Anyone managing to eat on reta? Protein without the nausea

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Cmoggy

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What is everybody managing to eat, and how do you keep protein high while carbs stay low when food honestly repulses me right now?

Just the idea of a high-protein meal makes me heave. Yoghurt is out — I cannot stand the stuff, so forcing it down is not an option. Keeping sugar and carbs down rules out the ready-made shakes too. I am running 4mg and wondering whether stepping back would let me actually get something down. Some days I doubt I have cleared 600 calories, and I do not want to end up drained and miserable. Any suggestions welcome.
 
If you cannot eat, your dose is running too hot.

Carbs stay in for me — they taste too good to cut.

Somewhere between 2-6 Oikos Protein Shakes go down each day; each one carries 30g protein, 5g fiber, 4g fat and 9g carbs for 180 calories.

Lately I have also been on a chicken burrito kick: 170g fajita chicken, 56g cheese, wrapped in a regular large flour tortilla. Lands around 60g of protein and 6xx calories, and tastes good.
 
What dose of Reta are you on? (Caught the 4mg — might be worth coming down)

Eggs, chicken breast, tuna, salmon and other fish, extra lean ground beef, whey protein, low sugar protein bars, Greek yogurt.

Those cover nearly all of my protein. One protein bar is my cap, though the whey shake blended with Greek yogurt adds 60-70 grams on top.
 
Actual food. Protein-heavy, like everyone is saying — steaks, chicken, pork, fish. Plenty of vegetables, steamed and fresh, and since reaching my target weight I have brought the carbs back up.
 
Cmoggy said:

What is everybody managing to eat, and how do you keep protein high while carbs stay low when food honestly repulses me right now?

Just the idea of a high-protein meal makes me heave. Yoghurt is out — I cannot stand the stuff, so forcing it down is not an option. Keeping sugar and carbs down rules out the ready-made shakes too. I am running 4mg and wondering whether stepping back would let me actually get something down. Some days I doubt I have cleared 600 calories, and I do not want to end up drained and miserable. Any suggestions welcome.
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Chances are this fades on its own and eating gets easier over the next few weeks. Not worth agonising over at the start anyway, and I would second wound's point: adjusting how you dose as time goes on beats hunting around for an entirely new set of foods.

Framing "enough protein" — insofar as that phrase means anything — as a months-long target rather than a first-fortnight worry probably serves you better, given you are still settling into the treatment itself.
 
Mostly protein shakes and yogurt — chicken breast has worn out its welcome. I stir oat bran through the shake.

A poke bowl some days.

Sushi when I am feeling flush.

Occasionally a snack cake or some juice before the gym.
 
Protein is the one thing not to cut, above all while you are running a deficit. Skip it and your body starts breaking down muscle tissue to get the energy it needs — that is the road you are on.

Good sources: steak, chicken, boiled eggs, cottage cheese, protein yoghurt, shakes (go for the full-calorie kind, not the diet ones — you need the carbs, sugars and calories).

Gentle complex carbs earn their place on reta as well — think oats, porridge, brown rice, sweet potato.

Maintenance is where I live now; I chase 2000 calories daily and honestly it can still be a fight. My appetite does show up, but finishing the 2000 is not always easy — what I do guarantee is protein with every meal or snack.
 
Not being able to eat means the dose is too high.

Breakfast today: egg bites, sauerkraut and a carb balance tortilla — 295 cals, 32g protein, plus 18g of fiber. Lunch was chicken sausage, cottage cheese, a pile of raw and pickled veg, and an apple for the pectin. Dinner will be rice, broccoli and red meat — iron, which I am all for. Everything I eat is aimed at my gut and at giving my body what it actually needs.
 
How long have you been sitting at 4mg? I have put in roughly 8 weeks at 4mg, having come up from 2mg, and my intake sits around 1500-1700cal daily. Variety matters to me: lentils, ground beef, chicken, lean steak, Greek yogurt — lentils are basically a free hit. Shrimp gets a lot of play too, either as Mexican ceviche or a cocktail; it is tasty, protein-dense and light on calories. Shakes and meal replacements are another route — high protein, low carb, no sugar, reasonable on calories; mine delivers 50g protein for 400cal. If you cannot manage even 1000cal on a given day, the dose is plainly too high.
 
Cmoggy said:

What is everybody managing to eat, and how do you keep protein high while carbs stay low when food honestly repulses me right now?

Just the idea of a high-protein meal makes me heave. Yoghurt is out — I cannot stand the stuff, so forcing it down is not an option. Keeping sugar and carbs down rules out the ready-made shakes too. I am running 4mg and wondering whether stepping back would let me actually get something down. Some days I doubt I have cleared 600 calories, and I do not want to end up drained and miserable. Any suggestions welcome.
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• Ribeye with arugula, lemon and olive oil

• Ground beef at 80/20, served with a full-fat tzatziki

• Roast chicken and potatoes, lemon and olive oil

• Bone broth made at home with the leftover meat, konjac, lemon, olive oil, fresh basil and rosemary

• Coffee with cream and stevia

• Salt — an absurd quantity of Diamond kosher salt, in the big boxes

These meals are all I eat. It works beautifully: full, athletic, energised. No thinking required, barely any prep.

Meat one day, the leftover soup the next, repeating.
 
Ultra-filtered dairy covers a fair bit: UF milk in plain, vanilla or chocolate, and UF shakes. Cottage cheese flavoured at home is another one. Most pre-flavoured yogurts do not suit my palate, so I buy it plain and add my own flavourings. Dairy gives you plenty of protein options. And kefir should not be overlooked.
 
Whatever takes my fancy. 🙂

Two slices of pizza for lunch, in fact. 52lbs down and still falling.

The gym is a daily habit, and I ran yesterday.
 
Cmoggy said:

What is everybody managing to eat, and how do you keep protein high while carbs stay low when food honestly repulses me right now?

Just the idea of a high-protein meal makes me heave. Yoghurt is out — I cannot stand the stuff, so forcing it down is not an option. Keeping sugar and carbs down rules out the ready-made shakes too. I am running 4mg and wondering whether stepping back would let me actually get something down. Some days I doubt I have cleared 600 calories, and I do not want to end up drained and miserable. Any suggestions welcome.
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At minimum I take in 150g of protein daily. Mornings are generally a couple of medium-boiled eggs plus a shake. Lunch tends to be rice with chicken or fish; dinner is some kind of meat, a starch and vegetables — whatever my wife makes or whatever the market has cheap that week. Snacks are cashews, peanuts, protein bars and shakes. Roughly 2000 calories a day, gym 3 times weekly, and I feel great. Sundays I take 2mg of reta and Wednesdays 2.5 mg of Tirz. That is 2 to 3 lbs coming off weekly.
 
Yeah — as others have said, do not strip the carbs out, particularly when calories are hard to get in. My plan looks like this:

Breakfast:

2 eggs, hard-boiled or scrambled.

1 slice of "everything" sourdough, topped with cottage cheese and a scattering of chives.

Lunch:

Meal prep is my routine. A big bag of frozen chicken breast from Costco, reworked differently each week. This week:

Blackened chicken tenders with a high-protein dip (Greek yogurt blended with cottage cheese and a load of spices).

Alongside seasoned roasted potatoes.

Dinner:

A protein shake plus something sweet — dark chocolate almonds, usually.

All told that lands near 1200-1400 calories, with protein around 140 grams and carbs around 90grams. Fat 28grams.

Best of luck!

Someone should start a recipes thread!!!
 
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