fat content

footey

I am having the hardest time with FAT. to me, it is really hard to eat out or even buy foods that stay under the amount of fat to eat in a day. Calories for me are not the problem. Its fat! and you cant exercise away fat like calories! Suggestions?:grumble:

sdcarpenter

Try adding weight training. Lean muscle helps burn fat.

funkyspunky871

I know a lot of people (as well as my dad) who aren't counting fat grams at all... Just calories, and they all seem to be doing fine. I count my fat grams though and always have, so I don't know if I'd be able to get away with a sudden care-free attitude towards fat intake. And, I'm definitely not prepared to risk it! (Maybe when I get closer to my goal weight and maintenance, I will.)

I say that if you're just starting out, try not worrying about your fat grams. Just get rid of them on your diary page. If you've been "dieting" for a while, you still might want to try ignoring them, but don't freak if you don't see a loss right away. You might just need to give it a few weeks for your body to readjust.

If you don't want to try giving up tracking fat altogether, just be on the lookout for low fat, fat free, reduced fat, or sugar free foods. Definitely start replacing full-fat condiments, cheese, etc. with the lower-fat versions.

ArchyJill

Chicken breast. Turkey breast. Fish. Beans. When you eat out look for whole cuts of grilled meat as they are much less likely to contain extra fat (e.g. chicken breast instead of chicken fajitas). Good luck! It's hard but after a lot of effort I am pretty good at keeping the excess fat out of my diet!

Melanie1967

Exercse does allow you more fat. My food diary is open if you would like to look at it. On the 14th, you will see I am aloud more fat then normal, since I exercised. My normal daily intake for fat is 40. On the 14th, when I exercised, I was aloud 47 for fat. Start off easy if your new. Don't stress out or you will give up. I didn't count fat until about 50 lbs were gone. My biggest concern, besides calories and carbs, was sodium. I have really bad water storage if my sodium is to high. I try to stay under 1500 on it. Add me as a friend if you like, my food diary is always open for suggestions! Goodluck

FoamyRiver

Starting out, I had the same issue with sodium. I never really paid attention to how much sodium (and fat) was in cheese--which seems to be my weakness. So my number 1 suggestion, especially when eating out is skip the cheese. At home opt for lower calorie/fat/sodium cheeses like Laughing Cow and string cheese.

Number 2 is stay away from fried foods. Enough said on that one.

Next, skip the mayo. This option is easy for me but not my husband. He has started asking for mayo on the side so he can better judge how much is going on his sandwich. You never really know how much is on there with you order your food with mayo.

If you can stand lower fat salad dressings that's great. But regardless, get the dressing on the side and dip your fork into the dressing and then into your salad. You just might be surprised at how little dressing you really eat by this little trick.

Choose lower fat proteins like chicken or fish.

Eat pretzels or baked chips instead of the regular chips. Or eat celery sticks, carrot sticks, or another veggie you prefer instead of chips or crackers for something crunchy.

Spray butter--OMG! I want to kiss the person who came up with this. It tastes great and has no fat. You can spray it on anything from a baked potato to toast.

And the last thing I can think of right now is to use salsa instead of dips, dressings or sour cream.

Hope this helps. Best of luck to you!