Protein, Fat, And Cholesterol

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cubbyblu83
cubbyblu83 Posts: 5
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been exercising 4-5 days a week, and keeping my calories to about 1200-1500 daily.

I'm a 31 year old guy, 5' 7", and was 215 in March. So far I'm down to 193, and everything is great, but I'm concerned about how much cholesterol I'm taking in.

Today for example, I've eaten a banana, a small chicken breast, 2 scrambled eggs, a protein shake w/ PB2 peanut butter powder and water, and a 100 calorie pack of almonds, and I'm way over the recommendation of 300 mg of cholesterol.

It seems impossible to eat a low calorie, reasonably low fat, high protein diet while not overdoing it on cholesterol.

Has anyone else encountered this? What should I do, as my goals now are to lose fat while building muscle. I know that is a very difficult thing to do, but so far it has been going fine.


Thanks,

-Steve

Replies

  • navyrigger46
    navyrigger46 Posts: 1,301 Member
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    Dietary cholesterol has a very limited effect on the cholesterol in your body, I wouldn't even bother tracking it if I were you.

    Rigger
  • monolith66
    monolith66 Posts: 168 Member
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    If you're concerned with the cholesterol, cut your egg intake to 1 whole egg and the rest egg whites or avoid the yolks all together you do give up a lot of nutrients though... It's a toss up.

    1200-1500 is way too little, you might need to make some changes there and up your caloric intake between your BMR and TDEE.
  • earth_echo
    earth_echo Posts: 133 Member
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    There's a good documentary on Youtube called Fat Head. You should check it out if you're concerned with dietary fat. It's also just entertaining.
  • mactaffy84
    mactaffy84 Posts: 398 Member
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    Dietary cholesterol has a very limited effect on the cholesterol in your body, I wouldn't even bother tracking it if I were you.

    Rigger

    If you have any of the hereditary lipid problems, then I certainly would suggest that you evaluate your dietary cholesterol. This includes the triglycerides as well as dietary cholesterol can affect your lipid profile.
  • cubbyblu83
    cubbyblu83 Posts: 5
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    Thanks for the useful information everyone, I really appreciate you.

    I've been doing some reading and found exactly what you're saying, that dietary cholesterol has little impact on cholesterol in the body, which is reassuring. I've cut down to 1 egg a day, and haven't had any issues replacing it with a good food choice (banana, raw almonds, etc...)


    As far as my daily caloric intake of 1200-1500, I've been hearing it's too little, and have been slowly increasing it. I'm not sure what I will achieve exactly with my fitness and nutrition regimen right now, as I do have fat to lose, and want to build muscle. I understand that these two can be competing goals, as one needs a surplus and the other a deficit.


    Has anyone had similar experiences, trying to build muscle while reducing body fat? What was yours like?

    -Steve
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    Thanks for the useful information everyone, I really appreciate you.

    I've been doing some reading and found exactly what you're saying, that dietary cholesterol has little impact on cholesterol in the body, which is reassuring. I've cut down to 1 egg a day, and haven't had any issues replacing it with a good food choice (banana, raw almonds, etc...)


    As far as my daily caloric intake of 1200-1500, I've been hearing it's too little, and have been slowly increasing it. I'm not sure what I will achieve exactly with my fitness and nutrition regimen right now, as I do have fat to lose, and want to build muscle. I understand that these two can be competing goals, as one needs a surplus and the other a deficit.


    Has anyone had similar experiences, trying to build muscle while reducing body fat? What was yours like?

    -Steve

    You can get stronger during weight loss, but not build new lean body mass. But I can assure you that if your protein levels are low and calories are low, you will end up losing muscle. Minimize your deficit, aim for 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass (about 80% of your total weight in grams) and have a food scale for accuracy.

    I am 10 lbs less than you and 4" taller, with 5-6 hours of exercise a week, i lose 1 lb at 2500 calories. you should probably be closer to 2200.
  • cubbyblu83
    cubbyblu83 Posts: 5
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    You can get stronger during weight loss, but not build new lean body mass. But I can assure you that if your protein levels are low and calories are low, you will end up losing muscle. Minimize your deficit, aim for 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass (about 80% of your total weight in grams) and have a food scale for accuracy.

    I am 10 lbs less than you and 4" taller, with 5-6 hours of exercise a week, i lose 1 lb at 2500 calories. you should probably be closer to 2200.



    Great advice, thank you!

    My protein intake is pretty high, about 100-150g / day, and I'm drinking a lot of water as well. Increasing my calories to closer to 2000/day will still allow me to lose weight while getting stronger? I could live with that for sure. I'm sorry if this is a silly question, but when you say "lean muscle mass" are you referring to adding mass to the body, or does that include toning up?
    At my height/weight I know I should be more toned and lighter, so I'm definitely alright with it, if that's what you're saying.

    Again, this is very appreciated.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    You can get stronger during weight loss, but not build new lean body mass. But I can assure you that if your protein levels are low and calories are low, you will end up losing muscle. Minimize your deficit, aim for 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass (about 80% of your total weight in grams) and have a food scale for accuracy.

    I am 10 lbs less than you and 4" taller, with 5-6 hours of exercise a week, i lose 1 lb at 2500 calories. you should probably be closer to 2200.




    Great advice, thank you!

    My protein intake is pretty high, about 100-150g / day, and I'm drinking a lot of water as well. Increasing my calories to closer to 2000/day will still allow me to lose weight while getting stronger? I could live with that for sure. I'm sorry if this is a silly question, but when you say "lean muscle mass" are you referring to adding mass to the body, or does that include toning up?
    At my height/weight I know I should be more toned and lighter, so I'm definitely alright with it, if that's what you're saying.

    Again, this is very appreciated.


    Increasing calories to a moderate deficit will help you with your workouts. While weight loss will be slower, you increase the amount of muscle you can preserve. And since muscle is what makes a person lean, the more you have, the leaner you will be. Also lean body mass is everything not fat; bone, muscle, tissue, water, etc...

    Honestly, i would start at 2000 calories (marcos around 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fats). Buy a food scale and log all foods.
  • cubbyblu83
    cubbyblu83 Posts: 5
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    Awesome!

    I'm going to try and get up to 2000 calories starting today, while keeping carbs restricted to those in veggies, sweet potatoes, quinoa, oats, the occassional whole-wheat products.

    Grazie!
  • markpom
    markpom Posts: 4 Member
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    If you are concerned about your cholesterol then you should look into getting bloodwork taken with a full blood lipid panel done. It all depends on how your body produces and processes cholesterol, and you do not know without data.

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