

Huskyrunner wrote: »

so are they useless post workout then?

No, they are not useless.

BrokeInNYC

You still want to balance your diet out. Fats are not ALL bad for you. Trans fats are what you want to avoid specifically, you'll constantly find those in fast foods and junk foods. Chicken is not that expensive and is a good source of lean protein, buy a bunch and grill it all up and you can separate it and meal prep for the week. All types of things you can do. I'd suggest healthy snacks in between meals (granola, greek yogurt, almonds, etc) to keep your hunger at bay and prevent yourself from overeating at meal time.

Protein powder as a supplement will also help get you to where you want. If you're looking to build muscle you want to be in the vicinity of 1g of protein per lb of body weight. But you've got to hit the gym as well. There are all sorts of calorie calculators you can use. Figure out what you want your goals to be and go from there.

You could also try Intermittent Fasting but that would require a bigger adjustment.