Olive oil screws up my calorie data. Is it fair?

Counting calories is for weight management (weight loss, weight gain, weight maintenance). These are totally separate issues from the nutritional quality of the calories.

If you are counting calories to manage your weight, then whether the fats are "good fats" or "bad fats" doesn't matter. Good fats and bad fats have the same amount of calories and have the same effects on weight.

For the purpose of tracking the nutritional quality of your diet (again, separate from tracking calories for weight management) MFP does allow you to track micronutrients like saturated fats vs unsaturated fats, but IMO that's not particularly useful given that the MPF database is naturally restricted to data that's available on food labels, and in the US mono and poly unsaturated fats don't have to be broken out from fats in general. Saturated and trans fats (bad fats) do, so you can definitely use your MFP nutritional reports to keep track of your saturated and trans fats.

Yes, I know. MFP is an amazing tool for fat loss and maintaining. It also does not give us a bigger list of vitamins and minerals, or the amount of EPA and DHA in omega 3. Use MFP for what it's great for and if you want a more nutritionist's point of view on deeper specific's there are other tools like Choose MyPlate.

So just choose your healthy olive oil for the fat, and if over time you gain weight you know it's too much food energy. What matters is the food energy at the end of the day in the 24 hour period, extend that out 7 days, 30, 60, and 90 days for results.

Your body gives you truth. It tells you if what you did was right. If wrong you regroup. In the end it is energy balance.

Protein grams × 4 = protein calories.
Carbohydrate grams × 4 = carbohydrate calories.
Fat grams x 9 = fat calories.
Alcohol grams x 7 = alcohol carbohydrate calories.

Add up those calories and you have your total for the day. Divide any macro by the total and it gives you the % of that macro (if you move the decimal point over by place holders). That's what makes those fancy nutrition pie charts.

^^ This.
Just keeping a diary for a week (without trying to change anything) is a really valuable starting point, as it may highlight some uncomfortable truths, or show where cutting back would be relatively easy.

(NB oil on Greek salad... take your portion out before adding oil for everyone else? Spray lightly if needed, or just a squeeze of lemon juice or whatever. After a while, you get good at finding the little hacks to shave calories without feeling like you're missing out!)

Here's a spanakopita hack. Don't pour olive oil on the phyllo. Dip your fingers into the oil and dab it on the phyllo. This way I make a whole batch with just 1/4 to 1/3 cup oil and it still comes out flaky and delicious. I also use Trader Joe's light feta which tastes pretty much like the regular and has only 40 calories an ounce.

MrsTomato wrote: »

Correct. It's the amount I use to make the salad. But I don't eat the whole salad myself, nor I soak bread in it. For me it's not the oil, I never had weight problems before. My problem is sugar (I had gestational diabetes in both pregnancies in fact, and family history) and nowadays I can't even leave the house as often as I used to. I normally walk absolutely everywhere and I guess all these years that alone helped so I didn't have weight issues.

Consuming sugar, even excessive sugar, alone when pregnant does not cause gestational diabetes. The woman has to have insulin resistance issues develop. You became too insulin resistant when you were pregnant compared to the level of insulin resistance other pregnant woman normally experience. Then your pancreas couldn't keep up with the demand of insulin production for both you in your excessively insulin resistant state and your fetus. As a result of not enough insulin secretion to overcome it you could not process the excess glucose out of your blood and so your blood glucose levels rose to health threatening levels. That's gestational diabetes.

I totally know your pain with the olive oil! I love olive oil and use it in/on everything, I have definitely learned to cut it back or even go without often. There are many things we cook with oils that actually can be cooked "dry" it's just a trial and error what needs it and what doesn't.

I'm sorry to hear about your GD, but congratulations on your new baby and for working so hard to provide it with the healthiest food source available (your mamas milk!!). Could you take the littles on walks with a stroller or a wrap for the infant?

I am a little confused about whether you are trying to lose weight or not? Because that definitely changes how much you need to even worry about the oil calories or not.