What are you doing to my diary stats?!!!

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MaryElizabeth147
MaryElizabeth147 Posts: 4
in Food and Nutrition
I'm trying hard to incorporate more protein and 'good fats' into my diet but it's pushing my total fats sky high and it's making me feel frustrated.

For example, if I don't have time to make breakfast I will normally grab a Nutri Grain bar - full of sugar and not much else, but about 3g fat. This morning, I went for an Eat Natural nut bar (a mini one, at that) and it had 13g in fat in just one 30g bar!

Just had lunch, a microwave pasta pot with tomato sauce, and added 2 tablespoons of milled flaxseed (the RDA) to add fibre and omega3, as advised by a nutriionist i saw. 20g in fat in that one meal! 14g of which came from the flaxseed.

So now I have hardly any fat 'left' for dinner, but plenty of calories.

Am I worrying over nothing?

Replies

  • tejasmh87
    tejasmh87 Posts: 91 Member
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    Bump!

    I am curious on this as well. I have become addicting to avocados which are nortorious for high "healthy fats" so its been a bit rough to see myself going red for similiar food items.

    Anyone else who can share wisdom? :)
  • miranda_mom
    miranda_mom Posts: 873 Member
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    I always look at my total fats but keep in mind the different kinds of fat - you can even look at them on your bar graphs under reports.
  • shelbyfrootcake
    shelbyfrootcake Posts: 965 Member
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    Harsh as it sounds you just have to suck it up and get on with it, the same as anyone watching sugar and eating fruit has too.

    Be aware of the good fats vs the bad stuff. Maybe track saturated fat instead of generic fat.

    PS. Those Eat Natural bars are terrible, as are Nutrigrain. Put them down and never pick them up again.
  • julieh391
    julieh391 Posts: 683 Member
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    Nuts and flax shouldn't be grouped in with twinkies and potato chips as far as fat goes. What your doing is a good thing. All fat is not created equal.
  • 3laine75
    3laine75 Posts: 3,070 Member
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    Think you might have to try eating more 'real' food. I don't want to sound like one of these 'eat clean' hippies but the two things you mentioned were highly processed (and i was too lazy to look at your diary before commenting).

    Sorry, but its what YOU'RE doing to your diary stats., noone else. Mabey try logging stuff you are thinking about eating and see what it looks like in the diary first?


    BTW I have changed my macros to 35/35/30 - thats 30% fat, I don't consider this unhealthy. hope that helps :)
  • taylor5877
    taylor5877 Posts: 1,792 Member
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    Funny how different we all are. When I'm eating "healthy" and not tracking, I'll end up eating 10% of my calories or so from fat (usually end up mostly fruits and veggies and lean meat). I actually drink the muscle milk as a fat supplement (as well as the obvious protein).

    I actually have to make my myself eat olive oil, peanuts, or avacados to get in my fats daily.
  • deadbeatsummer
    deadbeatsummer Posts: 537 Member
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    Harsh as it sounds you just have to suck it up and get on with it, the same as anyone watching sugar and eating fruit has too.

    Be aware of the good fats vs the bad stuff. Maybe track saturated fat instead of generic fat.

    PS. Those Eat Natural bars are terrible, as are Nutrigrain. Put them down and never pick them up again.

    Why are eat natural bars terrible? I think they are quite healthy - theres nothing added to them, it's just nuts, and when I have one with a low fat yoghurt for breakfast it gives me a very filling breakfast without going over my calories and gives me a fair bit of protein.
  • skonly
    skonly Posts: 371
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    You can change your diary to track the different types of fat. I only watch saturated fat.
  • 3laine75
    3laine75 Posts: 3,070 Member
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    Harsh as it sounds you just have to suck it up and get on with it, the same as anyone watching sugar and eating fruit has too.

    Be aware of the good fats vs the bad stuff. Maybe track saturated fat instead of generic fat.

    PS. Those Eat Natural bars are terrible, as are Nutrigrain. Put them down and never pick them up again.

    Why are eat natural bars terrible? I think they are quite healthy - theres nothing added to them, it's just nuts, and when I have one with a low fat yoghurt for breakfast it gives me a very filling breakfast without going over my calories and gives me a fair bit of protein.


    there is less suger in a snickers than some of these 'healthy' bars - read the label.
  • marieautumn
    marieautumn Posts: 932 Member
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    a good balanced meal should consist of half lean meat, half veggies and a serving of healthy fat. don't sweat it.
    something to keep in mind though, those breakfast bars aren't as good for you as they lead you to believe. read the ingredients before you decide on them.
  • shelbyfrootcake
    shelbyfrootcake Posts: 965 Member
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    Harsh as it sounds you just have to suck it up and get on with it, the same as anyone watching sugar and eating fruit has too.

    Be aware of the good fats vs the bad stuff. Maybe track saturated fat instead of generic fat.

    PS. Those Eat Natural bars are terrible, as are Nutrigrain. Put them down and never pick them up again.

    Why are eat natural bars terrible? I think they are quite healthy - theres nothing added to them, it's just nuts, and when I have one with a low fat yoghurt for breakfast it gives me a very filling breakfast without going over my calories and gives me a fair bit of protein.

    Terrible because they taste awful, for one. Secondly, the are pretty high in fat, sugar and calories for a nothing sort of food. They add a load of glucose to them.
  • shelbyfrootcake
    shelbyfrootcake Posts: 965 Member
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    there is less suger in a snickers than some of these 'healthy' bars - read the label.

    Thank you!
  • Brunner26_2
    Brunner26_2 Posts: 1,152
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    You are worrying too much. As long as they are mostly healthy fats, you're fine. Around 30% total calories from fat is a good place to be. If you eat 1500 calories a day, that's 50 grams of fat, but you could eat more than that and be fine. Strictly from a weight loss perspective, calories are what matters, not the amount of any specific macronutrient.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    MFP doesn't distinguish good and bad fats or complex from refined carbs. You need to monitor it though.

    You have to eat something. When I keep my carbs below 50% and am low on calories (usually) my fats go high. But they are all healthy fats. The math gets funny in relative measures.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    You are worrying too much. As long as they are mostly healthy fats, you're fine. Around 30% total calories from fat is a good place to be. If you eat 1500 calories a day, that's 50 grams of fat, but you could eat more than that and be fine. Strictly from a weight loss perspective, calories are what matters, not the amount of any specific macronutrient.

    THIS ^^^^^^^

    Some days I go over on carbs, some days on fat, some days on protein. It all evens out in the end. If you are consistently going over on one of your macros, then change your settings and the numbers won't be red anymore. :happy:

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