Help determining fat intake

rgrin

I seem to be mentally stuck on fat intake. Most of my meal-planning is devoted to keeping my fat down to 55 grams (30% of my intake). Some of my favorite foods are nuts, peanut butter, and avocado, and I know they're healthy, but I don't know think I should go over 30%. Then I read through the stickies and had a question. In your macro advice, you mentioned that protein should be around 1 gram per pound of lean body mass, and fat should be .35 grams per pound of body mass. But then you say for those who are obese (which I am), these numbers can change. Maybe I need to up my fat intake?

My stats:
Height - 5'0"
Weight - 195.2
Age - 34
BF% - Unknown, but calculators range from 34-51%. Covert Bailey has me at 40.3.
TDEE - 2048 (according to last week's average FitBit numbers)
Exercise - 30-Day Shred and 20 minutes on elliptical, 6 days a week)
Last week's avg Calories - 1596 calories
Last week's avg Carbs - 174 g
Last week's avg Protein - 115 g
Last week's avg Fat - 54 g
I weigh everything on a digital kitchen scale.
I don't do cheat days, but I do make room for a treat several times a week.
I've been on and off MFP for a while, but got serious with tracking and exercise and lost 6.3 pounds since February 1 (7 weeks). As much as I weigh, it would be nice to lose more than a pound a week, but at least I'm losing now!

Thanks for your help!

Sarauk2sf

Your fat intake should be based on a minimum of 0.35g per lb of body weight, so 68g in your case. However, as you are in a higher BF% range, setting it at 0.3g per lb of body weight should be fine (the higher the BF%, the lower the amount needed). This works out to be about 59g, so you are really not that far off currently.


I would recommend to add some strength training if possible into your routine.

rgrin

If I bump my fat to 35%, that puts me at 64 grams, which is right between the two, so that should work well. Thanks.

I can't get to a gym, so I'd have to do strength training at home. At the moment, I feel like Jillian is about to kill me with my 3-pound dumbbells, so I REALLY need to start at the beginning. I bookmarked your barbell/dumbbell routines a few weeks ago, but I'm not sure I'm even up to those yet! What advice or equipment would you recommend for someone so new to all of this?

Sarauk2sf

If I bump my fat to 35%, that puts me at 64 grams, which is right between the two, so that should work well. Thanks.

I can't get to a gym, so I'd have to do strength training at home. At the moment, I feel like Jillian is about to kill me with my 3-pound dumbbells, so I REALLY need to start at the beginning. I bookmarked your barbell/dumbbell routines a few weeks ago, but I'm not sure I'm even up to those yet! What advice or equipment would you recommend for someone so new to all of this?

At first, the DVDs are fine - when you start finding them a bit easier, then I would looking into doing a more strength based as opposed to endurance based routine.

It really depends on the weights that you have available as to what is an appropriate routine.

rgrin

I've only got my little 3-pounders available, and DH has a bar with 5- and 10-pound disks. (Sorry, I don't even know the terminology, but I'm hoping you understand what I'm talking about.) I can buy some more weights for use at the house, though I can't spend a massive amount all at once. I'm just not sure what to get exactly. What types/sizes should I start shopping around for?