Weight-Loss Should I be trying to eat more protein?

Weight-Loss
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G17

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I started my diet about a month ago. I'm trying to stay between 2000-2300 calories a day, and I've been using 'lose it!' for my iphone to keep track of everything.

Up until now I have only been focused on how many calories I've been eating, but yesterday I decided to enable nutrient tracking and see how I was doing with fats/carbs/protein.
According to lose it, the breakdown is roughly:
50-55% (225-275g) carbs, 15-20% (75-100g) proteins and 30-35% (50-75g) fats.

Should I be striving to reduce my carb and fat intake and increase protein intake? Or should I just keep doing what I have been doing and focus on calories?
 
Ideally if you want to minimize muscle loss and maximize fat loss, you should aim for 1g of protein per pound of lean body weight. I don't know what that works out to in percentages for you, but that's the best general guideline.

Healthy fats should be around 20%-25% of your diet.

Then let the rest be made up of complex carbs.
 
I used an online calculator which estimated my LBM at 161lbs.
It seems a little daunting to increase my protein intake by 60-80g a day.
I've been drinking green smoothies lately for breakfast, would it be worth considering adding some protein powder to them?
 
Sure ... I add a scoop or two of protein powder to my meals every day. Usually one to my breakfast smoothie and one in the afternoons after I work out.

Once you get into the groove, it's pretty easy to fit in the protein you need. :)
 
That sounds like something easy I can do to start with.
If you don't mind me asking, what brand of powder do you use? Is there any difference between them?

Thanks for all the help Kara, I really appreciate it.
 
No problem. Glad I can help! :)

I actually order mine online from True Protein (just Google it).

I order the Cold Filtered Whey Isolate, unflavored and unsweetened. That way I can add it to pretty much anything and it doesn't affect the taste.
 
Just FYI, the USDA recommended daily allowance is quite a bit less than what Kara stated above. It's a somewhat controversial subject. I'm not sure which is better, but just thought I'd point that out.
 
Thanks Kara, I'll check out their website.

@Harold

Thanks for the information.
If I read it correctly, the RDA is 0.8g per kg of body weight, which would be 115g per day for me.
So either way it sounds like I should up my protein intake a bit.
 
Note that the US RDA is based on a sedentary adult of normal weight. It doesn't address the protein needs of an overweight adult who is cutting calories to lose fat, nor does it address the needs of an adult who is working out, weight training, or attempting to build or maintain muscle.

Many, many, many, many studies have been done on the value of eating higher amounts of protein, both while dieting and overall in daily life.

IMO, relying on the US Govt for nutritional information is a crapshoot at best. This is the agency that tells school nutrition programs that french fries count as a vegetable. I'd rather go with independent research than the USDA for most things.
 
The web site I linked to above says the government RDA is a bit low for endurance athletes, but fine for weight lifters.

You will often see references to the protein RDA on vegetarian sites as evidence that vegetarians can get plenty of protein from plant foods.
 
Couple of questions:
1) How do you work out your lean body mass?

2) Do you HAVE to use protein powder? Because I used to use it a few years back, but stopped because it gave me gas and often caused very loose bowel movements (way too loose!)
 
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