Are you afraid of fats?

I enjoy all the fats...in moderation like everything else.

It's not eating fats that'll make you fat, it's eating too much calories that'll do it. However, being lax with your fat intake will certainly contribute to the latter.

I grew up during the US low fat craze. So, yes, I was "afraid" of fat for a long time. Whenever I'd reduce calories, I'd target fat (the whole 1 g of fat is 9 calories so it's the easiest place to cut thing was beat into our heads). Unfortunately carbs make me hungry, so eating a higher carb, lower fat diet was disastrous for me. I felt hungry all the time and couldn't stick with a deficit long enough, or cut low enough, to get where I wanted to be. Out of desperation I tried a low carb high fat diet. Brilliant! I was satisfied on fewer calories so I dropped all the weight I wanted to lose, plus some I had no idea I even could lose (for a total of 50lb loss), without changing activity levels and without going hungry. Needless to say, I don't fear fat anymore! I get about 60-70% of my calories from fat these days and have maintained a healthy weight for almost three years now. That said, I don't try to talk anyone out of what they are doing - if it is working, great; if not, they might ask for my advice... Or not, and that's okay too. You do you, let other people take care of themselves. I wasn't ready to try a different approach until I was ready. Had someone tried to talk me out of lower fat, higher fiber eating ten years ago I wouldn't have listened.

I did low fat in the 90's and lost weight, but it was not a sustainable way of eating for me. I was always hungry and felt deprived. I eventually gained all the weight back and then some. I was able to lose over 60 pounds this time and I rarely felt hungry and I don't feel deprived either . I mostly focus on getting enough protein and I just let fats and carbs fall wherever they fall. I eat foods i like and stick to my calorie goal. I have only been at maintenance for a couple of months, but I feel confident that I will be able to continue this WOE forever.

Only reason I choose lower fat items is because it also lowers the calories. Otherwise I try to get my daily fat macro goals in, even if I have to eat more fatty foods.

selina884 wrote: »

So, in the UK we are scared and pushed into believing that fats = weight gain and in order to lose weight, we must succumb to low fat options/keep our fat intake down.

Fats in general or saturated fat. I haven't really heard fats demonized since the '90s (except as part of a much broader set of recommendations like by the whole food plant-based folks). My understanding is that the recommendations to limit sat fat for health are still in place, and, yeah, I keep an eye on them, although it fits how I eat anyway.

I'd be kind of surprised if the UK is still all gung ho about low fat being always good and fat being always bad, but then I was surprised by the results of the Brexit vote too, so my being surprised isn't saying much.

I never fell into a belief that fat was bad, because I only dieted once before this time and it was in the early 2000s, and by then the low fat thing no longer seemed to be current advice in the US, at least not in the stuff I read in trying to understand how weight loss and nutrition worked.

If you know of people trying to lose weight by lowering fat (only) - would you try to educate them?

If they were interested in my opinion or asked my advice, sure. I wouldn't if they didn't ask for my opinion (and weren't making inaccurate claims on a message board for discussion of nutrition and dieting).

selina884 wrote: »

So, in the UK we are scared and pushed into believing that fats = weight gain and in order to lose weight, we must succumb to low fat options/keep our fat intake down.

Have you seen this too? Ever fallen into this before realizing its a myth?

If you know of people trying to lose weight by lowering fat (only) - would you try to educate them?

Well, a lot of fad diets focus on low fat foods and don't mention calories.
Lower fat does equal lower calorie in many cases. Lower calorie should equal weight loss if it is the right amount for the person to have a deficit.
I am not afraid of fats. I know we need some fat in our diets to be healthy. I do not eat a super low fat diet. I watch my calorie intake and know that if I slather things in oil or butter the calories go up but I'm giving up something with more nutritious to have more calories come from fat. So there isn't a fat eating frenzy either. Moderation.
If someone was discussing weight loss and said you could not eat fat and lose weight I would correct them and tell them weight loss was about calories. They could eat nothing but butter all day and lose weight if they had a calorie deficit. (Not recommending an all butter diet)

No.

No, I don't. I lived in Denmark for a while and gained a lot of weight. Not because my normal diet consisted of so much fat, but because stuff I was used to eating was all low-fat there. It was so difficult to find proper stiff full fat yogurt, full fat milk, so many other things. This was particularly true at work which served breakfast and lunch. And if you take fat out of food it loses a lot of taste. I was just longing for food with taste that I bought a lot of stuff additionally. Well.. that lead to gaining weight of course.

yirara wrote: »

No, I don't. I lived in Denmark for a while and gained a lot of weight. Not because my normal diet consisted of so much fat, but because stuff I was used to eating was all low-fat there. It was so difficult to find proper stiff full fat yogurt, full fat milk, so many other things. This was particularly true at work which served breakfast and lunch. And if you take fat out of food it loses a lot of taste. I was just longing for food with taste that I bought a lot of stuff additionally. Well.. that lead to gaining weight of course.

Denmark had the best tasting butter, cheese... heck, all of the dairy, that I've ever experienced. Decent pork, too. The one amazing thing was, for a country comprised of islands (and one near-island, peninsula type thing), the seafood was terrible.

usmcmp wrote: »

Not afraid of fats. I do realize that reducing some of my higher fat containing foods helps me stay on track better. Fats are important for many metabolic processes. Higher fat foods are not always filling. It's about balance.

I would never tell a person following a low fat diet that it's not necessary. I don't know their medical history and maybe that works better for them when it comes to restricting calories.

^All of this. I'm not afraid of fat, I just don't find it filling. I follow a lower fat diet, because I budget my calories towards the vegetables, fruits, grains, and lean protein sources that I find more filling. Fat is a flavor enhancer for me. That's it.