Too much healthy fat?

pumpkinpocalypse · May 2015

I used to go relatively low on fat in my diet, and carbs were pretty much only from veggies (i eat A LOT) and fruits, and whole wheat bread and oatmeal for breakfast, until recently ; I started going nuts over my freshly-bought cashews, and rediscovered my love for homemade guacamole...It's been a week or two and my diet went under full transformation!
By that, i mean that I ate half an avocado, with 1/4 cup of cashews in my salad tonight, 3% yogurt earlier that day, Peanut butter on toast in the morning, after a whole weekend of eating out for dinner at (fancy, but still...) restaurants. French Fries, ranchy dressing on salad, fried seafood entrees (I never go over my daily caloric allowance but I know the kind of food/nutrients you eat matters)...The whole deal. Now I feel slightly guilty and I wanna go back to eating clean as usual, but maybe I'm losing my grip on macros?
This is hard to explain but I just wanna know if it's a good or bad idea to have healthy fats often/in quite big amounts in my diet, considering I'm still between the ''i still have a tiny bit to lose/tone up'' and ''I'm kinda maintaining''. And I don't get much protein either, but I dont like eating meat more than once a day, same with eggs. I fear that maybe my diet is badly balanced and could retain me from losing weight, getting leaner or building muscle, could that be possible if I kept this on? My calorie goal is 1300 calories per day, even tho i rarely eat more than 1200 on most days, I'm quite active and do actual sports for around 4-5 hours every week, sometimes more.
Sorry if this is all so messy, but so is it in my head right now! I'm confused, and hope to get some advice and stuff. Thanks a bunch!

Boogage · May 2015

Your post is pretty messy lol but a higher fat intake can work. I go over on my fats (60-85g a day) but try to keep my carbs around 110-130g a day which is fairy low and I'm losing weight. You need some complex carbs for energy as you are active but you also need protein and its fine to increase your fats a bit to get more protein. I suppose the best thing to do is to give it a go for a couple of weeks and see how you feel.

lemonsnowdrop · May 2015

The only macro I pay close attention to is protein. This isn't for fat loss, though. I'm trying to retain all of my muscle mass, and protein is key. Otherwise, I never worry about going over on carbs, fat, sugar, etc, as I consider these values minimums and don't see how (unless it's hindering your calorie counting or your have medical issues) going over would hurt.

jnv7594 · May 2015

lemonsnowdrop wrote: »

The only macro I pay close attention to is protein. This isn't for fat loss, though. I'm trying to retain all of my muscle mass, and protein is key. Otherwise, I never worry about going over on carbs, fat, sugar, etc, as I consider these values minimums and don't see how (unless it's hindering your calorie counting or your have medical issues) going over would hurt.

^^^This. I focus mainly on protein as well, and make sure I hit that number every day. I also see the fat macro as a minimum. Fat does not make you fat. That's a common misconception. Going over on your fat won't hinder your weight loss. I regularly go over my fat, some days by quite a bit, and I've lost almost 90 pounds. For weight loss, it's calories in, calories out.

jddnw · May 2015

..if it's a good or bad idea to have healthy fats often/in quite big amounts in my diet,

It's good. You are doing fine. The amounts you describe are not that huge.

malibu927 · May 2015

(I never go over my daily caloric allowance but I know the kind of food/nutrients you eat matters)

When it comes to weight loss, how much food you eat is what matters. What you eat matters in terms of nutrition, satiety, and body composition (if you're looking to build muscle after you finish losing, protein will be a big help for you). But if you're within your calories, going over your fat is fine.

crazyjerseygirl · May 2015

Weight loss is just calorie based, so as long as you're under, you're golden. As for the eating, how do you feel? Not emotionally but physically. I know I can enjoy a fried food, but I pay for it later, and not on the scale! If you feel sluggish, go back, but part of sustainable diets is realizing nothing is taboo and while healthy is great, sometimes you just want a cookie.

psuLemon · May 2015

The only issue with eating too much fat is it doesn't give you enough protein at times. Unless you add more calories from meat. I know you said you don't like to eat meat more than 1x a day, but is there a reason?

Also, the bigger issue I would see is that you are young, active and eating very low calories. Someone who is active, with very little to lose, will benefit from additional calories. Since your goal is getting lean, then I would ask what you do for exercise?

Also, you won't gain any appreciable muscle unless you are in a surplus. But you can get stronger and leaner while on a deficit.

Charliegottheruns · May 2015

pumpkinpocalypse wrote: »

I used to go relatively low on fat in my diet, and carbs were pretty much only from veggies (i eat A LOT) and fruits, and whole wheat bread and oatmeal for breakfast, until recently ; I started going nuts over my freshly-bought cashews, and rediscovered my love for homemade guacamole...It's been a week or two and my diet went under full transformation!
By that, i mean that I ate half an avocado, with 1/4 cup of cashews in my salad tonight, 3% yogurt earlier that day, Peanut butter on toast in the morning, after a whole weekend of eating out for dinner at (fancy, but still...) restaurants. French Fries, ranchy dressing on salad, fried seafood entrees (I never go over my daily caloric allowance but I know the kind of food/nutrients you eat matters)...The whole deal. Now I feel slightly guilty and I wanna go back to eating clean as usual, but maybe I'm losing my grip on macros?
This is hard to explain but I just wanna know if it's a good or bad idea to have healthy fats often/in quite big amounts in my diet, considering I'm still between the ''i still have a tiny bit to lose/tone up'' and ''I'm kinda maintaining''. And I don't get much protein either, but I dont like eating meat more than once a day, same with eggs. I fear that maybe my diet is badly balanced and could retain me from losing weight, getting leaner or building muscle, could that be possible if I kept this on? My calorie goal is 1300 calories per day, even tho i rarely eat more than 1200 on most days, I'm quite active and do actual sports for around 4-5 hours every week, sometimes more.
Sorry if this is all so messy, but so is it in my head right now! I'm confused, and hope to get some advice and stuff. Thanks a bunch!

http://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/1599939-nutrition-101-fats

pumpkinpocalypse · May 2015

Thanks for the replies! I guess I'm a bit relieved to know I wasn't jeopardizing my healthy diet in the end...I freak out easily I suppose, lol.

psulemon wrote: »

The only issue with eating too much fat is it doesn't give you enough protein at times. Unless you add more calories from meat. I know you said you don't like to eat meat more than 1x a day, but is there a reason?

Well it's first of all expensive, so we never have all that much at home, and I usually keep it for dinner since I make it the bigger meal of the day a majority of the time. That, and being a light-lunch eater for comfort reasons (I have a sensitive digestion and whenever I eat something significant, I often feel kinda, tired and/or uncomfy for a while, and keeping my lunch small prevents me from having a drop in the middle of the day. If I have a long day ahead or a big workout, I sometimes will eat a small serving of lean meat for lunch as well, though. It really depends, it's a matter of preference I guess?

crazyjerseygirl wrote: »

Weight loss is just calorie based, so as long as you're under, you're golden. As for the eating, how do you feel? Not emotionally but physically. I know I can enjoy a fried food, but I pay for it later, and not on the scale! If you feel sluggish, go back, but part of sustainable diets is realizing nothing is taboo and while healthy is great, sometimes you just want a cookie.

I feel alright! Even though I often feel hungry a bit later in the evening after dinner, but that's probably because theyre significantly smaller lately (I eat less at night during summer). That's usually when I'll allow myself to have a tiny dessert.
As for junk, like deep frying and high-carb foods like pasta and large amount of bread, they always make me feel quite bad, sometimes even sick, so I eat them like...almost never. Maybe once every few months.

lemonsnowdrop wrote: »

The only macro I pay close attention to is protein. This isn't for fat loss, though. I'm trying to retain all of my muscle mass, and protein is key.

I do my fair share of strength training as well and I'm really looking into getting some more muscle (I'm already doing pretty good so far!

) and of course keep it, so yeah, I guess you're right on how I should increase my protein intake by a lot more. Will do what I can!

psuLemon · May 2015

Well the good news is, there are tons of cheap protein sources. Many can be found here . Also, if you tend to eat smaller meals for digestive reasons, just increase the number of meals. Add in a few snacks and a post workout protein shake. But but your goals are to get lean, you will want to maintain as much muscle as possible. You do this by not having a large deficit, having adequate protein and resistance training.

If you actually want more muscle, like new muscle growth, then you have to do a bulk. This means, you will need to eat in a surplus and have a solid progressive overload strength training program like strong lift 5x5, new rules of lifting for women, etc... But understand, when you bulk, you will gain new fat, but you can take care of that after a 12 week bulk cycle.

If you actually want to bulk/gain new muscle, then read this thread

trigden1991 · May 2015

Eat whatever you want, stay under you calorie goal, lose weight. High fat and protein keep you satiated longer though

Too much healthy fat?

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