Fat - saturated/mono/poly - what do the numbers mean?

gracebouchard

Looking at my food log in yesterday, at the end of the day it says I ate 41 calories? of fat? Then under reports it says my total fat consumed was 43 - calories? Then for Saturated I have 8 - is that percent or calories? The same question for poly and mono fats, where I had 9 and 5. Just a little confused - thank you!

sandsofarabia

All macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, fats) have a certain amount of calories (energy) storied withing the chemical bonds of their structures. So carbs and protiens both store 4 calories for every gram of their nutrient BUT for lipids/fats ... its 9 calories for every gram of fat.

Saturated fats are just fats that do not have a lot of double bonds in the carbon chain so the fats are more solid (less liquid) and therefore you can compact WAY more saturated fat in a small area. Saturated fats are typically not good when trying to diet because its what you would consider a "bad" fat (such as the fatty foods that are solid at room temperature). Unsaturated fats have a lot of double bonds in the carbon chain which allows for the lipids to have really strange structures and become more fluid. Unsaturated fats are found in oils like olive oil or those oil-based salad dressings and these are the fats you should be eating more of.

Poly and mono fats stand for polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. Poly just means many so its 2 or more double bonds in the carbon chain and it makes the unsaturated fat even more fluid than a monounsaturated fat.

Hope that helped! (Basically, try to avoid saturated fats and keep your general grams of fat within the recommended amount that is set for you to have a well balanced consumption of macronutrients).

gracebouchard

Thank you, but under reports on myfitnesspal it says yesterday i had 8 total saturated fat - 8 what? I don't know what that number represents. Is it grams, calories or percentage of something?

sandsofarabia

Oh, yes it's in grams.

Unknown

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bobbiedunham

So.does that means we are over on the poly/mono.

kxbrown27

No. MFP defaults to zero but 8 grams is fine. I usually get between 15 and 20. Don't worry about it.

potatsos

Saturated, poly- and monoynsaturated fat do not sum up to the "total fat" consumption. Could someone explain this discrepancy? What are the remaining fats? Are they good or bad?