Carbs Fat Sugar Protein...Confused

Always see a doctor before beginning a weight loss journey. If you don't get regular physicals, now is the time to set one up!

You can eat fresh fruits and veggies all day long - stuff yourself sick! - and the odds of exceeding anything because of it are pretty darn low.

Check this out;


http://www.fitness.gov/eat-healthy/how-to-eat-healthy/

Once you've switched over (little by little) to eating healthy, it will be very difficult to eat too many calories. You can cut back on the exercise when you reach your goal weight and be all set. All that measuring and weighing won't be necessary. And you'll not only get thinner, but healthier.

It's a big adjustment and takes time, two steps forward and one step back, lol. But it's a healthy lifestyle change.

You should, of course, do whatever you please!! Talk to the doc, figure out what you want and do that! Everyone has to do what is right for them. Just some food for thought.

I've been working on improving my family's diet in the last month or so and I'm the only one with an unhealthy BMI. They are eating well balanced meals and I'm trying to cut back my carb intake since I noticed I was eating a pitiful amount of protein and way overdoing the carbs everyday. Now I'm flipped, I'm eating about 100 to 150 carbs a day and my protein is about 80 to 90. My sugar is much lower than my allowed daily and my fat is usually above the recommended. My calories are under my daily allowance.I don't want to do an extreme low carb dieting. My carbs are coming from whole grain items (i.e. sprouted wheat) and fruits(berries) and veggies.

I don't have diabetes, I enjoy running and have started a beginners training plan for a 10k. I'm about 25 lbs overweight. Are these healthy dietary totals for someone? I want to eat healthy but not feel hungry all the time like I do with too many carbs. I guess my biggest concern is that my fats are higher than the recommended. However, my overall calories are down and I feel satisfied not starving. Sorry for any rambling!

Those totals sound close enough.
Keep up the good work.
Good luck.

What is your recommended fat intake? I'm following a high fat moderate protein diet under advisement of my endocrinologist (I do not have diabetes but other thyroid and adrenal issues). Since adopting this way of eating I definitely feel less hungry, but I'm eating much fewer calories.

Unfortunately we've been persuaded for decades that fats are BAD, and led to believe that we must avoid them or we'll become OVERWEIGHT. However, despite decreases in dietary fats obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease pervade. There's a great NPR piece that discusses this, here: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/02/12/275376259/the-full-fat-paradox-whole-milk-may-keep-us-lean. There was also a piece in SHAPE magazine recently as well which discussed high carb vs. high fat--- women that had higher fat intake had increased weight loss and markers for diabetes and CVD improved well beyond what the high carb group attained (http://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/diet-tips/why-eating-man-may-be-best-womens-health).

Slowly but surely countries are starting to overturn low fat diet guidelines in favor of diets lower in carbohydrates (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2472672/Is-high-fat-diet-GOOD-heart-Doctors-say-carbs-damaging-arteries.html). Unfortunately, it'll probably be some time until the USDA and AHA change their dietary suggestions.

I wouldn't worry about your dietary fats too much, it actually may be aiding in your weight loss efforts as it helps with satiety. There have been several studies looking at the effects of diets high in fat such as the keto diet, and they observed decreased total cholesterol, LDL, blood glucose and increased HDL (ex: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2716748/). Hope this helps alleviate some of your concerns!

OP,

If you are looking for balanced meal selections, you should know the purpose of each macro in relation to the meal.

Protein, meat and bean sources, contain building materials that we need. Literally, we need it for our DNA and cells.

Fat is used in hormone creation, the nervous system, and vitamin absorption.

Carbohydrates come in two types: simple and complex. Simple is quickly digested (most fruits, candies, etc.), complex takes more time to be digested (whole grain foods, green leafy stuff, potatoes). These foods typically contain the most nutrition for you in the sense of vitamins and minerals, so they are incredibly important.

Instead of choosing "low carbohydrate" meal plans, go for "smart meals". Use MFP to figure out what has lots of calories in them and then find lower calorie alternatives. As an example, swapping mashed potatoes for broccoli offers better nutrition at significantly fewer calories. They are both carbohydrates, but one is more suitable for weight loss.

It would really help if we could see shat you are eating- can you change your diary settings to public?