#113 - Pia Seeberg - Finding Your Maintenance, Macros 101, Q&A, and more...

Hitting your protein is actually super simple. In this episode, I'm going to help you exactly figure out how much you need, which foods to eat. And I'm going to give you the most in-depth protein cheat sheet at least I've seen. That's why I created it. I went online and I was like, you know, wouldn't it be great for people to have a list that includes, I mean, not every single food out there, but like almost everything that shows you exactly, hey, these foods are high in protein. These foods are maybe higher in calories, lower in calories. These foods are maybe some plant based options, whatever it is. What about meat, fish, different animal products? And I found some stuff, but it's all your, you know, your top 10 favorite foods. And it's cool. And those are, you know, helpful and useful, but it doesn't really fully empower you to kind of figure this out and just have something to follow. Because here's the thing. Even with those 10 options, like at some point, like you're going to run into things that you don't like, maybe you have sensitivities to and hey, you know, maybe it just doesn't fit with your diet. Today I'm going to help you figure this out because it's, it's actually super simple. It's actually super simple. Now, before we get into it, please remember too, that you can download our free ebook, the definitive fat loss nutrition guide. Yes, there's a lot of definitive things here via my website. So I'm going to link that in the show notes because I feel like, okay, protein, It's an important one, but there's going to be way, way more to learn. So if you want to dive into anything from lifestyle, you know, sleep, stress, et cetera, to training, to recovery, to anything nutrition related, really figuring out what you need, just not protein, but actually everything else, your carbs, your fats, et cetera. This is going to be a great resource for you. It's absolutely free. People have called me crazy for actually giving it out for free, but hey, I just want to help. 11 12 years ago by now. It's it's almost 12 actually I Ran into the same issues I also didn't know how to eat healthy and I want to pay it forward because I've learned so much from other people that you know I want to give you this free ebook So go to the link in the show notes and they'll dive in because here's the thing This doesn't have to be a very long episode Let's just dive in and let's talk about why protein is so important because protein is important for a few reasons that go beyond just looking lean. Because I feel like a lot of people usually have this idea of like, okay, I need a protein shake only when I'm working out. Or it's only to build muscle. And that's actually not the case. Yes, it is for building muscle. It's going to help you build muscle, help you maintain muscle. It's going to basically keep you full as well because protein is quite hard to break down, which is beneficial, right? It's going to keep you going for a little while. And that is why protein is such a key component when we're dieting for fat loss. Because here's the thing guys, yes, we're going to be a little hungry, but if we bring that protein up, you'll see cravings go away. I've seen people do really well with a higher protein intake. They build muscle, they lose fat, and they're not even that hungry. And I've had people tell me like, I think I'm addicted to sugar. I think I'm addicted to chocolate, whatever it is, or something salty. Guess what? almost every single time when I hear that, that is like, okay, it's probably protein and fiber and a few more things, but it's usually protein and or fiber. If any of those two are low, I already know, like, hey, that's going to be easy fix. And then I'm the magician, you know, like with the quick adjustment, we bring protein up and my clients like, yo, like, I just don't have any cravings anymore. It's crazy. Like it really helps. So if you're listening and you often struggle with cravings, you got to try this out. Bring your protein up. and use this episode. So to go with this episode, by the way, I'm gonna also link the definitive protein cheat sheet. It's on my website. I'm gonna link that. Basically, you'll see a quick description for the episode and then right below that, go there because you're gonna need it. It's gonna work basically, you know, hand in hand with this podcast episode. So you gotta go to my website. It's not a download, whatever. It's just right there. Just make sure to check that out. Just so you understand. Now your body is always building up proteins, breaking them down and is actually involved in like all types of processes all throughout the body. It's super important. The cool thing is too that protein has been studied a lot, but like when it comes to overfeeding, right? Being in a calorie surplus and fat gain, because often you hear that, right? Where people tell you, Hey, you know, too much protein is going to be sort of body fat, et cetera. Actually not the case. or at least, and I'll link these in the blog as well, there have been multiple overfeeding studies where people were put in a calorie surplus through protein on a crazy high amount. I think it was like 300 gram plus for some people and they did not really gain any body fat. They just got leaner even and they got very warm, which likely has to do with like the thermic effect of protein. That being said, the thermic effect, 20 to 30 % of the calories you get from protein, is already burned off simply by breaking down that actual protein. That's called the thermic effect. Again, it's the most satiating macronutrient, meaning it's gonna keep you full longer. That is why it's so key for a diet once again. And long story short, I mean, you should probably look into your protein intake. how to cover or how to know how much you need is actually quite simple. It's going to depend and it's hard on a podcast to give everyone one recommendation. But we're going to go with a optimal range that I've seen work very well with hundreds of clients that typically is a little bit higher than what's really in quotes needed. But here's the thing. If it helps us optimize the process, if it helps us keep full, maintain muscle, get better results, I'd say it's worth it, right? Now I will say this, I don't want people to think that more and more and more is always better. That's not true, because here's the thing, at some point we're only gonna have limited calories to work with, whether you're dieting or in a muscle gain phase, whatever, we don't want it to take away from your carbs and fats. Now, long story short, for your optimal protein intake, you wanna go off just about 1 .8 up to 2 .2 grams per kilo of body weight. Or if you're using pounds, that is 0 .8 up to one gram per pound of body weight. Super simple. If you're, you know, 200 pounds, you want to have 200 grams of protein. Here's the thing. You want to use your goal weight. Technically, you could use your goal weight or your lean body weight. Here's the thing though. Most, you know, skills kind of suck. So it's very difficult to figure out your actual like lean body mass. So I always say just use goal weight. Super simple. And we do have a calculator for that as well on our website. Now, that being said, it's really that simple. Like that is all it takes to figure out how much you need. Of course, you're going to have your calories and the rest, but that is it for your protein. Now, which foods do we want to eat? Like which foods do we want to include in our diet or nutrition? Because there's a whole bunch of different ones. Some are considered high quality, which means that they have a complete amino acid profile and other ones are... often called like, you know, plant based proteins, which in reality are kind of like mitts or, you know, medium protein, higher carb foods where yes, it counts. Don't get me wrong, but we want to puzzle a little bit more because here's the nice thing with meat or fish or even some dairy products. You pretty much just get protein or let me say this, you mostly get protein from that food. If we're looking into lentils, chickpeas, those kinds of things. Those are great, don't get me wrong. However, these are carb sources. Most calories come from your carbs and then they have a little bit of protein. This is where the puzzling gets a little tricky if you're dieting, for example. So let's go down that list, kind of like in order of like what we want to include, assuming a omnivorous diet, starting with land animal sources. So these are your, you know, your meats, those kinds of things. It's going to be the highest quality protein source you can get. Generally speaking, I know, for example, beef often demonized. However, here's the thing, like beef actually has a lot of micronutrients too. So it's not just chicken breast or, you turkey, whatever beef super, super good for you as well. Of course you want to get a quality source. Now for your sea animals, you know, any type of fish, but also, you know, lobster, et cetera, very, very lean usually, or shrimps are great too, by the way, it's pretty much pure protein. These include some of the leanest options. But here's the cool thing too. If you get something like a fatty fish like salmon, that is going to get you your proteins as well as super healthy omega threes. So that's also stuff you want to consider including. We should probably do a fatty acid episode at some point now. So we've done meats, we've done fish, right? Now we're going to get into other animal sources, eggs, very healthy, super full of micronutrients, very rich in choline as well, which is important. egg whites. So I will say this. So eggs are very high in fat. It's not really like a protein source. It's more like a fat source with a decent amount of protein, which maybe sounds like a surprise. However, what I like to do is sometimes have like one or two whole eggs and then just add a whole bunch of egg whites. Other than that, you can go with a dairy product like Sqir, cultist cheese. A lot of those are going to be or Greek yogurt, etc. Those are going to be a little bit lower in protein. per hundred grams, but they're still going to include some of the best options you can get. Very high quality amino acid profile. Also, again, like super, super good. If you want to look at some of the best options you can get, you want to think beef, salmon, eggs, and then something like dairy, right? So your whey and casein, which will be, you usually you get a combination of the two in any like dairy product, but I like the high protein, low fat options. because it mostly just gives you that protein. Then we get into supplements. And I think one or two scoops per day, assuming that you mostly get your protein from a real food, is fine. I will usually say, let's go with one for most people. However, if you're getting closer to the 180, 190, 200, sure, like go two, or maybe if you're a vegetarian or something, go two scoops, that's totally cool. But don't prioritize that. Use it as a supplement, it's in the word. it should supplement an already healthy diet. That being said, last but not least, we get to our protein -rich alternatives. This is basically my way of saying plant-based, you know, proteins. I'm calling them protein -rich alternatives because they are really just, yeah, medium protein carb sources, and that is okay. That is fine. But we want to keep that in mind. If you look at tofu, it's like protein and fats. Tempe, same type of deal. If you're looking at your lentils, your chickpeas, et cetera, like I said, that's mostly carbs with a little bit of protein. I will say this, there are some really nice options. Maybe you want to get like a lentil pasta to where now you kind of get two for one, right? You have your pasta, but it's also going to include quite a bit of protein. I do like that, but I will say this. If you try to get everything from plant-based options and you try to really have a high intake, you may be running into some digestive issues. That being said, which high protein foods are good for you? Because there's a lot of options. Like again, if you haven't checked it out yet, go to the description, use that link to the, it's going to say high protein foods, right? So the definitive protein cheat sheet includes a ton of foods, like a bunch of them. Check it out, right? Like as you're listening to this podcast, go and grab that. It's free. It's not a download. It's just on my website. But check it out, because here's the thing. With so many options, I can also imagine that sometimes you maybe even feel a little overwhelmed. You're not really sure what to go with. So let's now give you a few criteria to kind of base your decisions on. And of course, I want you to be in charge here. I'm not going to tell you here. These are the 10 best foods. And by the way, there are some cheat sheets in the blog as well with a couple of quick hits. But basically, I want you to think about these questions. So in order to figure out what protein sources you want to include in your diet, ask yourself the following questions. Number one, is the source a complete protein source? Do we cover our amino acids? If you go with the plant -based option, hey, maybe we have to make a combination of foods there so that we can cover all of them. I know it gets a little bit more complicated. I will say this. If you hit your proteins on a plant -based diet, you're probably fine. But then again, maybe use chronometer and maybe kind of look into those kinds of things. Now, do you have any sensitivities slash allergies to any of those foods? Hey, we could be talking, you know, eggs, for example, as healthy as they are, common sensitivity for some people, right? Same tapestry with some dairy products. I'm saying some, right? Because people really kind of like... demonized dairy, even though it's really not that bad, just kind of depends what you're getting. Usually it has to do with other sensitivities, which again, we should probably do like a digestion deep dive. But that being said, do we digest a food well? If we go with a plant -based option and we, for example, can upset stomach because we're getting too much fiber in, for example, or maybe something like a dairy product. Okay, maybe we shouldn't have that food. Then will you go with a leaner or fattier option? I feel like lean proteins are a little bit kind of like overrated. Don't get me wrong. I love them. I think they're great. And by definition, like they are the easiest to puzzle your macros with. But here's the thing. When that's the case, right? Now people start to get the idea of, okay, so fattier options are bad. That's not true. I just mentioned salmon, one of the best foods you can get. If you can get a wild caught salmon, Amazing, amazing. That's really like one of the best foods I feel like you can eat without glorifying any specific foods. For most people, like getting some in, it would be very, very good for you. So again, go to the protein cheat sheet and you'll see from top to bottom, your leanest options all the way down to the fattier ones. Again, they're not good or bad. They're just different tools for different scenarios. If you're cutting, you're going to have fewer calories to play with. If you're maintenance or even bulking, hey, maybe you want to have a fattier option. Next question. Do I enjoy eating this food? Super important. Like, it's almost funny to put that in the list here, but let's not forget that we want to eat something we actually like. Make sense? Because I feel like, again, with the lean options, there's a lot of white fish, chicken breast, those kind of things. And I love those foods personally. But maybe you're listening and you're like, I kind of don't like those foods. That is okay. That's fine. We just want to make sure that you include foods that you just enjoy eating because that's what's going to make nutrition sustainable for you as well. And last but not least, does it align with my values? Meaning, if you're thinking veganism or certain religions, hey, like maybe you don't want to or you can't eat, you know, animal foods for whatever reason. Okay, cool. That is totally fine. You can include whatever foods you prefer, whatever food you like, right? But it needs to align with your values. I talked to someone recently, a client of mine, and she was like, hey, you know, like, I do feel better with the protein that we've increased. However, you know, I feel a little bit, a little bad for, you know, having more, you know, animal options. I kind of feel bad about that. And, you know, I'd like to go back to some more plant -based options or vegetarian. Okay, great. That's cool. And this is exactly what I mean, because we could be looking at that increased protein intake, which by the way, does not have to be from an animal option, right? If you now start to feel bad about that, okay, let's change it, right? Let's change that because obviously it's playing into your mindset and we don't want that. So that being said, right, how to hit your proteins. Let's not get to it. And again, if you haven't yet, go check out the cheat sheet. That's what this is for. It's supposed to go along with this podcast. Knowing what to eat in order to hit your proteins. Right. It's cool. It's good to know. Right. And understanding what it does for your body again is important, but you want to know how right. That is the one that is the one for a lot of people. Right? Because it's like, okay, I know there's like dairy and meats and fish, whatever. Yet here I am, like by the end of the day, being left with, you know, a hundred grams that I still need to hit. Of course it's going to be hard. Makes sense. Cause a lot of times people are just not intentional. People are very reactive and they're kind of, you know, collecting a bit of protein here and there throughout the day, but it's very right. There's no plan in place. Again, If you're left with a hundred grams of protein money in the day, of course, it's going to be hard to be catching your own. If you think. You hit your 10K steps and you all of a sudden still have like 8K left in your evening, that's going to be a hike to where, hey, if we just get a few quick walks in during the day, it's much easier to hit your steps. Same type of deal here. You want to think about it this way, right? So we want to be proactive, not reactive. I want you to really think of. your protein, not from that daily intake, because you don't hit your daily intake. You hit meals, you eat meals, you don't eat everything in one go, right? So let's think about that in meals. And now you start to get it. So here are my five steps, or basically six, kind of depending on whether you're track or not. Number one, I already gave you that formula, right? Anywhere between 1 .8 up to 2 .2 grams per kilo of body weight, or 0 .8 up to one gram per pound of body weight. and use your goal weight for that. Like I said earlier, we do have a calculator on our website. Check out the blog, it's right there. Step two, like how many meals do you wanna have? Because again, if I wanna hit 200 grams of protein, that is not one big pile of protein, you know? No, like I eat five times a day. Guess what? 200 protein, divide that by five, which is the next step, right? Because now we need how much, or we know how much we need. We know how many meals we want to have, in my case five. Next step, step three, is dividing that so that we get to, in my case, 40 grams of protein per meal. Make sense? 40, 40, 40, 40, 40. Guess what? Now we're at 200. So of course, if you go about your breakfast and you have like five or 10, there's nothing, you're already behind. Now it's lunch. Oh, we have a little cracker, whatever it is, right? Okay, not that that's bad, but yes, we're missing our protein again. Okay. Before you know it, we're like 80 grams of protein behind. And the more that happens, the more difficult it becomes to catch up. So we want to be proactive. Every single meal, you want to have your proteins. Now I just shared that, you know, for me it's actually 40 plus at the current moment. But what you want to do is of course calculate it for yourself. For most people listening, it's likely going to be around 30 grams of protein per meal. Guess what? By now you should have really checked out the protein cheat sheet, but I'm going to plug it one more time. Go to the description, watch it because check this out. When you scroll through that cheat sheet, it's going to show you exactly how much of your certain food you need in order to hit 30 grams. So I made it so simple for you that you don't even have to calculate this stuff. Let you go into that list, pick your food and it shows you how much you need. It's simple as that. What you want to do is just decide, hey, okay, I know how much I need. I know which foods I want to have, how many meals. Let me now pick from the list, put it together. There you go. And I talked about the bonus step, right? Let's do this. If you are tracking in an app like Chronometer, go ahead and pre -log your meals or at least your proteins. You'd be surprised. Even if you just do that, open your tracking app. You can do it now if you want to, but... open your tracking app, go in and use plugin for your breakfast, for your lunch, dinner, et cetera, until you have your five or four, whatever, you know, servings of just about 30 grams of protein. And guess what? That is the most important macronutrient covered already. Then all you gotta do is actually eat it. But what this is gonna do is allow you to be proactive instead of reactive, instead of standing in the kitchen, you know, Fridge door open scratching your head being like, like, I don't know how to hit my proteins. I don't know what to eat, how much, whatever. Instead of that, you now already have it in your app and you can just go in and be like, oh yeah, okay, cool. I know I need this much from this food. Boom. It's going to save you time. It's going to make it way easier. And that's how I go about all of my meals or all of them. Let me say four out of five. I pre -track last meal of the day. I want to have variety, right? I usually have, you know, different meals then. And just like that, you can cover most of your nutrition, keeping it super simple, still changing it up if you want to, without making it too difficult. So follow those steps and you'll never not hit your proteins anymore. Now, I hope that you liked this episode, bit of a shorter one. I think it's really important to cover that protein because I see so many people still struggle with it. It's the number one topic I get questions about. And I feel like with this cheat sheet, there's just no reason not to hit it anymore. Go through the blog, scroll through your cheat sheet. And of course, thank you for listening, but I want you to do something with this. I want you to put this in action. Do something with the cheat sheet. Print it out if you want to. I can send it to you as a PDF if you want. No strings attached, just happy to help. But do something with this stuff, because if you now kind of go, ah, you know, that was cool, sound was good. But if you don't actually put it in the action, Right? Without action, you're not going to get anywhere. So again, promise yourself, don't even do it for me, promise yourself to sit down, go through those five or six steps that I said. Look into that cheat sheet. Be like, oh, you know what? Okay, let me try this now. Let me pre -track that in chronometer. Let me now see. And you'd be surprised how easy it gets. Thank you for listening. Once again, I'll talk to you very soon. You made a massive favor. If you enjoyed this episode, drop us a quick five star rating. on Apple or Spotify, or if you're watching from YouTube, make sure to subscribe and then we'll talk to you next episode.