When my doc told me to count calories he didn't say anything about counting fat as well-- However, I remember a friend of mine loosing a ton of weight by counting calories and ensuring that her fat was less than 25 g per day-- Anyone know which is the best way to go?
Right now I'm eating about 1700 cals/day but not looking at fat... The only excersize I'm getting at the moment is chasing my daughter and preparing to move (so packing, cleaning, moving boxes, mending picture holes, etc)-- I just don't have time for anything else with finals coming up and the move in a month! Should I be looking at fat, and if so, does anyone know what my limit should be?
If you have a good resource for your calorie counts (a book or computer programme) it'll give you other nutrient values as well. It's a lot to think about at once. You'll learn as you go.
I found (as I went along) that fat has lots of calories and not much nutritive value. I substituted things that had more nutrition as I cut it back.
You do have lots going on right now. Probably your best plan is to just keep it simple for the time being.
Less than 25 grams a day is way low. Unless she was counting just true sources of fat? Even my one cup of strawberries registers 1/2 gram of fat on my calorie counting program.
I strive for between 40 and 50 grams and that's supposed to be low. But I am mainly concerned about total calories.
Less than 25 grams a day is way low. Unless she was counting just true sources of fat? Even my one cup of strawberries registers 1/2 gram of fat on my calorie counting program.
I strive for between 40 and 50 grams and that's supposed to be low. But I am mainly concerned about total calories.
The recommendation is no more than 30% of your TOTAL calories should come from fat and no more than 10% of that should be saturated.
I rarely go over 25% TOTAL fat, which is approximately 25-35 grams per day. And saturated is always below 10%.
My doc just said for me to count the calories. However I did get my hands on a good (cheap) book that could help you tons too! It is called Calorie Queens. You can get it on amazon or anywhere. They also have a web site at www.caloriequeens.com. Might help. Good luck.
Many people say, "It's not what you eat, but how much."
I personally believe it's both. Yes, while it's true that weight loss boils down to calories in vs calories out, I think it's still very important as to what KIND of calories you eat. I wholeheartedly believe in low fat. And healthy foods. I eat between 1200-1300 calories a day and I do my best to make sure they're healthy calories. I'm not going eat 1300 calories' worth of Taco Bell.
Besides, the lower calorie and lower fat you eat, the MORE you can eat
1300 calories of taco bell???? We would never see you on the boards here because you would be in the bathroom for days!!! LMAO! Sorry - I just had to make a little giggle here. Good laughs are always good for weight loss because it keeps your mood right.
Oh also... 1300 calories at taco bell is NOT that much really at all. You will notice the difference between eating out, eating unhealthy or prepaired choices verses eating healthy choices. Healthier choices cost way LESS then anything!!
LoL-- I seriously doubt I go above 30g of fat per day-- My sources of true fat are probably from ONE peice of string cheese, or chicken-- or the olive oil I use to make whatever-- I'm not too worried, but I don't think I'm going to COUNT it, because I eat at home and I eat lots and lots of fruits and veggies, lean meat, non-fat yogurt-- and I only eat whole wheat bread and things like that.
Less than 25 grams a day is way low. Unless she was counting just true sources of fat? Even my one cup of strawberries registers 1/2 gram of fat on my calorie counting program.
Maybe she means 25 percent of her overall intake is fat. IF thats so then its pretty good. I am usually in the 20 percent range for fat. They say that for heart health you should really be around 20 percent, not the 30 reccommended by the gov. At least that is what all the books i have been reading lately have said.
Thankfully I missed the "low-fat" craze of the 80's because I was just little, now I'm just trying to survive the "low-carb" craze. The trouble with low fat is that our bodies need fat. *Good* fat. I know...sounds insane that fat can be good but there is such a thing. Look to get most of your fat from fish, olive oil, flax... unsaturated fat. As Susan said though, good to just start off working on calories and then improve on your overall nutrition. You'll find once you start calories you will probably just naturally start to stray away from saturated fat because you can eat a lot more carrots than you can french fries for the same amount of calories. I look at it like my calorie budget. If I have $200 to spend shopping and I can buy one thing for $200 or 4 things for $50 I'm really going to have to evaluate how much I want the more expensive item. With food, same idea. There are times when I'm going to feel the need to have cheesecake but more often I'm going to opt for fat free pudding because I can have a lot more of it. I'm rambling, as I usually tend to do...bottom line...don't worry about getting it all figured out in a week. It takes time to understand good nutrition and you're definately already headed in the right direction. This is a great place to learn more and everyone is always happy to help out any way they can. Hope this helped.
I look at it like my calorie budget. If I have $200 to spend shopping and I can buy one thing for $200 or 4 things for $50 I'm really going to have to evaluate how much I want the more expensive item. With food, same idea. There are times when I'm going to feel the need to have cheesecake but more often I'm going to opt for fat free pudding because I can have a lot more of it.
That's exactly how I think of it too!
And then I throw in the idea that going over my calorie budget is a little like going into debt...except rather than owing money, fat gets deposited all over my body!
I have the opposite problem, I eat so much whole, unprocessed foods that I have a difficult time ensuring I reach a healthy level of good fats every day (salmon, avocado, nuts, olive/canola oil). I switched to a full fat canola based salad dressing and cook with more oil now to try to get enough healthy fat a day! Fat is an important part of the diet and it plays an important role in good health and lowering bad cholesterol. I just want to ensure the fat I eat comes from GOOD sources and not french fries.
I don't know that that's the "opposite problem". It's not really a problem either if you are getting your fat from fish and nuts as I had reccomended. I'm not advocating low fat whatsoever. I am merely trying to steer away from the bad fat and point out that you can eat more of low-fat foods because fat has more calories than carbs or protein, which is the bonus to losing weight...never mind the heart habits. Once you start learning more about nutrition and start reading labels you will find it amusing how similar calorie wise that marketed "low-fat" products are.
On the topic of cooking with fats, beware that if you're cooking things in fat on near high heat it actually should be saturated fat, such as coconut oil. This is related to the toxicity levels of unsaturated oils such as olive oil at the smoking point. If you are going to cook with unsaturated fat it should be extra virgin olive oil on a low to medium heat. Otherwise try to stick to getting your dose of olive oil in it's raw form...it's great in salad dressings.
I'm sure this has been asked before but...
