Calories vs. Fat Grams???

hartlife48
hartlife48 Posts: 33
edited September 21 in Health and Weight Loss
I used to work at this weight loss program where they only counted fat grams. The reccommended amount for women who wanted to lost weight was 20-30, and men 30-40. I am starting to keep track of my calories on MFP, and I am pretty good within my calorie range, but the fat grams are out of control. Can something be low in calories and high in fat? If that's the case what should we be more concerned about, calories or fat? So confused so if anyone could give me some information that would be awesome!

Replies

  • simona1972
    simona1972 Posts: 355 Member
    I think it's possible for something to be relatively low in cals and high in fat but I cant think of anything at the moment. Guess it's all ratio.

    As for calories vs. fat. I tend to focus more on calories. Im allotted so few that I really have to make better choices about what I eat and usually that means leaner foods. I really dont pay too much attention to my overall fat grams. At the end of the day, my mind still tells me calories in vs. calories out.
  • trainguy917
    trainguy917 Posts: 366 Member
    It's harder for something to be low calories but high fat because fat has 9 calories per gram, whereas proteins and carbs have 4 calories per gram. So food that has 20 grams of fat will have 180 calories just from fat and that is in addition to everything else. If it has five gram of protein and 20 carbs, that's another 100 calories, which adds up to 280 calories. So, you can see, it would have to be basically just fat in order to be low calorie but high fat. And that's why low fat foods are generally lower in calories than higher fat ones.
  • naturebaby
    naturebaby Posts: 161
    I used to work at this weight loss program where they only counted fat grams. The reccommended amount for women who wanted to lost weight was 20-30, and men 30-40. I am starting to keep track of my calories on MFP, and I am pretty good within my calorie range, but the fat grams are out of control. Can something be low in calories and high in fat? If that's the case what should we be more concerned about, calories or fat? So confused so if anyone could give me some information that would be awesome!

    Here a thought...If you took in 30 grams of fat at 9 per gram=270 cals right? and MFP recommends (me for example) 1200 cals..
    that would be 22% fat and that is very, very lowfat eating and not realistic for me to stick with for my life plan..I try for about 28-30% fat for the day~~based on 1200 cals thats around 40 grams of fat
  • NanaAtaa
    NanaAtaa Posts: 10 Member
    In terms of weight loss, you probably need to focus on net calories and stick to the net carb amount that has been calculated for you by MFP. If you have cardiac issues, or abnormal lipid values (cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, HDL) then you would definitely want to focus on total grams of fat, especially saturated fat, - as a percentage of total calories consumed daily.

    If you are going way over your fat grams for each day, it will adversely affect your total calories consumed because all fats are calorie dense. Check your daily intake to be sure that you are not taking in excess, or even small but frequent amounts of high fat condiments/dressings, refined carbs (rolls, muffins, cookies, even granola bars - can be high fat). Processed and restaurant-prepared foods also tend to pack a heavy punch of fat, salt, and carbs - even if they are advertised as low or reduced calorie.

    You will need to read all nutrition labels as if you were studying for an exam. As much as you can - cook at home, from minimally processed foods, increase your veggies, increase your fruits, choose from more plant-based foods. Your total fat grams and your sodium milligrams will drop considerably, which is important not just for weight loss, but for improved health overall.
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