Fat Doesn't Add Up

rowanstuff
rowanstuff Posts: 27
edited November 2024 in Food and Nutrition
When I look at my nutrition for the day it will say I ate X amount of fat. Then it breaks it down to saturated, polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and trans. The thing is, those 4 categories do not add up to the total amount of fat.

For example, today I had 80 grams of fat (yeah, I went over). I had 14 Saturated, 4 poly, 16 mono and 0 trans. That adds up to 34g. So what about the other 46g? What kind of fat are those?

Replies

  • MinimalistShoeAddict
    MinimalistShoeAddict Posts: 1,946 Member
    Your diary is not open for us to see. Upload a pic of a specific nutrition label you have a question about if you don't want to open your diary.
  • rowanstuff
    rowanstuff Posts: 27
    OK, I changed the diary settings. I do see the issue on some nutrition labels. In this case I'm talking about my totals for the day
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    the numbers are rounded. it might be 3.7 g in one thing, 2.3 in another.

    these numbers are just guestimates anyway, there's no need to get so granular
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    I'm just wondering if you are wrong about going over in the first place. Did you buy these roasted potatoes already with the oil on them and was it a restaurant or a packet or home-made. I looked up 1 1/2 cups of raw potato and it was 87 calories and no fat and if I added 1 tablespoon of oil to that it was only 119 calories and 14 grams of fat... not 38. They must have been really oily or you've made an error there. I just know if I cooked them 1 whole tablespoon is even more oil than I'd use.

    Also I wouldn't ever suggest you use cup measures. Weight the potatoes if they are made at home of course.
  • Missjulesdid
    Missjulesdid Posts: 1,444 Member
    Check each individual item and see if it gives the breakdown of type of fat in it....Not all items in the database break down the types of fat.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    Some labels only report fat as a general number, so the sub-category fats you see may only be the listed amount, not the actual amount. The usual type of fat labels tend to leave out is mono and in some cases poly. So it's a safe bet the rest of your "lost" fat comes from these two.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,120 Member
    When I look at my nutrition for the day it will say I ate X amount of fat. Then it breaks it down to saturated, polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and trans. The thing is, those 4 categories do not add up to the total amount of fat.

    For example, today I had 80 grams of fat (yeah, I went over). I had 14 Saturated, 4 poly, 16 mono and 0 trans. That adds up to 34g. So what about the other 46g? What kind of fat are those?

    I believe in the U.S. (don't know about other countries), food nutrition labels are not required to break out mono- and poly-unsatured fats, so some do, and some don't. If you look at the individual labels for any packaged foods you eat, I think you'll see that some only list total fat, saturated fat, and trans fat. Also, if every label (and every entry in the MFP database) broke out all four categories of fat, and if you were consuming some trans fat, you would probably be asking, "where did the extra fat come from?" because they would add up to more than your total fat grams, since all trans fats are either mono- or poly-unsaturated. A complete listing should double count the trans fat.

    Basically, of the 80 g of total fat in your example, 14 g were saturated, and the other 66 g were unsaturated, but you don't really know how they are broken down among poly and mono, except that at least 4 g were poly and 16 were mono. You can get a better sense of your breakdown by checking entries when you log to try to find "good" or complete entries, because some people who only care about calories, or calories, total fats, carbs, and protein, will leave out the other information even when it is on a package lable. It's also easier to get more complete data if you eat more whole foods that you can log with the generic entries without asterisks -- then you're not at the mercy of what the manufacturer chooses to include on the label -- or their decision to manipulate serving size so they can "round down to zero" for things like trans fats and sat fats that they know consumers who read labels may be trying to eliminate or reduce in their diet.
  • icrushit
    icrushit Posts: 773 Member
    A lot of foods don't have the full breakdown of fat. For example, and especially if I scan a food package, it may only tell me the total amount of fat and the amount of that saturated fat, omitting how much polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat there is in it, which translates to you seeing something on MFP that for example 20g of fat, 12g saturated fat, yet 0 polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.

    This is one fallacy of food packaging, and as a result MFP. Another tends to be vitamin levels, as aside from MFP only tracking a few of the main ones, if vitamin information is not included on the packaging, MFP will regard it as 0.
  • joyfuljoy65
    joyfuljoy65 Posts: 317 Member
    Some labels only report fat as a general number, so the sub-category fats you see may only be the listed amount, not the actual amount. The usual type of fat labels tend to leave out is mono and in some cases poly. So it's a safe bet the rest of your "lost" fat comes from these two.

    THIS :)
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    I'm just wondering if you are wrong about going over in the first place. Did you buy these roasted potatoes already with the oil on them and was it a restaurant or a packet or home-made. I looked up 1 1/2 cups of raw potato and it was 87 calories and no fat and if I added 1 tablespoon of oil to that it was only 119 calories and 14 grams of fat... not 38. They must have been really oily or you've made an error there. I just know if I cooked them 1 whole tablespoon is even more oil than I'd use.

    Also I wouldn't ever suggest you use cup measures. Weight the potatoes if they are made at home of course.

    This is a good point. Unless you created that potato entry somehow, it's not right. Better to weigh your potatoes raw, use the non asterisk entry for red potatoes, and then log whatever fat and other things you add to them separately. Especially if you care about type of fat.
  • MatthewJWright
    MatthewJWright Posts: 1
    Very
    amusedmonkey wrote: »
    Some labels only report fat as a general number, so the sub-category fats you see may only be the listed amount, not the actual amount. The usual type of fat labels tend to leave out is mono and in some cases poly. So it's a safe bet the rest of your "lost" fat comes from these two.

    Very Good Reply. Very Helpful. Thanks... :smile:
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