Should I worry about tracking my fat intake?

nrdoty
nrdoty Posts: 10 Member
in Food and Nutrition
My wife & I have recently started trying to get into eating a plant-based mostly "vegan-style" diet. Our goal is lots of veggies, a good amount of fruit, & little-to-no meat/dairy on a regular basis. I am not trying to loose weight nor "bulk up"; my goal is just to eat healthier, build leaner muscle, have more energy, & reduce my chances for disease.

So back to my question: Should I worry about how much fat I eat on a daily basis is most of it is coming from beans, unsalted nuts, & veggies like avocados? Like I said, I'm not trying to lose weight, but I don't wanna go crazy with the calories like some body builders. On my daily calories I shoot to be right at or just above the net reccomendation after exercise.

We're still in the process of switching over & I'm nowhere near where I wanna be yet, so don't judge my diary too harshly. But I want your honest opinion. If I am staying low enough on salt & sugars but my fat is as much as 50+ grams over for the day, is that an issue?

Replies

  • Athena413
    Athena413 Posts: 1,709 Member
    bump
  • Swopkin
    Swopkin Posts: 53 Member
    I'm a vegan myself too and I have to say that I never really care about fats. As long as they're not trans-fats I'm happy. What's more, fat is the one thing that can up my calories so if I would try to cut that, I'd end up undereating. In short, I wouldn't bother about it too much if they're healthy non-animal fats. I've always heard that the only fats that can really do damage are the fats that come from animal products (since they are solid at room temperature) and transfats (since they are artificially produced). An expert's opinion on this matter would be welcome, though.
  • anunknownmouse
    anunknownmouse Posts: 118
    Fats are not to be avoided, your body needs them. And they're delicious. As long as you stay at your calorie goal, you should definitely be having at least some fats. General rule of thumb is .5g/lb of lean body mass.
  • warmachinejt
    warmachinejt Posts: 2,162 Member
    It's not problem, i have around 70+ g of fat daily and i have achieved a decent body.
  • Natihilator
    Natihilator Posts: 1,778 Member
    I asked this and the consenus was that as long as you are under calorie goal, going over fats by a bit shouldn't make a difference. Not sure about 50+ over, but if you are going 50+ over on fats but staying within your calorie goal, I would be worried about getting enough protein which is needed to build lean muscle. Also, you might be interested in reading about the thermogenic effect of fat in the body compared to carbs and protein.
  • nrdoty
    nrdoty Posts: 10 Member
    Thank you all for the helpful info so far. My daily stats have been all over the place since this is the first week I have been tracking my food on this new way of eating. so I'm just trying to get a better idea what kind of numbers I wanna shoot for.
    I asked this and the consenus was that as long as you are under calorie goal, going over fats by a bit shouldn't make a difference...
    I am shooting to hit or go slightly over my calorie goal each day not under. Reason being, even when I was eating crap all the time working a desk job, I was fairly lean by most peoples standards. At 180 I barely had some extra belly fat, but my arms still looked smaller. Since I started eating drastically healthier (but not necessarily less) & progressively gearing up for my first triathlon I am now down to 160. I'm sure my body fat is pretty far down now, but I want to bring my lean muscle weight up; preferably back to a total weight of around 180 if that's realistic.
    ...Not sure about 50+ over, but if you are going 50+ over on fats but staying within your calorie goal, I would be worried about getting enough protein which is needed to build lean muscle...
    I am worried about my protein being high enough; but I don't know how high I want it. Most of the fitness community tells you 1-2 grams of protein per lb of body weight. But others advocates of vegetarian & vegan diets have said we need much lees than that & too much can even be harmful. Right now I have been including things like quinoa, chick-peas, & tempeh in my diet & am getting around 100g of protein a day without any shakes or such.
    ...Also, you might be interested in reading about the thermogenic effect of fat in the body compared to carbs and protein.
    Yes I would be interested in reading on "thermogenic effect of fat in the body compared to carbs and protein". Do you know any good resources?

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