How much fat is too much?

How much of the fat is coming from saturated sources (dairy)? The most important thing is balance even when you think you are eating healthy omega fats, make sure you are not overdoing omega 6 or omega 9 fats. I never considered potatoes a "bad" carb. The bad part comes with loading them up in fat.

Low carb, high fat diets are gaining popularity. There are numerous studies showing that high dietary fat intake does not correlate to high body fat or even higher cholesterol levels. Google the ketogenic diet or search the forums here. There's a ton of information about it. Carbs are not "bad." Dietary fats are not "bad." Even if the keto thing isn't for you, it demonstrates that fat isn't bad. Mix it up, find what works for you. Stay under your calorie goal, get enough protein and you'll be fine.

I'm not on low-carb, but I generally eat vegetarian and have found my fats seem high some days. Although I don't have a gallbladder (which can pose some complications with higher fat intake) I only ever have had issues if I consume a lot of dairy or meat-based fat, which hasn't happened since I've been losing weight. My doctor told me if I wanted to keep eating the same things I had been before I'd need to move to a low-fat diet, but if I was willing to change to plant-based fats I would be a lot less likely to have problems. However, I do need to be sure to get in more whole grains and fiber to balance those higher-fat days.

Fat won't make you fat if you're continuing to eat at a caloric deficit. You do have to keep in mind that each gram of fat is more calorically dense than a gram of protein or carbs, but fats are also often more satiating for people than carbs, especially simple carbs. A lot of people have had luck not worrying too much about the actual grams of fat and focusing more on how satiated they feel. While most days I'm under 50-75 grams on carbs, I'm over on protein and fats, but feel no hunger.

As long as you're feeling well and maintaining a balance between carbs, fat, and protein that you feel well on, you should be able to continue eating a higher fat diet, barring any health issues or negative effects. If you have any concerns, I'd recommend consulting your doctor. Most advice here is anecdotal, and it can be very difficult to really determine which eating style will work best for you. Ultimately it's my belief that for basic weight loss, focusing more on what works best for you and helps you stick to goals is more important than whatever the scientifically "ideal" approach may be. There's so many complicated factors and chemical interplay that it would be exhausting to apply every single principal of an ideal program!

And to answer your question - 65% of my daily caloric intake is from fat (healthy fats - avocados, olive oil, almonds, grass fed butter, etc.). 30% from protein. 5% from carbs.

I understand things like boiled new potatoes aren't bad for you as in unhealthy but I'm trying the low carb thing as a last resort really.

I've always had to work harder than the average person to maintain my weight which I don't understand because I have always been active and nobody else in my family struggles. I've tried everything and even had tests at the doctor and everything comes back fine. I turned 30 in December and put on nearly a stone despite not changing my eating or exercise habits. Absolutely nothing was working so thought I would try the low carb thing. I lost 6 pounds initially but seem to have stalled again. Story of my life!

From your photo and profile, you only started out wanting to lose 12 lbs. And you have "2 to go." "Last resort" for what? I would tend to think that you're probably within your goal range right now.

Yes, too much dairy for an adult is a problem. It has a fair amount of saturated fat. I personally eat a low-ish carb, high-ish fat, high-ish protein (100g/day goal) diet, but I limit dairy to one serving a day. I know so many vegetarians who are "bread and cheese" vegetarians and don't consider alternate sources of protein. Lentils, eggs, nuts, quinoa are good protein sources that are low in saturated fat.

Saturated fat is a good energy source and is not harmful. See the recent Time magazine article.

http://healthimpactnews.com/2014/time-magazine-we-were-wrong-about-saturated-fats/

You've received some good advice here. You are going to have a hard time as a vegetarian ( who presumably doesn't eat egg whites but does eat dairy) getting the important macronutrient to count, protein. If you can find a way to get the .36-.74 g of protein a non-bodybuilder needs a day within your calorie limit with your preferred foodstuffs, the type and quantity of the other macronutrients will fall into place with a varied diet. The more active you are, the more you need.

That being said, difficulties in losing weight occur for mostly 2 reasons.

The first is trying to lose too much too fast and exceeding your bodies ability to transport the fat into the bloodstream for metabolism. The closer you get to your goal, the less fat you have to transport, and less gets metabolized. Caloric deficit is compensated by metabolic slowing or muscle catabolism, neither of which you want because that lowers your non-exercise activity calorie burning.

The second is the normal human inability to accurately count calories. An obese person may have no idea what a calorie is or think that a large Coke has 100 of them, but thinner people can also fall into that trap. At one time it may not have mattered if you ate 1500 or 1550 calories today, but now that you are only eating a 500 calorie per week deficit that 3% rounding error makes a pretty significant difference on a monthly basis.

A common way to get around those traps is weight lifting or HIIT with sufficient protein uptake. Your muscle doesn't catabolize (in fact it should anabolize) and you burn enough calories everyday that accidentally adding a few calories here and there doesn't put you back into the caloric black. With exercise, you can find that you simply have a hard time eating the calories that you are allowed to maintain a deficit. For instance, I exercise about 1000 cal daily (easy at my weight and muscle mass) and I have a really hard time eating the 2500 calories it would take to have a 1000 cal a day deficit. Even if I wanted to maintain, 4000 calories is a lot of food!

More sources:
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20140320/dietary-fats-q-a

The name of the article you linked is: "Saturated Fats Not So Bad? Not So Fast, Critics of New Analysis Say" I think it's making the opposite point to what you were claiming. Also in the article:

"Mainly I think the findings should be disregarded," says Walter Willett, MD, chair of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study. While the analysis suggests that ''saturated fat is not quite as bad as its reputation, it depends on what you compare it to," he says.

"If you replace saturated fat with carbohydrates or refined starch or sugar, you are not changing your heart disease risk," he says. ''If you replace saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat, you do get a reduction in heart disease risk."

Also noteworthy is that after reviewing the findings, the American Heart Association decided not to change its recommendations with regards to saturated fat.