Minimum amount of fat needed?

ouandi

Hi all, a friend of mine got me thinking about the amount of fat I've been eating and perhaps it's too low. I've been eating a very low fat diet per my nutritionist. He had me set to no more than 20% fat but I've been hitting much lower than that. My total fats for the day are around 15g. I feel fine and no problems so far but I am worried long term if this is a problem. I've lost 4% of my body fat in less than two weeks eating this way. I did ask my nutritionist yesterday if it was too low and he said it was ok. It wasn't a long discussion just a brief, "that should be fine."

Has anyone seen any article or publication on minimum amounts of fat? Anyone know of any implications? I assume in a few months I would up them as I got closer to my goal but my plan was to leave them how they are to continue to have good progress.

Thanks!
ouandi

seena511

from what i've gleaned on here, you should be eating a minimum of .35 g/fat per lb of body weight. if you're not hitting that, but your doctor and nutritionist said it's ok, then i would trust them. if you start to notice issues with menstruation regularity, or brittle hair and nails, i would bring it to your Dr's attention right away to see if you can up it a bit.

woodml1

I read a couple great articles about this a month or two ago... here's one that I found but I'll keep my eyes open for a better one and post here if I find it. http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipes/healthy-eating/tips/why-non-fat-isnt-the-answer/

The truth is: fat is essential for the healthy functioning of your body. The second truth is: not all fats are created equal. The third truth is: a few decades ago, we were scared into thinking that dietary fat caused a host of health problems but the research wasn't difinative in it's support of that conclusion. Unfortunatly, society listens to salespeople, not scientists, so the notion stuck.

Healthy fat consumption is critical to helping your body metabilize and burn fats and alot of recent research supports that very-low-fat-diets may not be the most effective way to lose weight!

holothuroidea

0.35g per pound of body weight is a good goal to aim for. I'm not really sure what the minimum is, but I was told to never go below 20% fat when I talked to a nutritionist.

The numbers your nutritionist gave you, were they forever or just until you loose the weight? If your worried about your diet being sustainable long term, you really should be eating more fats. Sooner or later your body is going to run out of good stores and will need them from food.

That having been said, I NEVER meet my fat macro. I'm aiming for 55 and generally only get between 25 and 40. It needs work, lol.