Okay, so recently I dropped my calorie intake to 1400 from 1600. It has been about a week. So far, the only issue I have had is the fact that I can't seem to get enough fat in my diet.
Today I had a tablespoon of peanut butter and a serving of cashews. I also had potstickers that I made with ground turkey.
For some reason, I can't seem to stay within 1400 calories and get the fat I need.
I've tried adding in fats, but then I end up going over. Should I just accept that and stay at 1500 for calories each. That seems to be enough to get my fat in and everything else I need.
Does that make sense? Thanks guys!!
When you say "not enough fat," what do you mean? How much fat are you going for? Are you aiming for a certain number of fat grams, or a percentage of your calories?
I lost on 1400 calories and did about 30% of calories from fat, so if you give me some numbers to play with I might be able to help.
Full fat yogurt, cheese, milk, etc. to replace any low/nonfat versions you might be eating. Dark meat chicken instead of white meat. If you are under on fat, what are you over on? You could also replace those cals with more nuts, avocado, etc.
Yeah, that's 30%, and I aim for that because that's how I feel good. However, you don't have to eat that much fat if you don't want to. A lot of people try to limit to under 25-30 grams a day, and there are some food plans out there that limit fat even more strictly. Yes, fat is necessary, but I wouldn't say that 47 grams a day is necessary for you if it's not working for you.
That being said . . .
Getting more fat earlier in the day was key for me, too. Also, the calories have to come from somewhere, and for me that ended up being carbs. The good news, however, is that fat really helps make me feel full and satisfied.
On any given day, my fat-containing food distribution looks something like this:
Breakfast - An egg; 21-28 grams of full-fat cheese OR 24-32 grams of nut butter
Lunch - Hummus OR avocado
Snack - Nuts OR Cheese
Dinner - Olive oil OR Avocado OR fatty fish OR butter (occasionally)
I try not get all my fats from one source, and I also am not too worried about a bit of saturated fat from full-fat dairy.
Ironically, I'm in the same boat. The excess calories are coming from carbs.
Thank you for the tips! I was planning on making some hummus up today, but didn't get the chance. I will make it have that for lunch! I was also thinking about making cashew butter out of my cashews for a spread. I'll do that for the morning.
Thank you! I think it might not be a bad idea to pick up a couple full fat dairy options like some greek yogurt to help me. If I get whole milk then hubby will drink it before I could even get the chance LOL!
I appreciate the input. I will see if I can make the 1400 cals work. I think I may keep it between 1400-1500 most days with 1 day higher up.
Thanks for the help!
I eat approx. 1400 calories per day & I definitely have more than 47 grams of fat almost every day. I don't purposely keep track of my macronutrients, but I use an app that does, and I just took a quick glance at the numbers. I think I would find it a struggle to stay at 47 grams or under.
Maybe one reason I get all the fat I need (and then some) is that I rarely use anything low fat. I use full-fat cheeses, mayo, yogurt (Fage), etc. If I think of buying 1% milk when I'm grocery shopping, I will because the taste of milk in cereal is almost all the same to me. However, right now, I have none in the refridgerator, so if I have cereal, I drink the whole milk that my husband does (he won't touch anything low fat). So, if you're eating low-fat dairy, maybe you should switch to regular fat.
I find that I also eat full-fat dairy products (except milk) and it fills me up much more than the low-fat versions. It seems to me that if I don't eat enough fat, I don't lose as well either. I eat a lot of nuts as well, which have healthy fats. Having said that, I do eat as leans meats as I can find, so that I can avoid those type of fats.
I think I will pick up some full fat yogurt and cottage cheese to help. I'd like to get the majority of my fat from nuts, oils and flax seed with a bit from meat and dairy. I typically stay way under on my cholesterol.
Thank you for the ideas guys! I appreciate the input. I will definitely incorporate the ideas. I do think that I'm also going to keep my calorie range between 1300-1500 and see how I do.
Having issues with fat?
