Fibre impact on calorie totals

Dgil1975
Dgil1975 Posts: 110 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
So, 5 weeks ago I went whole food plant based, and I’m extremely happy with this decision, as I feel reborn with energy. However I am losing weight at a faster pace than I want to, and am trying to figure out the reason why, other than the obvious of not eating enough.

So I update my profile every two weeks, to ensure I am at the accurate caloric intake. My current setting is active, and a goal to lose 1lb a week. Which gives me daily caloric amount of 2630 calories. I log all my food with a scale and am ocd on that. Before I went plant based I was pretty much hitting my target every week which started as two lbs, and then lowered to 1lb.

In the 5 weeks I’ve went plant based I’ve lost 15lbs, and I am hitting my caloric targets daily. So my question is about fibre. I now regularly consume 70-80 grams a day, and have heard it can be a negative caloric food. Is this true, and what is the best way to account for this in my eating plan. My guess is this could be a trial and error type thing, but figured I would put it out to the fine folks of this community for opinion.

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Fiber isn't a negative calorie food. But when you're getting a lot of it (and you are), it can increase the speed at which food moves through your body and this can *potentially* reduce the number of calories your body can absorb from it.

    If you're losing faster than you'd like, is increasing your calorie goal an option?
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    When I went mostly plant based at the beginning of the year I also upped my fiber signficantly and dropped 6lbs in a few days. I was also very 'regular' during that time (2-4 times a day). Things have calmed down now and I'm losing at my target rate of .5lbs a week. It just took time for my body to adjust to things.

    Having said that though, your fiber intake is nuts lol. I thought I was doing good at 34g-40g :)
  • karlpm
    karlpm Posts: 78 Member
    You need to remember that any number on here is a guide. Recommended calories, burnt calories, food calories, they're all estimates.

    Raise or lower your daily amount of food based on the only thing that matters, you.

    If you're losing too much (over a few weeks so you know it's not just water moving) then up your calories by say 10% and go from there.
  • Dgil1975
    Dgil1975 Posts: 110 Member
    Thanks for the feedback, I will see how this week goes, and maybe bump my number up 500 a day to slow down if necessary. I don’t have an issue with 2lbs a week as that was my original target, I just couldn’t sustain the calorie deficit on my old diet and dropped to 1lb a week to up my calories, now with plant based that isn’t an issue, because all I do is eat.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,054 Member
    It sounds like you have a handle on it. Fiber, for what it’s worth, isn’t digested. So although you get a lot of benefit from it (as do the bacteria populating your gut), you don’t get nutrition/energy from it. If you get a lot of it (I can’t imagine how you get as much as you do), then there will be a discrepancy between calories eaten & calories absorbed. For most people, this is pretty small.
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    ahoy_m8 wrote: »
    It sounds like you have a handle on it. Fiber, for what it’s worth, isn’t digested. So although you get a lot of benefit from it (as do the bacteria populating your gut), you don’t get nutrition/energy from it. If you get a lot of it (I can’t imagine how you get as much as you do), then there will be a discrepancy between calories eaten & calories absorbed. For most people, this is pretty small.

    I was also wondering how to get that much fiber a day, OP would you mind sharing a sample day of what you eat?
  • Dgil1975
    Dgil1975 Posts: 110 Member
    I’ve copied and pasted my diary from today. I’m a routine eater, so during my work week, my breakfast, lunch, and snacks are almost identical to this list. My dinner alters daily, so today because I made burritos, my fat intake and sodium was quite a bit higher than normal as I had the guacamole and hummus on the two burritos. Generally my dinner consists of legumes, rice, and veggies, or whole wheat pasta with veggies. So today I had 84G of Fibre, which is kind of normal for me these days.. Sorry for the not great paste of the diary, but his was the way it came out, but you can get the idea.


    February 25, 2019
    FOODS Calories Carbs Fat Protein Cholest Sodium Sugars Fiber

    Breakfast
    Raspberries - Raw, 80 g 42 10g 1g 1g 0mg 1mg 4g 5g
    Great Value - Organic Flax Seed (Ground), 15 g 81 5g 6g 2g 0mg 0mg 0g 5g
    Silk - Original Organic Soy (Canada), 1 cup 100 8g 4g 7g 0mg 110mg 5g 2g
    Bob's Red Mill - Old Fashion Rolled Oats, 0.75 cup (48g) 285 50g 6g 9g 0mg 0mg 0g 8g
    Blueberries - Raw, 70 g 40 10g 0g 1g 0mg 1mg 7g 2g

    Lunch
    Great Value 100% Whole Wheat - Tortillas Wrap, 61 g 180 30g 5g 5g 0mg 340mg 2g 3g
    Spinach - Baby Spinach, 25 grams 20 3g 0g 2g 0mg 65mg 1g 2g
    Garden - Cucumber, 1/4 cucmber 4 1g 0g 0g 0mg 1mg 0g 0g
    Sunset - Organic Grape Tomatoes, 0.5 ounce 5 1g 0g 0g 0mg 3mg 1g 0g
    Summer Fresh - Hummas - Roasted Red Pepper, 2 tbsp 60 6g 3g 2g --mg 110mg 1g 1g
    Peppers, sweet, red, raw, 0.5 medium (approx 2-3/4" long, 2-1/2" dia) 18 4g 0g 1g 0mg 2mg 2g 1g

    Dinner
    Great Value - 100% Whole Wheat Tortillas, Large, 2 tortilla (61g) 360 60g 10g 10g 0mg 680mg 4g 6g
    Wholly Guacamole Mini - Guacamole, 1 cup (2 oz/57 g) 100 5g 9g 1g 0mg 200mg 0g 3g
    Summer Fresh - Hummas - Roasted Red Pepper, 3 tbsp 90 9g 5g 3g --mg 165mg 2g 2g
    Eden Organic - Black Eyed Peas, 0.5 container (1 4/5 cups ea.) 158 28g 2g 11g 0mg 44mg 0g 7g
    Minute - Instant Brown Rice, 1.25 cup cooked 281 64g 3g 6g 0mg 19mg 0g 4g

    Snacks
    Newman's Own - Olive Oil & Vinegar Lighten Up, 30 ml 60 1g 6g 0g 0mg 250mg --g --g
    Organic - Cucumber, 70 g 11 3g 0g 0g 0mg 1mg 1g 0g
    Spinach - Baby Spinach, 50 grams 40 6g 0g 4g 0mg 130mg 2g 4g
    Bolthouse Farms - Matchstix Carrots, 30 gram 12 3g 0g 0g 0mg 23mg 2g 1g
    Sunset - Organic Grape Tomatoes, 2 ounce 20 4g 0g 0g 0mg 10mg 3g 1g
    Peppers, sweet, red, raw, 0.75 medium (approx 2-3/4" long, 2-1/2" dia) 28 5g 0g 1g 0mg 4mg 4g 2g
    Raw - Fresh Celery Stalk, 3 medium stalk 7-1/2" - 8" long 18 4g 0g 1g 0mg 96mg 2g 2g
    Organic - Cucumber, 70 g 11 3g 0g 0g 0mg 1mg 1g 0g
    Strawberries - Raw, 100 g 32 8g 0g 1g 0mg 1mg 5g 2g
    Kirkland - Whole Raw Almonds, 30 gram 169 6g 15g 6g 0mg 0mg 1g 3g
    Baldwin St. - Lentil and Spinach Fresh Soup, 1.5 Cup 225 38g 2g 15g 0mg 540mg 6g 9g
    Generic - Banana, 100 g 89 23g 0g 1g 0mg --mg 12g 3g
    Fruit - Apple, 1 item 75 19g 0g 0g 0mg 1mg 14g 4g
    Peppers, sweet, red, raw, 0.75 medium (approx 2-3/4" long, 2-1/2" dia) 28 5g 0g 1g 0mg 4mg 4g 2g

    TOTAL: 2,642 422g 77g 91g 0mg 2,802mg 86g 84g
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    Thanks for sharing! You seem to eat pretty close to how I eat, just with a higher calorie allowance :)
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