Hello peoples!

I just have a question regarding my new diet plan for the new year, I have like 200 pounds to lose and I was just wondering if I should be more concerned with watching fat or calories? I lost a bunch of weight before once eating a very low fat diet but then a couple of people told me that food low in fat is sometimes not very good for you. I have been trying to eat under 50 g of fat a day and I am trying to get under 1500 calories but I am finding myself hungry alot. I really really need some advice here cause I am looking for success. Does anyone have any tips? Being my size, what amount of calories do I need to lose weight? Sorry about all the questions
Dani

Well, in my opinion, both.

The bottom line to weight loss is taking in fewer calories than your body burns. But it's also not good to eat too much saturated fat. Any amount of saturated fat is bad. I don't know who told you a lowfat diet isn't good for you, but I'm hoping they meant that not eating enough GOOD fats isn't good for you. If they're talking ALL fat, meaning it's not good for you to not eat enough things like french fries and potato chips, they're crazy.

They probably meant that it's not good to keep your monounsaturates too low. At least I hope that's what they meant.

Another common bad thing people quote about a low-fat diet is that when companies take fat out of a food, they often replace it with sugar. This is especially true of processed foods. Just because those Oreos are fat-free doesn't mean they're good for you.

Linda is right (she gave you some good info), both calories and fat are important, but overall it's Calories In versus Calories Out, whether the calories are fats, carbs, protein, or alcohol.

As far as how many calories you need... well, that is pretty individualized. There are calculators online that can give you an approximation of how much you should be eating, but at least for me they always seem to be way high. My advice would be to play around with your intake and find what works best for you. Start by tracking what you eat, every single bite, to figure out where you're at. After you've got a good idea of what you typically eat, eating 500 calories less per day should give you a loss of about a pound per week. If 1500 calories leaves you hungry, maybe aim for 1800 for a while, then you can always lower your intake as you lose the weight and get used to eating less.

Also, eating more vegetables and fruits helps tremendously. Lots of volume with few calories. And it takes the place of higher-fat and calorie alternatives.

Hope this helps!
~Elisha

You don't have to count "fat grams." As others have said, what will make you lose weight is taking in fewer calories than you burn. In terms of weight loss, it wouldn't matter if those calories were made up of 100% lard as long as you burned more than you ate.

I personally think that, at your weight, 1500 calories is way low. When I started my plan, I was 170 or so pounds overweight and Jenny Craig started me at 2300 calories. After a few weeks I went down to 2000 and stayed there a long time, then went down to 1700, then 1500. Now, within 10 pounds of my final goal, I'm doing 1200. Of course your situation could vary wildly from mine -- calorie needs are based on many factors, not just weight. Still, if you are cutting too far, you'll lose fast to start with but be very hungry, which reduces your chance of sticking to the plan. Also, there will be a point where you still have weight to lose but can't lower your calories any more and still eat an adequate diet. So, I would really reconsider that calorie level and experiment with at least 2000 calories for a while, if not more.

Now, in terms of building a HEALTHY diet ... various experts with various points of view advocate anything from 20% of your calories from fat up to 40%. I'm in the 20% to 25%. The fat comes from all my food -- protein, dairy, added fats. Jenny Craig is an exchange-based system, so I don't have to worry about counting calories, fat, etc. per se, just exchanges (food group servings). It works out to about 25% fat, 25% protein, and 50% carbohydrate most days. When it comes to the KINDS of fat I eat, I try to choose healthier added fats like olive oil, and limit things like butter.

If I were you, I'd try using a program like fitday.com to track intake and observe where your calories are "spent." That site also has a LOT of good info on building a healthy diet. Or, you might benefit from a commercial program like Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers, at least for a while, to help you learn about losing weight in a safe way while learning how to construct a healthy food plan on a daily basis. They will also give you guideance on a good calorie level and how to adjust it if you increase activity, as you lose weight, etc.

I'm actually trying to increase my calories today and find it hard. I realized that the bulk of my calories before did not come how much I ate, but the quality of junk I ate. I find it hard to get up to 1500 now that I'm watching what kinds of foods I'm eating. Today for example: I woke up and had v8 juice while I took a bath. Then I ate tuna and crackers. I went to excercise and on the way home I had cucumbers. Then I had oatmeal and lipton noodle soup (strange combo for lunch). I haven't gone very long today without putting something in my mouth. I mostly don't want to be this low because when I do reach my goal weight and enevitably don't pay attention to every bite I eat, I might gain it easier.

Hey DS--If you're counting calories, then let me put in a pitch for the book "Calorie Queens" (there are separate threads online). The reason I mention it is because it addresses your concern about how much food you can eat once you hit goal weight. CQ uses a rough guesstimate of 12 calories per pound to maintain a particular weight. There are calculators that work out to about this amount too (partly dependent on whether you are completely sedentary during the day or whether you get up and do some moving around). If you assume that at goal weight, you'll be a bit of a bouncy, happy person, then 135 x 12 = 1620 calories to maintain that weight. CQ advocates BEGINNING a diet by eating your maintenance calories. Some people may then find that they are aiming for a goal weight that is too low--that they are just completely unhappy with that number of calories and may then want to re-evaluate whether their goal weight is realistic for them. Others may be perfectly happy. So....CQ would say you should just eat about 1620 calories now and your weight loss will be initially pretty quick and then slow as you approach goal, but what you're doing is not really "dieting" in the traditional sense, you are establishing--right now--the eating pattern that you will need for the rest of your life.

All that said, I tend to agree with funniegrrl that 1500 (or 1600) might be too low at your current weight. So...let's just assume that we're talking 300 pounds (a round number for math which I suck at :LOL: 300 x 12 = 3600 calories to MAINTAIN that weight. If you eat 1500 calories a day and do NO intentional exercise, that gives you a daily deficit of 3600-1500 = 2100 calories. Thus, for a week, your total cal deficit is 2100 x 7 = 14,700. It takes 3500 calories to lose a pound, so 14,700/3500 = 4.2 pounds lost. Hmmm. That might be a bit steep initially and with such a big deficit every day, your body may SLOW metabolically (think it's starving) and that is really the opposite of what you want to happen. A seeming contradiction in this activity is that you have to EAT to LOSE weight. You can play with the numbers from here, but I think that maybe setting your intake to allow for a 2-3 pound loss for a while might be a healthier weight loss range? (others can chime in). For a 300 pounds person to lose 3 pounds per week, that's a weekly deficit of 10,500 calories, thus a deficit of 1500 cals per day, thus a calorie INTAKE per day of about 2100. For a 300 pound person to lose 2 pounds per week, that's a weekly deficit of 7000 cals, thus a deficit of 1000 cals per day, thus a calorie INTAKE per day of about 2600.

Caveat: none of the calculations above takes into account intentional exercise. You may find that if you begin exercising regularly/heavily that you will want to INCREASE the calories in to maintain a healthy balance. (just kinda depends on how much you eat to start with, how much you exercise, and perhaps most important, how you FEEL).

ANYWAY....as far as fat grams versus calories, I personally find that I cut down on fat just to get more FOOD in my mouth to fill up :-) But...I *do* have some fats everyday (I really don't want my hair to fall out or my skin to get any drier than it is!). If you're having trouble getting your calories in (I always find it weird to hear so many people say that!), peanut butter is an oft-cited recommendation or nuts in general--good fats, high calories, very low volume.

I have to second the calorie queens book, I just finished it and loved the book. I would also say get a good calorie counting program, like fitday.com or diet power to be able to watch all your nutrients, it isnt JUST carbs/fats/proteins/sugars, you need a WELL balanced diet so you get enough food with lower calories, and you get the RIGHT foods for the calories you consume. I was just thinking today how much I have eaten already today, yet barely had any calories. If you eat RIGHT, and you eat for HEALTH there is sooo much actual food you get. GOOD LUCK to you.

Thank you so much everyone!

I am going to try to be a little less harsh on myself and not feel so bad about not getting under 1500 calories, I have been pretty hungry but I just wanted to get a jump start on my weightloss and maybe have motivation to keep going. I am just so scared to have heart failure or something. thank you for all of your great advice!
Danica