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Comment by tiew9Vii | Hacker News Reader

I’ve looked in to eating more non meat meals. What I struggled with is getting the macros right.

For example to hit 190g of protein a day, eating vegan my carbs would be way up compared to my current diet. At the moment I’m trying to drop body fat and from dexa scans/metabolic test they recommend I keep my protein high, increase fats and try to reduce carbs. I’ve tried doing the macros on a few vegan recipes but struggled to get the numbers right without increasing calories which I can’t do when trying to drop body fat.

When I have more flexibility in calories i.e bulking some of the vegan recipes look quite good as calorie dense when you add beans, lentils, nuts, oils etc. I reckon I’ll do better on this than when I was eating 5kg of beef a week as the dexa scan then was terrible with high visceral fat.

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From a quick search, common dietary recommendations for protein seem to be 0.8g to 1.4g per kg bodyweight per day. 190g per day would likely be way more than most people need, being that both a) a lot of people weigh less than 190/1.4 (much less 190/0.8) and b) a lot of people won't need more than the standard dietary requirements of protein.

Definitely seems like you're not in at least one of these sets, though, so definitely not going for a "I know more about a healthy diet for you than you do", because hahaha no I don't. Mostly just posting to emphasise to casual readers that they (likely) don't need to target 190g protein per day.

Yes, I do strength training and also trying to cut body fat.

I’m on 2.5g protein per kg body weight which is high as I’m trying to maintain muscle while on a calorie deficit.

If I didn’t need to be in a deficit on lower carbs it does look like I could achieve the macros I need from vegan meals. It’s not I need 190g protein right now, it’s I need to aim for 190g on about 2300-2500 calories with a bias towards gaining those calories from protein/fats. Hitting 190g protein would take me above 2300-2500 calories due to the amount of carbs consumed from vegan protein sources.

Bean burrito - 450 calories, 28 grams protein

Wheat protein based shake - 120 calories, 25g protein

Two soy coffees - 300 calories, 16 calories.

Those 3 proteins complement the amino acid profiles of each other. I typically only aimed for around 130g, so with two protein shakes daily and those other foods I'm very close after only 1000 calories.

Black beans are one of the highest protein beans from what I read and a complete protein. Even so it’s 20g carbs to 7g protein. So for 190g protein that’s nearly 540g carbs a day which is over double what I need for my macros.

I also prefer real whole food over shakes as it keeps me from getting hungry as doesn’t digest as fast. Right now I eat 6 times a day and only my late afternoon snack is a shake with a rice cake, 20g almond butter and banana.

You mentioned in another comment here that you're eating 2.5g per kg of bodyweight, nearly every recommendation I see is between 1.4-2g/kg. Be careful with too much protein, one of my gym buddies put himself into hospital with serious kidney issues from going overboard. I'd assumed you were about 100kg lean eating that much protein.

If you don't want to eat vegan food, the only excuse you need is "I'd rather eat meat 6 times per day". The vast majority of western people could eat bodybuilder vegan diets if they needed to. If it is something you're interested in then there is a TON of vegan bodybuilders. Google Nimai Delgado or Torre Washington, for example.

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