I'm just starting serious calorie counting, lost 7 lbs so far in a few months but I want to lose more. I'm plugging into fitday and what I can't figure out is why my percentage of fat is so high. I guess it must be cheese, peanut butter, almonds, olives, a little butter, I don't know... doesn't seem like my diet is high fat and I"m not really eating that much. I eat a lot of salads, I'm trying to increase my protein and eat some whole wheat bread.

40%+ fat in a diet must be BAD right?

Hey there!

I have been reading up, and it seems that between 25 - 30% of your calories should come from fat. I seem to concentrate more on lean meats, vegetables, fruits, and an occassional cheese, nut, etc. and I have been consistently about 20%.

What I like about sites like fitday.com and thedailyplate.com (I used FD until I found TDP) is that you can really get a good idea of the breakdown of the food you eat and you learn how much you can have of everything.

I aim for 30% of my calories coming from fat. I was gonna check out your Fitday but it either hasn't been made public or maybe something is funky with the link in your profile. Did you maybe put the whole link instead of just your Fitday user name?

You'd be surprised how quickly fat calories add up through the day. My suggestion is to weigh and measure all your foods (at least the fatty ones) and cut way down on stuff like cheese, mayo, olives, peanut butter, almonds, etc. It's a pain weighing and measuring but you'd quickly learn portion control.

My problem with fat is that it has a lot of calories and not much nutrition. And the portion of nuts, peanutbutter or cheese that I would choose is not reasonable!

I do eat some part skim mozzarella and soy cheese but try to stay way from peanutbutter and only use a very small bit of walnuts on my salad. We use an olive oil based margarine but I have to watch that too.

Just a thought - but you mentioned a lot of salad...does that mean a lot of salad dressing? I eat a lot of salad, too - but I use low fat dressing. My faves are Newman's Own. I also put my lettuce in a container with a lid and add just a couple tablespoons of dressing. Then I put the lid on and shake it up. I use a lot less dressing this way and my lettuce is nicely coated. I also like the spray on dressings...but more for a small salad.

Yes I think I am using way too much salad dressing, that might be part of it so I'm claiming 4 Tablespoons even of the low fat stuff. I love cheese and I thought peanut butter was a good thing. What happened to the Perricone diet, he suggests cheese, olive oil, peanut butter, etc but really does it all up to this much? Even today it's high fat again. I'll see if I can make my fitday public, I don't think it is.

I have to watch my salads carefully, as I like to add in lot of things that can be high fat: sunflower seeds, olives, cheese... I have to carefully moderate these, and often do have salads with high fat content. That's okay though, as the rest of my day is usually much lower fat and it balances out.

When I'm out I often skip the dressing all together and just use vinegar. At home I put my salad in a ziploc bag and add a little olive oil (usually less than a tablespoon) and vinegar and shake really well.

I'm going to start shakin' if that's my problem which it looks like it is at times... I dont' even have a tablespoon measurer, so I'm estimating salad dressing but today I had a tub of it from Sam's Club, blue cheese and even at 4 tbs it was absurb the calories and fat.

I guess I'm the oddball here, but if all the fats you're eating are healthy fats, I wouldn't worry about it. More and more we're hearing that fats that come from nuts, olive oil, etc. are good for you. Also, for me, those foods you mentioned are more satisfying for me. For example, when I have a big salad, I use 1 tbsp. of full-fat dressing and am perfectly satisfied. You mentioned using 4 tbsp. of light dressing. I'll bet those 4 tbsp. of light dressing are just as much or more calories as 1 tbsp. of regular dressing. The trick with adding dressing to any salad is to put it in a big bowl and toss it well so that it coats the salad well.

There is a product called Z-Trim (read about it on this thread:http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=102439) that you can add to regular salad dressing and halve the amount of fat and calories. You CANNOT tell the difference. It is amazing.

For salads, I used to use the low fat/non fat. But I was missing that real creamy texture. Another member suggested cutting full fat versions almost half and half with vingegar. Much more satisfying, tasty, and I only use a tbspoon of it ... which when cut with vingear, is only a teaspoon and a half.

I would recommend getting measuring spoons, though. I was very surprised how large a tablespoon really is. In a lot of cases, you can get by with only half anyway.

The same with cheese. When I actually got out a ruler and measured a cubic inch, it's pretty darned big. I can cut it into two or three sometimes, shred it really fine, and get half or a third of the calories. So now, when I get home, I actually measure out the brick, cut them into cubes so I know exactly what the portion is when I take it out of the baggy.

Nuts ... they are good if they are chopped and added in. That way, you only use two or three almonds, say and sliver them. I do the same with sunflower seeds (I can eat a one pound bag in one day LOL)

Croutons ... they have non fat versions. Instead of throwing in about ten, take two or three and crumble them up and sprinkle them into your salad after the dressing is in. You get that crunchy taste without the cals.

I also find adding cracked pepper to my salads helps me cut down on dressing.

For frying veggies in a skillet, if I use olive oil, I cut it in half with fat free broth. Mostly I just use a spare amount of broth instead. In a non stick skillet, this gives the veggies an added taste, and the veggies brown on their own without the oil.

Sometimes the fat you eat is just fine at 40% but if you're eating a lot of saturated fats, do something about that.

I am using some fat free mayo and some lite butter and it has helped overall. I also am eating high on the calories but in fruits,lean proteins and veggies. I tend to use some extra virgin olive oil as well.

Most of the fats I'm eating are "healthy" fats - lowfat cheese, feta cheese, almonds, olives, olive oil, sunflower seeds, whatever fat is in turkey and meats, etc. Sometimes I splurge on restaurant chicken strips but not like I used to. I don't fry anything cooking really, I grill. I read the Dr. Perricone book and since I'm almost 40 I think he's partly right, that eating more fats makes the skin look nicer - but his big deal is salmon which I can't stand the taste of.

I will get some tablespoons to measure with so I can really see how much salad dressing I'm using. I like the Newman ones too but I'm saying like 3-4 T and I think maybe it's been true. Is there a certain type of bowl or salad shaker that is best? I like my life decluttered as possible, not a lot of gadgets around. But since I eat so much salad this sounds good. I also like the idea of adding more vinegar to dressings plus I'll look into this Ztrim that cuts calories in salad dressings as well.

I travel and love salads on the road but some restaurants dont' have low fat or calorie. Just wondering if there's a company that makes packets like in restaurants that someone traveling could take along for restaurants? Today I had a salad at a restaurant with "real" ranch which I'd never have at home, and the bin was large, how many T would it be I wonder?

Most restaurants claim that they use 2 oz. of dressing per salad, at least the ones that provide their nutritional information. As far as the salad shaker goes, I personally just use a tupperware container with a tight lid. It doesn't matter what it is, so long as it closes tight and has enough room for the salad to move around in.

As far as fats, you do need a certain amount in your diet in order for your skin to not get horribly dry and for your hair to not be brittle. It sounds like you have the right idea as far as fat is going. Just remember that things like cheese do have a small amount of saturated fat in them usually. Other than that, as long as it's healthy fats and you're not lacking in other departments or feeling hungry, then I say stick with what works, unless a doctor tells you otherwise.

Oh, and I almost forgot. There are several companies that make travel sized versions of salad dressings for people who want a healthy option when eating out. One of them is Girard's. If you click on packettes, they have a few healthier options. Another company is Minimus. If you click on food, and then lite dressings, you'll find a few dressings from Kraft, Ken's, Hidden Valley, and the Newman's Own Light Italian. Of course, the other option is to get a very small container, pour in some measured dressing, and take it with you. That really only works if you're going to be going to dinner fairly soon and anticipate eating a salad, though.

Good luck!