There are several different ways to refer to the diet that I’m eating right now. Low carb, high fat, Paleo, no carb (which is incorrect, but people still refer to it that way sometimes), “one of them Atkins diets”, and several more. One label that surprised me was when it was called a “high protein diet”.

Although I do eat a good bit of protein, I wouldn’t really call it a high amount. I would call it “adequate”. But the label you put on it is really dependent on your perspective. I usually eat around 100 grams of protein each day. Some days more, some days less, but usually right around that number. If you average 30 or 40 grams of protein each day, then this probably does sound like a high protein diet.

So How Much Protein Should I Eat?

Opinions vary a bit on this subject. A recent article I read in Vegetarian Times said you should get 1 gram of protein for every 2.2 pounds of body weight. In my case, that would be 82 grams daily (180/2.2 = 81.8).

However, Mark Sisson says you should get between 0.7 and 1.0 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass. I would estimate that I’m around 18% bodyfat, so that would work out to a range of 103 grams to 147 grams of daily protein. (Take your bodyfat percentage, subtract it from your total weight, and that’s your lean body mass.)

Between the two, I’m inclined to go with Mark Sisson for two simple reasons: 1) He’s 58, and he freakin’ looks like this. And 2) When I went Slow Carb in January of 2011, I had been vegetarian for the past 4 years. Over the next couple of months, I put on several pounds of muscle with no additional exercise. The culprit? I suspect increased protein intake.

Increasing Protein Intake Can Help You Build Muscle?

Yes, indeed. Of the three macronutrients (fat, carbs, protein), only protein can be used by your body to build and repair muscle tissue. Increasing the amount of protein you eat does not guarantee your body will grow more lean muscle, but it’s not a bad place to start.

The other macronutrients, fat and carbs, are used primarily as fuel for your body to run. It’s also good to note that your body can synthesize all of the carbs it needs from other sources. If your body needs more carbs to keep going than you are giving it in your diet, it can produce carbohydrates through the process of ketosis. You know what your body uses to fuel ketosis? Body fat. Yeah, that’s right. Sounds like a good trade to me.

Fat Burning Foods

Before we get to the diet plan, let’s tackle the notion of fat burning foods. There are no foods that when you eat them automatically make your body start burning fat. Sorry, you can’t eat like a pig for two meals a day, and then make up for it all with some magical food for dinner. It would be nice, I agree, but it’s not going to happen.

There is, however, such a thing as a fat burning diet. If the sum total of your foods is as I’ll describe below, then your body will begin to burn fat to fuel itself.

The High Protein Diet Plan That I Eat

I can’t think of a better way to show you the diet plan that I eat than by listing the foods that I’ve eaten over the last few days. It’s 9 am as I write this, so I’ll start with breakfast today, and then work back for a couple of days.

Breakfast Today:
Blueberry and Peanut Butter Smoothie (I mentioned this in my smoothie recipes post, if you want to know more about what goes in it.)

Nutritional Tally so far:
11g fat
25g carbs
30g protein
320 calories

Yesterday (Tuesday)
Breakfast:

– 3 egg omelette
– 2 slices of bacon
– Salsa

Lunch:

Big Turkey Salad – We eat some variation of this pretty much every day for lunch.
– 4 cups of garden salad
– 6 oz ground turkey
– Sprinkle of sunflower seeds on top
– Olive oil and vinegar dressing

Dinner:

Fast Fish Soup
– 6 oz of Whiting fish
– 1 cup cooked squash
– 2 cups chicken stock

Snacks and other:

– 2 oz roasted peanuts
– 1 strawberry fruit bar (made with real fruit and minimal sugar)
– 1 glass of red wine

Nutritional Tally For The Day

106g fat
63g carbs
96g protein
1,675 calories

Monday
Breakfast:

Yes, I had ground turkey for breakfast. It’s quick, and not a whole lot different than eating sausage. Put some sauerkraut on it, and it’s delicious.
– 4 oz ground turkey
– 2 forkfuls of sauerkraut

Lunch:

Big Chicken Salad
– 4 oz grilled chicken breast
– 3 cups of garden salad
– Sprinkle of sunflower seeds
– Olive oil and vinegar dressing

Dinner:

We had some country-style ribs, green beans, deviled eggs and steamed cauliflower.
– 6 oz pork ribs (boneless)
– 1 deviled egg
– 1 cup cooked cauliflower
– 1/2 cup cooked green beans

Snacks and other:

– 2 tbsps natural peanut butter
– 2 glasses of red wine

Nutritional Tally For The Day

102g fat
41g carbs
118g protein
1,758 calories

So you can see it’s not hard at all to get enough protein in your diet. Eat a good portion of meat at each meal (eggs at breakfast are fine too, if the thought of meat for breakfast is too weird), and you’re pretty much going to get enough. You don’t have to stuff yourself or go out of your way to cram protein powder down your throat.

High Calorie Foods

Unfortunately, just adding protein to your diet isn’t enough to make you lose weight. No matter what else you do, you have to expend more calories than you take in in order to lose weight. The easiest way to do that is to simply avoid high calorie foods. In the examples above, I kept track of my calories because I enjoy doing that (I’m weird that way), but there’s really no need to track calories if you don’t want to. It’s tough for me to break 2,000 calories on this diet. I could do it if I tried, but simply stopping eating when I’m full keeps my calorie count down to acceptable levels.

So what are the high calorie foods that you should avoid? Grains are the worst of the bunch. Wheat, rice, corn, rye, barley, you name it. Pretty much anything that can be made into flour. Accordingly, you should avoid eating any food made with flour – bread, pasta, breaded foods, doughnuts, pastries, biscuits, pancakes, actual cakes, etc.

Starches are also on the list. Potatoes and sweet potatoes are not as bad as grains, but still avoid them. Next are any refined carbs, heavily processed foods, and sugar.

Conclusion

If you were going to sum up the diet plan in just a few words, it would be “Focus your diet on meat, vegetables, nuts, and fruit.” Eat reasonable portions – in other words, eat until you are full, and then stop. No need to count calories or carbs unless you want to. If you can make these changes to your diet, you’ll be well on your way to losing some weight and getting fit.