Getting Enough Fat on a Low Cal Diet
 

Hi everyone,

I'm fairly new to calorie counting, and recently discovered that I am not eating nearly as much fat as is necessary. I am trying for 1507 calories/day, which means I should be getting at least 33g of fat per day. However, I'm instead getting 10-20g. My diet is mainly veggies (raw or steamed), lean protein (usually baked, grilled, or cooked as part of broth-y soups), and various whole wheat things. That usually takes me up to the 1507 calories/day. However, I see that most fats tend to have a lot of calories. How do you all get the appropriate amount of fat without going above your calories for the day?

For reference, my day today was as follows:
1,506 cals (75.3%); 16g fat (24.72%); 176mg cholesterol (58.75%); 1,875mg sodium (78.11%); 250g carbs (83.35%); 94g sugars; 47g fiber; 101g protein (201.74%)
Sugars are all from fruits/vegetables - nothing processed.

Avocado! Love the stuff

I also eat slightly fattier fish such as salmon and tuna

Nuts are another good source for me

Good olive oil over salad, or avocado oil over salads

I have full fat cheese because i can't stand the low fat stuff lol. Natural Yoghurt is also lovely.

My daily intake is between 1200 and 1400 calories - over the past month I have averaged 30% fat, 40% carb and 30% protein

Let's say that 1500 is your average.

If you want to get more fat, I would suggest eating less carbohydrates. You currently are taking in 250 grams of carbs/day (83% of your intake, meaning 1,000 calories from carbs). I might cut that down to 200 grams of carbs per day, which would be 53% of your daily intake. Those 50g that were carbs are equal to 200 calories, which will give you about 22 grams of fat to play with, or you could divy up the 200 calories between fat/protein if you like (remember that there are 4 calories per gram of protein or carb and 9 calories per gram of fat).

Did that help?

All of that definitely helped - I think I've actually gotten too much into the fruits and veggies! I'm going to try having a bit of cheese tomorrow as a snack instead of the apple I normally have. Considering all the sugar I take in, it's probably not a bad idea to reduce that anyway.

Now that I'm calorie counting I'm going to try not worry so much about selecting lower fat options when I go grocery shopping (like the low fat dairy products I'm now used to). However, I'd prefer to stay with the lower fat things I'm eating now and then add in a few indulgences that contain some fat. Is it a terrible idea to add the "bad fats" instead of "good fats", as long as I'm within my calories?

The only bad fat is trans fat, in my opinion. Granted, Monounsaturated and Omega 3's are the kings of fats, but Saturated fat is NOT evil...more and more research is showing that it's not as bad as it has been made out to be in the past.

So, steer clear of the trans fats...but beside that, Saturated, Poly and Monounsaturated and Omega 3s are game :)

I would still opt for the low-fat dairy, personally. The calorie difference between low-fat and whole is a big one sometimes. I don't buy non-fat dairy though (no flavor.)

Healthy, easy ways to up your fat included:

Olive oil (I like to make 1/2 oil, 1/2 vinegar dressing for my salads)
small amounts of nuts (I love pistachios)
Moderate amounts of cheese
peanut butter
hummus (it has some fat from the tahini)
eggs

I don't think you can really overdo the veggies and fruit is good for you as well. I'd just try to sneak in a few more fat grams so you are in the 20-30% of your daily calorie range.