Is there such a thing as too much fat? page

[ommmmaggie]

Oh boy...I'm embarrassed to post this, but want to get a bead on things. Today I used FitDay for the first time to track my food intake, and here are my numbers:

Cal: 2354
Fat (g): 205.7 (57%)
Carbs (g): 87.8 (24%)
Protein (g): 64.5 (19%)

I'm pretty sure I'm still eating a bit emotionally and need to get off the sugar completely for a while, even fruit since I am still craving it. So as things level out I'll probably stop eating quite so much. For now, though, are my ratios way off? Am I eating too much fat? Not enough protein? Help!

[PrimalBabe]

Not in my past experience! During the beginning of any diet be kind to yourself, don't worry about the numbers, just worry about being healthy. Eat the good fats (no trans fats!!) and enjoy all the positive side effects that are taking place in your body. Eventually, you find that your numbers fall right where they need to be when your happy, healthy and enjoying the right food.

[geekfish]

Mine looked like:
Cal:2566
Fat: 196g (67.1%)
Carbs: 38.2g (5.8%)
Protein: 178.9 (27.1%)

I had a pretty good day primal wise.

[avocado]

Cal: 2354
Fat (g): 205.7 (57%)
Carbs (g): 87.8 (24%)
Protein (g): 64.5 (19%)

Those are some funky numbers. According to that your fat has 6.5 cal/g, protein 6.9 cal/g, carb 6.4cal/g. I think those percentage must be for grams and not calories. When people compare ratios they're always talking about calories (for example, 70% of calories from fat, not 70% of grams from fat). At least that's all I've ever seen. I think you'll confuse yourself doing it that way.

Unless I'm having a bad math day.

[ommmmaggie]

Ah, Avocado you're right. I was doing percentage of grams, not calories. So...

Cal: 2354
Fat: 205.7g, 78% of calories
Carbs: 87.8g, 15% of calories
Protein: 64.5g, 11% of calories

Crap, that's terrible! Well, this could be why I feel so heavy and...not really bloated, but just heavy in the gut. I'm clearly not getting enough protein - I should be getting around 90-105g per day. Maybe if I focus on getting enough protein and keeping my carbs where they are, the fat ratio will come down.

[ommmmaggie]

Mine looked like:
Cal:2566
Fat: 196g (67.1%)
Carbs: 38.2g (5.8%)
Protein: 178.9 (27.1%)

I had a pretty good day primal wise.

Geekfish, what did you eat today? Looks like a very good day.

[Primal Toad]

Mine looked like:
Cal:2566
Fat: 196g (67.1%)
Carbs: 38.2g (5.8%)
Protein: 178.9 (27.1%)

I had a pretty good day primal wise.

That's a crazy good day. I am curious to how you got that much protein - what did you eat? Lots of steak?

Ah, Avocado you're right. I was doing percentage of grams, not calories. So...


Cal: 2354
Fat: 205.7g, 78% of calories
Carbs: 87.8g, 15% of calories
Protein: 64.5g, 11% of calories

Crap, that's terrible! Well, this could be why I feel so heavy and...not really bloated, but just heavy in the gut. I'm clearly not getting enough protein - I should be getting around 90-105g per day. Maybe if I focus on getting enough protein and keeping my carbs where they are, the fat ratio will come down.

Looks like you are doing great on the carbs. Add a little more protein and less fat and you will be all set Just need to eat more animal foods. Eat more eggs or something. Add a whey protein smoothie if ya need to.

[Darrin]

Too much fat? No way! Honestly, the only thing you ought to look out for is trans fats (highly processed foods) and linoleic acid (industrial vegetable oils). Fats are an excellent source of fuel and, in our fat-phobic culture especially, it's difficult to overdo it.

[ommmmaggie]

No trans fats here! Blech. Yesterday my fats came from coconut oil, nuts/butter, and meats. A little bit from salad dressing, which is organic/healthy/tasty but made with...canola oil. Crap. Just saw that. Oh well - I still think my fat ratio (Omega-3 to Omega-6) is really good for yesterday, in fact I could probably add more Omega-6!

My goal for today is to eat more produce and more protein. And off we go!

[MikeEnRegalia]

Too much fat might mean too many calories, and thus might get in the way of weight loss. Someone mentioned this recently, and I agree: While many obese people can experience rapid weight loss following a low-carb/PB diet and ample daily calories, there comes a point when merely leaving out carbs does not lead to weight loss unless calorie intake is lowered. I think that I've reached that point, and I'll now try to focus on intermittent fasting. The idea is to give your body just the amount of calories it needs (not too few, not too many) and to get it to burn its own fat reserves during the fasts.

To me it is obviously clear that the body doesn't waste energy. If you consume more than enough dietary fat, there is little reason for those fatty acids to leave your fat cells. So while high carb loads may prevent fat to leave the cells even though there is no dietary fat, reducing carbs may at this point only work in conjunction with reduced dietary fat to get the cells to release the fat (low insulin + low concentration of fatty acids in the blood). And since we all know that a low-fat diet is not a good idea at all, intermittent fasting comes in extremely handy.

So: If you experience a weight loss plateau ... keep track of your caloric intake for a couple of days. If it seems too high (there are calculators for your resting metabolic rate + exercise activity) then try to switch between periods during which you eat just as much (or slightly more) than you need, and periods - not longer than 24 hours - during which you practically eat nothing. Well, as a slight variation, and if you also want to build lean body mass during the process, you can try having some low-caloric protein shakes during the fasts - but you'll need to do some experimenting to see if they negatively affect the fasts.