Fat - how much is too much?

DarkAngellEyes

I'm sure this topic has probably been covered (maybe even a few times), but I couldn't find much at a quick glance through the threads, so I apologize if this is a duplicate.

Basically I'm just wondering how many grams of fat (from healthy sources) is a good target to shoot for. At first I wasn't too concerned with how much I was eating, but now I'm realizing my total fat is sometimes significantly higher than my other macros.
I know its probably different depending on your goals and whatnot, but I was just looking if anyone had any general ideas and/or good resources where I could read a bit more about it.

AggieCass09

I eat 80-150 g a day just depending on what exactly it is that i'm eating. I get most fat from nuts, avocados, meats, and oils not from donuts or other processed junk. I have been eating this way for a year and my Triglycerides (sciency name for fat in your body) went DOWN twenty points in a year which is a HUGE number, so eating fat doesnt make you fat (or at least it didnt make me fat). Previously, I was a vegetarian and I ate a low-fat diet with some processed stuff (lean cusuines, 100 calorie packs, whole grains) but mostly healthy. You can see all my numbers hear from my health screening: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/AggieCass09/view/shocking-the-numbers-dont-lie-vegetarian-to-paleo-comparison-423960

LeidaPrimal

It depends on your eating philosophy and what satiates you. Depending on your sugar/carb sensitivity, you can be perfect on 30-40% (low sugar/carb sensitivity) or you may have to go to 70+% fat if you are sensitive. The easy way to test is to eat to satiation matching 30-40% range, and see how many cals it takes you to satiate in a day. Observe your performance. Keep up for a month. Then do super-high fat, 70+% for a month-6 weeks to see if your appetite drops/energy/mood improves. Pick the best.

squishycow7

Paleo/Primalers often say more fat is a-okay:
http://paleodietlifestyle.com/question-of-macronutrient-ratios/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fats/#axzz27gvN2CNN
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/high-fat-diet-healthy-safe/#axzz27gv9Y0Fx

But more SAD'ers (standard American Diet...ers) say the opposite. It's true fat is more calorically dense, but I don't personally believe that it itself is bad.


I have my macro set to 30% for fats... and I'm almost always over. Granted I've been a piglet lately so of late its been coming from cookies/chips/etc, but back when I was a sane person I was STILL going over, even with sources like avocados, meat, or nuts...

I find that if my fat is high but my carbs are low, I feel better. If it's the other way around I'm sluggish. Protein as a variable doesn't seem to affect my mood or energy either way, except for obviously eating more protein takes away from some other nutrient... so hmm maybe it does...........................now I think I'm rambling...

Anyhoo, last year I was trying to keep that fat level down around 20% and my HDL cholesterol (the good kind) has, as of just last week, gone up about 10 points and my bad cholesterol has decreased (though only slightly, but it wasn't bad to start with) . No real changes to my life other than my fat's higher and carbs lower.

*shrug* but everyone's body reacts differently.


edit to add- I agree w/ the other post that says you should experiment and see how it affects you personally. Do a couple weeks higher fat and really record everything- energy levels, quality of sleep, hunger cravings, acne, headaches, etc etc... bowel movements even though that's gross :P ....anything!

DarkAngellEyes

Thanks for all the input!

Right now my goal is set at 45% fat (100g) - I typically have been in the 100-150g range, but I have had a few days where I had up to 170g (which is what started to make me a little nervous to begin with). Its all been from healthy sources (coconut oil, nuts, avocados, meat, etc.) so I know it cant be TOO bad.... right?

I like the idea of experimenting a bit with high vs low(er) fat weeks, so I may give that a shot.

caribougal

My macros are 60% fat, 25% protein, 15% carbs on 1400 goal, eating Primal.

monkeydharma

If you are truly off of grains and sugars, then the amount if fat really isn't a health issue - unless you're eating nothing BUT fat. Fat can be a health issue in a SAD diet - but only because of the systemic inflammation to the body being caused by grains and sugar.

Whatever you naturally eat when you eat animals and plants is OK - cavemen didn't have calculators. The number of calories between fat and protein should be roughly equal - which means it should be about 1/3:2/3 ration gram-wise. Example: 20 grams of protein and 10 grams of fat will give you roughly equal number of calories.

So, for MFT macros, I'd say: set your carb setting at where you want it to be (in my case, at about 80g/day), then divide up ft and protein in half, calorie-wise.