I like to put a little Granola in my yogurt in the morning and I bought this new stuff that seems too good to be true. Most granola that I have found in my area (Breadshop & Quaker) are 1/2 cup serving with 6-8 grams of fat. This new stuff Sunbelt is 2/3 cup with 3 grams of fat.

Wow, that does sound a bit skeptical and too good to be true. How's the sugar content on it though? Sometimes the fat is lower, but they add in massive quantities of sugar. I always wonder about those labels too. Hopefully, they're fairly accurate. You can always call the number that's provided on the box and inquire further about it. I've done that on occasion.

I like to put some Fiber One Cereal into my yogurt. Very granola-ish like. Gives it a nice crunch with not too many calories.

Sunbelt makes a lower fat granola, trust the label

The sugar is 16g 4-6g higher than the others.

I'm just starting on plan again portion/calorie/fat control. Should I be watching my sugar too or is that something I can worry about later?

I'm sure this is posted somewhere but what should my numbers (fat/protein/carbs) be for a 1300 calorie diet?

Well, It is illegal for companies to lie on the labels. But rules aren't always followed I guess.

That kind of depends on how your body processes food and whether or not you are doing stuff like weight training.

The fat percentage is generally recommended to stay at or below 30% of calories from fat.

Carbs and protein are a little more personal - I use a 40/30/30 (c/p/f) split because I do a fair amount of weight lifting and the protein is good for building muscle. There are articles about metabolic typing here and one with a quiz here. I tried the quiz and the results were pretty close to the quiz I took from Jillian Michaels book Winning by Losing.

D'oh - I got so into posting links - I forgot what I was gonna say.

When I started calorie counting I just concentrated on getting the counting part down. I added the ratio stuff later. Fitday was a big help there - I don't think my old spreadsheet I used to use was gonna help much with ratios..too much work.

Regardless of how much you try to do at the beginning you'll learn and grow as you go along.

If I was starting right now - I would advise tracking what I eat religiously and exercising and working on cutting back on processed foods. I know that is what will get the job done.

Thanks Gina, you have been a big help several times already.

I have been using FitDay off and on for years and love it. I use the purchased version instead of the online one. Do you know if there is way for me to upload my stuff. One of the reasons I keep using mine is because of all the "custom" foods I have added.

Thanks for the links, I'll check them out now and do the quiz.

That's basically EXACTLY what I am doing.

When I first started calorie counting, I just worried about making sure I was getting more "whole foods", getting my exercise and staying within my limit. After a few weeks, I got more "scientific" about it, and began to track my protein levels because I was doing strength training 3x a week and cardio 6x a week, and I wanted to make sure that as I lost weight, I retained my lean muscle mass and gave my body the tools it needed to build more.

After a couple weeks of doing that, I began tracking my "percentages" of protein, fat and carbs...to see about where I was. My breakdown is around 40/30/30...sort of naturally apparently. I didn't/don't track it everyday, but I take a couple days each week and "back check" to see how I'm doing. I am almost always within a few percentage points of that basic goal.

As for tracking "sugar" per se, you will get different opinions on this. I am not a person who suffers from much "carb or sugar craving" so I do not worry about things like whether my granola has a few extra grams of sugar -- basically I have not noticed that eating a little extra sugar is a "trigger" spiking my hunger (Some people, however, have to be very careful with this...only you are going to be able to learn this listening to your own body as you follow this weight loss path.). That said, however, because I have turned my attention/focus to mostly eating "whole foods" and getting most of the highly processed food out of my diet, my sugar/bad fat content has gone WAY down.

Good luck!

Gina, that quiz is awesome. I have always known that I do/feel better on low carb but have worried about the high fat amount I took in. Because I do cardio daily and some weight training EOD I have been keeping my protein levels much higher than my carbs; fat is about 20-25%.

Interesting to note that I am very aware of what makes me feel better and when on plan I naturally reach or crave those foods that are right for me.

This quiz is an excellent tool for everyone.

Question, do you think I should increase my calories from 1300 to say 1500?

Not sure I can eat 1500 but I could try. Yesterday I had a hard time getting 1200 in.

Did you go out onto the web and find a calorie calculator to determine your calorie levels -- basically figuring our what you need for your basic metabolic rate for your age/height/weight, and then subtracting 500-1000 calories for a 1 to 2 pound weight loss each week (Not dropping under 1200 for basic nutritional/metabolic needs)? I would have told you that 1300 sounds a little low, but still within the realm of reasonable. But it also depends how much exercise you are getting as well. I lost my weight on +-1500 a day with strength training (at home with resistance bands and "body weight" exercises) every other day and moderate cardio (45 minutes...30 of High Intensity Interval Training on my bike and 15 of Steady State) 6 days a week. I also cycled my calories -- having "high" calorie days and "low" calorie days that averaged over a week to my 1500 target (always staying above 1200 though...). This helps trick your metabolism from getting used to consistently lower levels of calories and gives you "up" days to look forward to on occasion -- fitting in "special occasion" meals and still staying within your calorie limits.

As for not "feeling" like eating the appropriate level of calories...you make yourself eat them. It is easy to get a few extra calories with a handful of almonds or a quick yogurt smoothie or a little extra olive oil on a salad. It is dangerous and a mistake to starve your body of the nutrients it needs, even if you are not feeling hungry. Most of us go through the stage where we just don't feel all that hungry -- I think it mostly has to do with upping the protein and lowering the carbs. Regardless, eat the appropriate level or, after a while of consistently eating too low, you will likely see a stall or a serious slow down in your weight loss as your body goes into panic mode and gets REALLY efficient at sucking everything out of the food you do eat...oh, and it will also eat its own lean muscle mass instead of fat...ick.

And the best part of this is the disappointed look on people's faces when they ask "what do you do to lose all that weight?" and you answer with "tracking what I eat religiously, exercising and working on cutting back on processed foods".

I love granola. Even just a couple T or a 1/4c in my yogurt with fruit is just super delicious to me. But I worry less about the fat than the sugar. Low sugar is hard to find too. I was using Nature Path Pumpkin Flax Granola, but it's too sweet to me. Kashi GoLean is better, but it's just not granola, is it? And even that is sweeter than I enjoy.