Thought I was eating too many carbs. Turns out I eat too much fat

augustremulous
augustremulous Posts: 378 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Seriously, for the past several years I thought that my big eating problem was my love of carbohydrates. My sister , who struggled with very moderate weight gain when she was in high school and has spent her adulthood pretty much teetering back and forth between being slightly overweight and anorexic, is always lecturing me on my carb intake. I love starches so much - rices, pasta, grains, etc. I have a love affair with them.

But now that I'm logging my food, I can finally see that I have a perfectly reasonable carbohydrate intake, and that the real killer to my calorie count has been all the fats that I eat. I've heard so many mantras over the years from people saying "fat is good,fat is good" etc that I really had developed a habit of just consuming a ton of healthy fats - dousing my vegetables in plentiful extra virgin olive oil and just adding a ton of calories in the process.

Logging my food has really been enlightening! I set my calories from fat to 30% here, which is on the high end, and I consistently go over while having carbs to spare.

Goes to show that not one shoe fits everyone.

Replies

  • UhOh_ItsKylie
    UhOh_ItsKylie Posts: 4 Member
    I totally agree with you! I, too, would have said that I love carbs the most. However, I just started IIFYM dieting and since I've been logging my food I'm finding that I struggle way more to not go over my fat allotment while my carbs are plentiful!
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    Yep yep. Of all the macros, fat has the most calories per gram. Dietary fat is of course important, but you can definitely over do it.
  • jessef593
    jessef593 Posts: 2,272 Member
    I never really care what my macros are at as long as I break 180g of protein and 110g+ of fats. I'm genuinely more worried about my carries overall than anything.
  • augustremulous
    augustremulous Posts: 378 Member
    Well sure. I just had always assumed it was my carb intake that was causing me to consume so many excess calories.
  • ElizabethOakes2
    ElizabethOakes2 Posts: 1,038 Member
    Eye-opening, isn't it?!
    I'd always been the opposite, thinking that it was fats that were out of control in my diet, and come to find out that I was eating way too much rice, potatoes, bread, etc. "But it's whole grain! It's healthy!" Except that it comes with a whopping payload if you overeat.

    The other thing that logging really showed me is where 'sneaker' calories were coming from. 110 calories, mostly in sat. fats from my organic mayo in my tuna sandwich? Oops.
  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
    If you are eating high carb/high fat, then you are correct - you'll get fat. If you are truly eating low carb, then high fat will simply just get burned and not be a problem. They are in inverse. You either gotta do low carb/high fat, or high carb/low fat. The latter will eventually catch up with you health wise causing all kinds of problems and diseases.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Lol I was just eating too much of everything.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    Oh yeah, fat is definitely the killer for me too. I eat carbs and lots of them because I eat high fiber, but it's the copious amount of olive oil that is my real problem. Olive oil makes everything, especially vegetables, taste so delicious!
  • WholeFoods4Lyfe
    WholeFoods4Lyfe Posts: 1,518 Member
    I try to get 50% of my calories from fat and approximately 20% from carbs. I find that the higher fat content helps keep me fuller longer. I never walk away from the table hungry and very rarely snack. And I don't really limit myself on carbs that much, I still get between 50-75g per day which isn't all that low. Heck, I had rice with my dinner last night and still stayed in my prefer macro range. Really, it's about doing what is best for you, just make sure that you don't limit your fats too much, you do need fat in your diet and it's good to eat fat with every meal including snacks because it does help you to absorb the nutrients more efficiently.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    I used to (tried to) eat too little fat and had cravings from hell. Losing, I tried some different splits and ended up with a modest 42% fat, 20% protein, 38% carbs. Cravings and hunger gone, love of food back. It's so easy to eat lots of vegetables now! I'm in maintenance and I've kept the amounts of protein and fat, so those precentages are slightly lower, and carbs higher.
  • scolaris
    scolaris Posts: 2,145 Member
    It's worth playing around. Macro distribution certainly doesn't feel like a one size fits all proposition. I watch protein goals daily, and stay fat/carb agnostic when I'm in deficit. Fatty days naturally end up low carb and carby days end up lower fat. By the end of a normal week it averages out. I do try to get most of my oils and fats integral to foods rather than adding additional fats. I can really get carried away there! Those plates of good olive oil and freshly baked bread at a nice Italian restaurant are the devil for me!! LOL
  • Lizzy622
    Lizzy622 Posts: 3,705 Member
    Yes until you enter it and see the stats in front of you, you never really know. My first week of logging was eye opening.
  • augustremulous
    augustremulous Posts: 378 Member
    this is super helpful everyone! I like the thought of playing around with my macros. Like scolaris, I imagine it will fluctuate from day to day. I kind of want to keep my fats up so I still have good skin and hair, lol.

    I just finished my first week of logging, and it looks like I lost 3.2 pounds. (Though the last time I checked my weight was in November, so some of that weight may have been lost before this week)

    I had been really afraid of stepping on the scale, because I didn't have the "weight loss feeling" I've had in the past on weight loss programs. You know that jump out of bed, metabolism revving, copious amounts of morning urine, etc feeling. Basically, the feeling you get with a ton of new cardio.

    But, this whole week I felt better! The first three days I had a lack of energy, but my body adjusted and I feel way, way better than usual. Yesterday I just couldn't stop moving around and thinking positive thoughts.

    And it's been way, way easier than ever before. This time I started something new: 1. eat before I get hungry, and 2. go to bed before I get tired. And it's made a world of difference. I've been in the habit of ignoring my body - when I'm hungry, I don't notice, until the hunger builds and I NEED FOOD NOW, at which point it's much harder to eat with discipline. Likewise with getting a good night's rest. Giving myself food earlier in the day has made a physical and psychological difference in the way I eat. I feel "cared for" instead of deprived.

    This is the first time I've had a really, really positive feeling about my weight loss efforts. For all the other times I lost weight, I'd find myself thinking "there's no way I can keep this up." But this week, I showered myself with love. And I ate really well. I could keep this up!

    I know it's easier at the beginning and will get harder as I plateau. I'm ready, though :)

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