Too much fat (macros)?
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amrluvarr
Posts: 52 Member
I have Crohn’s so I eat paleo to help manage my disease. I’ve been paleo almost 3 years. I started a new medication and I’ve been in remission so I gained 15lbs. I’ve started tracking what I eat before the weight increases too much. I’ve found that I’m way over my fat intake for the day. I’m not eating packaged food so all the fat is from olive oil, eggs, avocados, nuts. Is there any reason I should worry about this? Could it hinder my weight loss? I’m staying in my calories.
5
Replies
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if you are staying within your calories no - you may also consider upping your fat allowance (if you hate seeing red like some people)4
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deannalfisher wrote: »if you are staying within your calories no - you may also consider upping your fat allowance (if you hate seeing red like some people)
Agreed.2 -
Right, as long as you remain in a calorie deficit, being over the MFP default of 30% fat will not hinder weight loss.
People doing keto might customize their macros to be more like 5% carbs, 70-75 % fat, and 20-25% protein.3 -
Thanks! I never thought about customizing my macros. I think I will change them because seeing the red drives me crazy!1
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Eat the macros that fit your goals, then adjust your settings to fit your preferred macros. I need to eat moderate carb and moderate fat. When I kept the MFP defaults I would be over in protein and under in carb. Fat was ok. Hated seeing red and seeing large green numbers2
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Thanks! I never thought about customizing my macros. I think I will change them because seeing the red drives me crazy!
It probably goes without saying, but you do want to keep them all in a sensible range, for good, well-rounded nutrition's sake, thus health and energy level long term.
In particular, it's important to get a certain minimum amount of protein, and plenty of varied/colorful veggies and fruits, in addition to an essential minimum of fats. (Obviously, you're not having difficulty with that last bit, the fats.
).
If you're eating so much fat that it's driving other essential nutrition out of your diet, that could cause some problems long term. My impression is that paleo is usually protein-heavy, so maybe you're fine there. The other factor is the veggies/fruits for vitamins, minerals, beneficial phytochemicals, and extra fiber.
(There's no essential minimum of carbs, so those can vary all over the place, unless you have a medical or personal reason to control them more tightly.)
Best wishes!4 -
You don’t need to worry about your fat intake being over. Fat is often a macro people increase for weight loss, and assuming your fats come from good sources, there’s no reason for alarm. At the end of the day if you’ve hit your calorie goal you’re going to be fine. Balancing protein, carbs and fats helps of course.3
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We just started eating keto recently, one of the main reasons was because my daughter has Crohn's. We adjusted macros for more fat allowance.
We're really hoping this helps. It's been a month, which with Crohn's is too short of a time period to see significant results.
We've reversed her anemia with a mung bean and dates broth, before keto. She has noticed a decrease in heart palpitations, less stomach pains, less acid reflux, and developing an appetite. First time in years she's finished a plate of food. So, some positive changes so far.
Crohn's is terrible, hoping it's beatable with slight changes to diet!!4 -
Thanks! I never thought about customizing my macros. I think I will change them because seeing the red drives me crazy!
It probably goes without saying, but you do want to keep them all in a sensible range, for good, well-rounded nutrition's sake, thus health and energy level long term.
In particular, it's important to get a certain minimum amount of protein, and plenty of varied/colorful veggies and fruits, in addition to an essential minimum of fats. (Obviously, you're not having difficulty with that last bit, the fats. ).
If you're eating so much fat that it's driving other essential nutrition out of your diet, that could cause some problems long term. My impression is that paleo is usually protein-heavy, so maybe you're fine there. The other factor is the veggies/fruits for vitamins, minerals, beneficial phytochemicals, and extra fiber.
(There's no essential minimum of carbs, so those can vary all over the place, unless you have a medical or personal reason to control them more tightly.)
Best wishes!
Yes, another reason I wanted to start tracking my food was to be sure I was eating balanced meals. It can be hard to digest raw veggies and fruits if the Crohn’s is flaring. I also have to be careful when I’m in remission but tracking my food is helping me see when/where I need to cut back the protein and add some cooked veggies/fruit to my plate!
Thanks for the response!
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Emmapatterson1729 wrote: »We just started eating keto recently, one of the main reasons was because my daughter has Crohn's. We adjusted macros for more fat allowance.
We're really hoping this helps. It's been a month, which with Crohn's is too short of a time period to see significant results.
We've reversed her anemia with a mung bean and dates broth, before keto. She has noticed a decrease in heart palpitations, less stomach pains, less acid reflux, and developing an appetite. First time in years she's finished a plate of food. So, some positive changes so far.
Crohn's is terrible, hoping it's beatable with slight changes to diet!!
I hope that keto helps! I’ve heard about other people using keto to help with flares. I started with the Autoimmune Paleo Diet and worked my way back to Paleo. The Autoimmune Paleo Diet can be restrictive but it helped me figure out my trigger foods.
I did try to manage my Crohn’s without medication but it didn’t go well. I now manage the disease with medication, diet and lifestyle changes. I’ve been in remission 1 year and 3 months! It’s been such a blessing! I’m starting to feel a bit like a normal person again!
I wish you and your daughter all the best!
2 -
Keto, not the recent modified version and you want the original since it was designed as a medical alternative to several diseases and conditions, states carbs at 5%, Fat at 75-80% and Protein at 15-20%. With that being said, if you are not working out, you may want to stick closer to the 80% range for fat. If you are consistently training every week then aim for the 75%. Protein is a extremely often misunderstood macro. Everyone will tell you that you should consume between 0.5 to 1.0 gram of protein for 1 pound of "ideal" body weight. Protein is a person to person calculation. Your body can only process the amount of protein it actually needs. Every gram over what it doesn't need can and does go through a process called Gluconeogenesis. This means your protein just converted to glucose and then to fat on the body. Ranges are a great start, but someone who is extremely overweight (not you, using an example) and does nothing but sit on a couch all day will in no way use 0.5 grams of protein. You have to find your "sweet spot" on protein consumption. Which means short of very expensive testing like that which is done on competitive athletes, you have to play around with the numbers. Tracking it will help do this.
Calories is another very individual number. If I go by MFP's calories estimation for me, I would only be able to eat 1250 calories a day. To give you an idea, I eat that in my first meal for the day. MFP can't calculate in the amount of muscle I carry (competitive athlete) or the true calorie expenditure of my training sessions. It is going by an old way of determining how much you should take in based on weight, height, etc. IF you are going Keto, use a macro calculator like the one provided in KetoSavage:
http://ketosavage.com/keto-macro-calculator/
Good luck. I have a very good friend with Crohn's and she has had huge success on Keto.8 -
Keto, not the recent modified version and you want the original since it was designed as a medical alternative to several diseases and conditions, states carbs at 5%, Fat at 75-80% and Protein at 15-20%. With that being said, if you are not working out, you may want to stick closer to the 80% range for fat. If you are consistently training every week then aim for the 75%. Protein is a extremely often misunderstood macro. Everyone will tell you that you should consume between 0.5 to 1.0 gram of protein for 1 pound of "ideal" body weight. Protein is a person to person calculation. Your body can only process the amount of protein it actually needs. Every gram over what it doesn't need can and does go through a process called Gluconeogenesis. This means your protein just converted to glucose and then to fat on the body. Ranges are a great start, but someone who is extremely overweight (not you, using an example) and does nothing but sit on a couch all day will in no way use 0.5 grams of protein. You have to find your "sweet spot" on protein consumption. Which means short of very expensive testing like that which is done on competitive athletes, you have to play around with the numbers. Tracking it will help do this.
Calories is another very individual number. If I go by MFP's calories estimation for me, I would only be able to eat 1250 calories a day. To give you an idea, I eat that in my first meal for the day. MFP can't calculate in the amount of muscle I carry (competitive athlete) or the true calorie expenditure of my training sessions. It is going by an old way of determining how much you should take in based on weight, height, etc. IF you are going Keto, use a macro calculator like the one provided in KetoSavage:
http://ketosavage.com/keto-macro-calculator/
Good luck. I have a very good friend with Crohn's and she has had huge success on Keto.
Wait, as a competitive athlete, shouldn't MFP have recommended a higher calorie goal for you than 1250? I'm also interested to know how you spend 1250 cals in your first meal of the day. Thanks!2 -
Emmapatterson1729 wrote: »We just started eating keto recently, one of the main reasons was because my daughter has Crohn's. We adjusted macros for more fat allowance.
We're really hoping this helps. It's been a month, which with Crohn's is too short of a time period to see significant results.
We've reversed her anemia with a mung bean and dates broth, before keto. She has noticed a decrease in heart palpitations, less stomach pains, less acid reflux, and developing an appetite. First time in years she's finished a plate of food. So, some positive changes so far.
Crohn's is terrible, hoping it's beatable with slight changes to diet!!
I hope that keto helps! I’ve heard about other people using keto to help with flares. I started with the Autoimmune Paleo Diet and worked my way back to Paleo. The Autoimmune Paleo Diet can be restrictive but it helped me figure out my trigger foods.
I did try to manage my Crohn’s without medication but it didn’t go well. I now manage the disease with medication, diet and lifestyle changes. I’ve been in remission 1 year and 3 months! It’s been such a blessing! I’m starting to feel a bit like a normal person again!
I wish you and your daughter all the best!
I am going to research into the autoimmune disorder diet. She's eaten a very bland diet for years. Rice, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, proteins (mainly fish, chicken, and steak). So, she's already familiar with restrictive.
What vegetables do you find easier to digest with Crohn's?
She does okay with squashes, but can not tolerate any leafy greens. She loves broccoli, but it causes issues, even when thoroughly cooked.
We decided to give keto a try after reading people with success stories on Crohn's forums.
We were eating vegetarian when her Crohn's was discovered. (Yes, her system was a mess eating vegetarian)!!2 -
warukimedesu wrote: »Keto, not the recent modified version and you want the original since it was designed as a medical alternative to several diseases and conditions, states carbs at 5%, Fat at 75-80% and Protein at 15-20%. With that being said, if you are not working out, you may want to stick closer to the 80% range for fat. If you are consistently training every week then aim for the 75%. Protein is a extremely often misunderstood macro. Everyone will tell you that you should consume between 0.5 to 1.0 gram of protein for 1 pound of "ideal" body weight. Protein is a person to person calculation. Your body can only process the amount of protein it actually needs. Every gram over what it doesn't need can and does go through a process called Gluconeogenesis. This means your protein just converted to glucose and then to fat on the body. Ranges are a great start, but someone who is extremely overweight (not you, using an example) and does nothing but sit on a couch all day will in no way use 0.5 grams of protein. You have to find your "sweet spot" on protein consumption. Which means short of very expensive testing like that which is done on competitive athletes, you have to play around with the numbers. Tracking it will help do this.
Calories is another very individual number. If I go by MFP's calories estimation for me, I would only be able to eat 1250 calories a day. To give you an idea, I eat that in my first meal for the day. MFP can't calculate in the amount of muscle I carry (competitive athlete) or the true calorie expenditure of my training sessions. It is going by an old way of determining how much you should take in based on weight, height, etc. IF you are going Keto, use a macro calculator like the one provided in KetoSavage:
http://ketosavage.com/keto-macro-calculator/
Good luck. I have a very good friend with Crohn's and she has had huge success on Keto.
Wait, as a competitive athlete, shouldn't MFP have recommended a higher calorie goal for you than 1250? I'm also interested to know how you spend 1250 cals in your first meal of the day. Thanks!
The mfp calorie goal is before purposeful exercise. You are supposed to log your exercise and eat back at least some of those calories. It also depends on how aggressive a goal you pick, and the most aggressive goal isn't appropriate for everyone. Having said that, any calculator is just a starting point, many people will have to tweak up or down based on their real world results to get the right number
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Yeah, I had to up my MFP fat goal from 30 to 35 % to make most days fit LOL Maybe someday I'll get around to addressing that, but I doubt 5 or 10 % one way or the other on the macros makes any difference to anything. As long as I'm hitting (and not exceeding) my calorie target, it's all good. I do try to avoid saturated fat where possible, though.2
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The mfp calorie goal is before purposeful exercise. You are supposed to log your exercise and eat back at least some of those calories. It also depends on how aggressive a goal you pick, and the most aggressive goal isn't appropriate for everyone. Having said that, any calculator is just a starting point, many people will have to tweak up or down based on their real world results to get the right number
Yeah, so saying "I would only be able to eat 1250 calories a day" means exercise calories should already be part of it, right? Which makes 1250 seem even lower, particularly for a very active person. Pardon my ignorance, I'm new to all of this, and often I'm not sure what people mean when they post numbers like this.1 -
warukimedesu wrote: »The mfp calorie goal is before purposeful exercise. You are supposed to log your exercise and eat back at least some of those calories. It also depends on how aggressive a goal you pick, and the most aggressive goal isn't appropriate for everyone. Having said that, any calculator is just a starting point, many people will have to tweak up or down based on their real world results to get the right number
Yeah, so saying "I would only be able to eat 1250 calories a day" means exercise calories should already be part of it, right? Which makes 1250 seem even lower, particularly for a very active person. Pardon my ignorance, I'm new to all of this, and often I'm not sure what people mean when they post numbers like this.
The calorie goal it starts you at everyday, is before exercise.
After logging exercise, it will add calories to your daily goal.
Example: My daily calories goal is set to 1400. If I wake up, workout, burn 200 calories. My calorie goal changed to like 1500 or 1600 for me to consume for that day. Not sure how much it calculates to eat back... But daily calories you're expected to eat go up after logging a workout that burns calories.
So 1250, does not include the calories to eat back for workout.
Hope that makes sense!3 -
Emmapatterson1729 wrote: »warukimedesu wrote: »The mfp calorie goal is before purposeful exercise. You are supposed to log your exercise and eat back at least some of those calories. It also depends on how aggressive a goal you pick, and the most aggressive goal isn't appropriate for everyone. Having said that, any calculator is just a starting point, many people will have to tweak up or down based on their real world results to get the right number
Yeah, so saying "I would only be able to eat 1250 calories a day" means exercise calories should already be part of it, right? Which makes 1250 seem even lower, particularly for a very active person. Pardon my ignorance, I'm new to all of this, and often I'm not sure what people mean when they post numbers like this.
The calorie goal it starts you at everyday, is before exercise.
After logging exercise, it will add calories to your daily goal.
Example: My daily calories goal is set to 1400. If I wake up, workout, burn 200 calories. My calorie goal changed to like 1500 or 1600 for me to consume for that day. Not sure how much it calculates to eat back... But daily calories you're expected to eat go up after logging a workout that burns calories.
So 1250, does not include the calories to eat back for workout.
Hope that makes sense!
Yeah, I get that. I'm just saying when someone says "I eat 1250 calories a day" or whatever number, I assume that that's what the person actually eats, as opposed to saying "My target calories is 1250 calories," which most likely means before exercise.
But it's okay, everything good, it's just semantics. Thanks for all the replies.
I still want to see what a 1250 cal breakfast looks like, though...3 -
warukimedesu wrote: »Emmapatterson1729 wrote: »warukimedesu wrote: »The mfp calorie goal is before purposeful exercise. You are supposed to log your exercise and eat back at least some of those calories. It also depends on how aggressive a goal you pick, and the most aggressive goal isn't appropriate for everyone. Having said that, any calculator is just a starting point, many people will have to tweak up or down based on their real world results to get the right number
Yeah, so saying "I would only be able to eat 1250 calories a day" means exercise calories should already be part of it, right? Which makes 1250 seem even lower, particularly for a very active person. Pardon my ignorance, I'm new to all of this, and often I'm not sure what people mean when they post numbers like this.
The calorie goal it starts you at everyday, is before exercise.
After logging exercise, it will add calories to your daily goal.
Example: My daily calories goal is set to 1400. If I wake up, workout, burn 200 calories. My calorie goal changed to like 1500 or 1600 for me to consume for that day. Not sure how much it calculates to eat back... But daily calories you're expected to eat go up after logging a workout that burns calories.
So 1250, does not include the calories to eat back for workout.
Hope that makes sense!
Yeah, I get that. I'm just saying when someone says "I eat 1250 calories a day" or whatever number, I assume that that's what the person actually eats, as opposed to saying "My target calories is 1250 calories," which most likely means before exercise.
But it's okay, everything good, it's just semantics. Thanks for all the replies.
I still want to see what a 1250 cal breakfast looks like, though...
Lol, at one point and time, I probably could've shown you a 1250 calorie breakfast!! Went through a phase of severe over-eating!
0 -
Emmapatterson1729 wrote: »warukimedesu wrote: »Emmapatterson1729 wrote: »warukimedesu wrote: »The mfp calorie goal is before purposeful exercise. You are supposed to log your exercise and eat back at least some of those calories. It also depends on how aggressive a goal you pick, and the most aggressive goal isn't appropriate for everyone. Having said that, any calculator is just a starting point, many people will have to tweak up or down based on their real world results to get the right number
Yeah, so saying "I would only be able to eat 1250 calories a day" means exercise calories should already be part of it, right? Which makes 1250 seem even lower, particularly for a very active person. Pardon my ignorance, I'm new to all of this, and often I'm not sure what people mean when they post numbers like this.
The calorie goal it starts you at everyday, is before exercise.
After logging exercise, it will add calories to your daily goal.
Example: My daily calories goal is set to 1400. If I wake up, workout, burn 200 calories. My calorie goal changed to like 1500 or 1600 for me to consume for that day. Not sure how much it calculates to eat back... But daily calories you're expected to eat go up after logging a workout that burns calories.
So 1250, does not include the calories to eat back for workout.
Hope that makes sense!
Yeah, I get that. I'm just saying when someone says "I eat 1250 calories a day" or whatever number, I assume that that's what the person actually eats, as opposed to saying "My target calories is 1250 calories," which most likely means before exercise.
But it's okay, everything good, it's just semantics. Thanks for all the replies.
I still want to see what a 1250 cal breakfast looks like, though...
Lol, at one point and time, I probably could've shown you a 1250 calorie breakfast!! Went through a phase of severe over-eating!
I guess all the bread and pastries I've had for breakfast in the past would be somewhere close to that, if only I knew how many calories they had.
And a cup or so of peanuts... I thought they were guilt-free. They're the reason why my weight and fat% hadn't budged no matter how hard I tried to be active. Now I know!1
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