my stepmom recently suggested I wasn't dieting properly because her diets always consisted of 25 fat calories or less a day... but that seems a little ridiculous considering soymilk alone has like 30?
I mean obviously I avoid anything processed or packaged with a lot of fat calories, like chips and cookies and such, but I don't see how 25 fat calories or less is realistic.

She probably either meant 25% of her calories from fat each day, or 25 grams of fat each day.

that's what I thought at first too
no, she definitely was talking about the labeling on food that says "calories from fat"

Perhaps she was confused and meant 25% of her calories came from fat? or 25 grams of fat per day? 25 grams of fat per day is a relatively low fat diet. 25 calories from fat is unhealthy. You need some healthy fat in your diet for you body to function optimally.

...hmmm... well, I'm stumped. I don't even know how someone can live for very long with that little fat. 25 calories is less than 3 grams of fat per day. She wouldn't even have enough fat in her diet to absorb certain vitamins. Maybe you could get her to explain exactly what she eats?

I think I'll just let this one go, I know not to take her "dieting advice"
I was just confused about this because she seemed so sure

The Ornish plan is at least 10% of calories from fat I believe, and it's generally considered one of the most extreme and therefore more difficult low fat plans to follow. I find her claim extremely suspicious.

One thing I've learned is a lot of people will give you very dubious advice, and that what they say they do and what they actually do is often very, very different.