Okay you guys may think I'm nuts for asking this, but I seriously have never considered this thought before.
This is my second trip down the weight loss trail. The first one about ten years ago, senior year in high school. I counted calories and fat grams, I kept it around 1500 calories/day and 20g fat/day. I lost 60lbs. and got to my goal of 160lbs. Well fast forward ten years and I surpassed gaining the 60lbs. back and found myself needing to lose 109lbs. this time. I started January of this year and followed pretty much the same plan. So far I've lost 54lbs. (it's been at a stand still for the past couple of months due to summer getting in the way...LOL). Anyways, my question is when I first started this time I followed Dr. Phils plan and I noticed that his daily recommended intake of fat was 50g/day. This was startling to me and I decided to go it on my own...so far so good. As I have mentioned, it's been quite slow and I have no one else to blame but myself for slacking off the water, exercise and for not being as scrupulous with food choices as I should've been. So in lieu of lighting a fire under myself again, last night I did an analysis and it suggested that I eat in the range of 1466 cal/day, 49g fat/day and 165 carbs/day to lose an average of 2lbs/week. This rings a bell for some reason that the fat grams are way more than I allow myself. I started to wonder if it were really possible to lose weight eating more than 20g fat/day? So I thought who better to ask than you all. Does anyone keep track of their fat grams and how many do you allow??
Your new numbers are in keeping with many of the US guidelines. I try to keep fat around 20-30% of my overall caloric intake (which is often recommended by many health orgs). Since each gram of fat = 9 calories, if you are eating, say 1500 calories/day, 30% of that would equal 50 grams of fat (450 calories worth).
Not all fats are equal. I try to keep saturated fats low, eat as little trans fat as possible, and focus on fats that are "good" -- from nuts and fish, etc...
The ideas about food groups come and go--it used to be that more carbs and less fat was considered good, now it's less carbs and more protein, and a little more fat.
A typical 1500 calorie diet, eating low-fat foods, does indeed come out around 50 grams fat. Right now I'm down around 1200 calories per day, with around 40 grams fat.
We need some fat of the right kinds to stay healthy--I think that's part of why the idea changed on amount of fat needed. Also, too much carbohydrate can be a problem for people who have insulin resistance or have diabetes in their family.
Thanks ladies for responding so fast. I knew this was the right place to come.
For the past ten years I guess my head has been wrapped around the idea that low-fat/no-fat was the way to go. It's kinda hard to undo that thinking. I wasn't sure if it were possible to lose weight eating so much fat grams. I understand that this doesn't give me a license to go out and eat high fat foods (I can't undo my thinking that well...LOL), but now I will be more leanient with my choices. I've been denying myself a lot of foods because I thought they had too many grams and wouldn't fit into my 20g/day deal. I've even been eating light rye bread instead of 12 grain because it had less grams...crazy!
How much have you ladies lost eating like this and has it been steady?
I've lost over 100 pounds counting calories, eating healthy foods and exercising! I have had a few snags and small plateaus, but it's been pretty regular. Also, my weight of weight loss has slowed, but I generally average now about a pound a week.
Wyllenn, wow! Congrats on an awesome weight loss. Thanks for your input. It really makes it much more believable hearing it from someone it's working for rather than reading a print out from something online.
I calculated your fat percentage per day based on 20 g fat and 1500 cals/day, and it came to 8.3%... I've heard healthy numbers rest around the 20-25% range, and that might be a bit more healthy Congrats on all the weight lost so far though, way to go!!
Years ago I was on Phen/Fen and used a low-fat plan. That's all I counted was fat grams and kept it at 15-20 grams a day. I lost weight, but it wasn't healthy. This time I have lost over 90 lbs. and stay at about 40 grams carbs,30-40 grams fat a day. Usually around 1500 calories per day. I eat a lot of lean protein and leave the processed junk alone. Good luck to you and you have done awesome with the weight loss.
I've definitely stuck to around 30-40 grams of fat/day. My % however is always very different, some days I'm REALLY hungry and end up eating tons of rice and veggies (no fat) which makes my % quite low. Congrats on your weight loss thus fat
Everyone does things a little different I guess. I keep my fat g's at around the 30 grams/day mark and I eat 1300-1600 cals a day, depending on what I ate that day. I feel satisfied, and rare cravings. 30 g's is a number I shoot for, but some days it's about 35.
(and hi to my fellow Canadians I see here in the thread!)
Tina - as you know, we've lost about the same amount of weight over the same period of time (yay us) and I have never even thought about counting fat grams - only calories. Of course, as low calorie foods tend to be low fat also, the two have usually coincided, but I have never sat down and thought about counting fat grams. Just looking back on Nutridiary over my last week, I have had:
What I think is important to mention again, is that your total fat grams should be a certain "percentage" of your diet. It isn't a good idea to say "20 grams a day" or "25 grams a day" or 30 grams a day" and have that be the "end all limit" of what everyone should be taking in each day.
Everyone's fat gram goal will be slightly different-because it will be a healthy percentage of your daily calorie intake. Saying 20, 25, or 30 grams doesn't work for everyone-if it isn't a healthy percentaqge of their calorie intake.
The whole early 90's low fat/fat free kick did not differentiate between healthy fats and bad ones-it just lumped them altogether. What that mindset DID do to confuse everyone-was to make everyone think that it was okay to eat jellybeans and fat free cookies because they are fat free...but avoiding nuts because they are higher in fat. (But also very nutritious!)
The probem with going TOO low fat in your diet-is that your body is going to be affected in a negative way over time...such as dry, brittle hair...even hair loss can happen with too low fat in the diet over time. 20 grams a day is only a healthy fat percentage if you are eating under 1000 calories a day-which you shouldn't be doing. If you are eating 1200-1800 like most calorie counters your fat grams per day should be more.
For the past ten years I guess my head has been wrapped around the idea that low-fat/no-fat was the way to go. It's kinda hard to undo that thinking. I wasn't sure if it were possible to lose weight eating so much fat grams. I understand that this doesn't give me a license to go out and eat high fat foods (I can't undo my thinking that well...LOL), but now I will be more leanient with my choices. I've been denying myself a lot of foods because I thought they had too many grams and wouldn't fit into my 20g/day deal. I've even been eating light rye bread instead of 12 grain because it had less grams...crazy!
Tina, you might want to take a look at these articles. They're about the results of a 7-year study on low-fat diets. The bottom line was that the low-fat diet provided minimal weight loss and minimal health benefits.
Need some advice on fat grams....
Congrats on all the weight lost so far though, way to go!! 
