Is anyone else counting fat grams and not calories?

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ejmartin2001
ejmartin2001 Posts: 19 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm a former Weight Watcher's member, and find I have more success counting fat grams than calories. I love this app for its accountability and complete tracking of nutrition.
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  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    How does that work in terms of overall calorie consumption then?
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    I did the old fat n fibre WW plan (about 18 years ago!!) where the rules were no more than 20g fat a day and a minimum of 20g fibre and it always struck me as weird - gummy bears are fat free, can I just eat them?

    Jokes aside, I didn't lose weight because pasta and rice are basically fat free, and I ate HEAPS of them. In terms of calories, many very calorie dense foods are still "low fat".
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    edited February 2015
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    If your diet is very consistent and you eat pretty much the same thing it may work, maybe. However that's nutritonally a bad idea.

    For example, if your only tracking fat - you can pretty much eat as much bread, fat free stuff, pasta, soda as you want. That's not going to result in weight loss.

    Maybe this is why the old WW had such a high failure rate?

  • Laurend224
    Laurend224 Posts: 1,748 Member
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    Nope, even before I began losing g weight, my fat intake had been pretty minimal. Not that I was (or am) intentionally limiting it, but as a vegan, I have to seek out added sources of fat just to meet my allotment now. But I could go to town on some bread, pasta, rice and beans, or even fruit and still gain.
    I like counting calories, it's working.
  • AmazonMayan
    AmazonMayan Posts: 1,168 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Nope. I probably am taking in less fat than I used to just because of sheer quantity of food, but I'm dropping weight like crazy right now just counting calories. I look at my grams of fat at the end of the day and always think, "well look at that....plenty of fats in my diet and yet the most success I've had at losing weight." ETA: I also have days where I'm looking for something for dinner that is fatty because I'm too low for the day. I mostly eat a pretty balanced variety of foods.

    And I'm happy because that fat in my food tastes good and is satisfying and I'm not stressed about food anymore.


  • Paperchains38
    Paperchains38 Posts: 42 Member
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    I went on a low fat diet last year due to my gallstones and i didn't count calories, i managed to lose 3 stone in that year but because i became stuck at that weight for a couple of months i found my way to MFP to help me lose some more by now looking at the amount of calories i eat. And yes i was eating plenty of Haribo and other foods that may have had a lot of calories in but i still lost the weight. This may not work for everyone but it worked for me.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    I can't see how that would work. Lots of high calorie things are low on fat...
  • scottacular
    scottacular Posts: 597 Member
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    I track all my macros and fibre, as long as I hit my targets for them, whatever it says in the calories column is fine. Same deal with the sugar column, the sugar haters will be gasping in shock at this, but my sugar intake is usually about double what the suggested limit in the UK is. That post workout dextrose sure does hit the spot. Miraculously, it doesn't stop me from losing weight.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Nope, I like fat!
  • maru84
    maru84 Posts: 128
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    No way. Fat keeps me full and really decreases my hunger. I count carbs, keeping them low, and I count calories. I try to find high fat, low carb foods while keeping calories at a weight loss level. I'm hardly ever hungry and losing well.
  • arguablysamson
    arguablysamson Posts: 1,706 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Not eating fat does not make one skinny. It's about calories-in/calories-out. I remember the 90ish low-fat craze. Total failure.

    Bear in mind, some things seem to work when they, in fact, do not.
  • GiveMeCoffee
    GiveMeCoffee Posts: 3,556 Member
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    I tried this back in the 80s, it didn't work out so well when I was finished I think I had gained 20 lbs.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Strange idea!
    I regard my fat goal as a minimum target (ditto for protein) not a maximum.
  • flabassmcgee
    flabassmcgee Posts: 659 Member
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    Fat is satiating. And delicious. I refuse to cut fat.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    As others said, I think that would discourage eating fat, which is not always a good idea, and encourage eating plenty of high calorie foods that aren't particularly preferable. I agree that if you eat basically the same thing and it's just portion control, maybe it's a simple thing? But you could do the same thing then by focusing on carbs or protein, so I suspect it's a hangover from the era of fat demonization, which IMO had a negative effect on weight issues overall.
  • Paperchains38
    Paperchains38 Posts: 42 Member
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    Obviously i am just a fluke of nature.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    edited February 2015
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    arguablysamson wrote: »
    Not eating fat does not make one skinny. It's about calories-in/calories-out. I remember the 90ish low-fat craze. Total failure.

    Bear in mind, some things seem to work when they, in fact, do not.

    Back in the 90's I counted fat grams to stay under 25 and ended up losing 1/2 of my hair. Those were the days of Susan Powter and I always wondered if that was why she had that buzz cut. Yeah, I lost - a lot - but my health suffered. Your hair and skin health is often a canary in the coal mine regarding your overall health.

    Now I am still counting my fat grams, but along with carb and protein (158 pro, 158 carb, 60 fat) and I have lost 89 lb. so far, kept all of my hair, and feel great.
  • EmmaFitzwilliam
    EmmaFitzwilliam Posts: 482 Member
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    I lost about 35 pounds that way, 20 years ago. And then put it all back on, and more.

    Because fat grams were something I could control, I controlled them *tightly*. And cut them to about 7g a day. 7 g of fat per day is not enough.

    I found that the extreme to which I pushed it required a lot of work to find foods that I enjoyed and had time to prepare. It also pretty much precludes ever going out to eat.

    Without going to extremes, will it change the way you make your food choices, or are you using it as a short term fix?

    The big key to a food plan (even one with a calorie deficit) is post weight loss sustainability. Even with a few calories added back in for maintenance (and possibly depending on how much you have to lose to begin with), if you go from eating a logged, portion controlled calorie deficit to however you were eating before, the odds are on gaining back the weight.

    A pound is 3500 calories beyond your aggregate daily burn.

    For sedentary people like myself, it's shockingly easy to go even just a few calories beyond the daily burn. 50 calories a day beyond the number burned will put on 5 pounds a year.

    Admittedly, it's really hard (almost impossible) to go over on calories (relative to the number burned) while strictly monitoring fat grams. Assuming you don't go to an unwise, unhealthy extreme, can you sustain it?

    tl;dr - Counting fat grams *can* work. There *are* (significant, potentially long term) risks. Will it teach you about your food choices? Can you sustain it after your weight loss? Can you navigate past the risks? I don't recommend it as a plan, but that's a personal decision.
  • 3laine75
    3laine75 Posts: 3,070 Member
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    Nope, I like my joints and brain healthy and my hormones in balance :)
  • TriShamelessly
    TriShamelessly Posts: 905 Member
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    3laine75 wrote: »
    Nope, I like my joints and brain healthy and my hormones in balance :)

    LOL - I read this and thought "joints" are not going to make your brain healthy, but will make you happy!

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