high carbs.. high fat.. low calories?

thinunfit
thinunfit Posts: 36 Member
edited December 26 in Food and Nutrition
ive been trying like a mad woman to eat at least 1,200 calories which i find is REALLY hard unless my carbs go up to like 200-300 grams or fat gets very high (BUT THEY ARE GOOD FATS!) even if i eat low carb foods which is crazy (yes i deduct fiber), i'd like to keep to 100-150 grams carbs since im small frame and very light, i dont mind eating high in healthy fats but is it bad if i have high healthy fat levels and high carbs? on a calorie deficit

Replies

  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
    It's not ideal since you'll have to consume very low protein levels in order to do this. You can still lose weight with this approach but you'll be much better off increasing protein at the expense of carbs.
  • ArroganceInStep
    ArroganceInStep Posts: 6,239 Member
    I can't tell if you're having trouble reaching 1200 or staying under 1200. Please clarify.
  • Captain_Tightpants
    Captain_Tightpants Posts: 2,215 Member
    First up, the only solidly proven 'unhealthy' fat is trans fat. Fat is demonized by the media and it's very easy to buy into it all, but a moderate balance of saturated (yes, saturated!), monounsaturated and polyunsaturated should cause you no significant health issues at all. There's evidence that eating a lot of red meat has cardiovascular effects and people jumped to the sat fat hypothesis but there are simply too many other confounding factors in a western high red meat diet to really say. Conversely, look at the inuit diet - very high fat, very high protein from non-red meat sources and they're pretty steaming healthy. So yep, don't be scared of fat. Nuts, peanut butter, olive oil, fatty fish... all that good stuff will help you get your calories up higher.

    I totally agree with Sidesteal (but then, I always do because the dude really knows his stuff), about increasing protein at the expense of carbs. Protein and Carbs both have about the same amount of calories per gram (roughly 4), but whereas there's a lot of strong evidence out there that too many carbs may have adverse health effects, protein is pretty much universally accepted as the "healthiest" of the three macros. High protein diets will help your body to minimize lean tissue loss while you are on a calorie deficit - i.e. it will help to maintain and rebuild the muscle that your body cannibalizes for energy (when on a calorie deficit you don't only lose fat).

    Hope that helps.
  • thinunfit
    thinunfit Posts: 36 Member
    i get about 50-70 grams of protein a day thats with 150-300 grams carbs O.O
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
    how many fat grams are you averaging per day, total?
  • thinunfit
    thinunfit Posts: 36 Member
    usually like 40-60 grams
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