Going over on fat grams but still within calorie goal

I eat natural carbs, lean protein, good fats and I stay at 1200 net. When I look at my intake in a pie chart format fat is the biggest slice :0 and yet I have lost 60

I am having a similar situation, but it isn't with the fat. I am consistantly over on my carbs and protein (and usually sodium), but always under on calories and fat.

Bump

High amounts of saturated fat not just trans fat can promote heart disease and liver damage (Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis).

Siri-Tarino PW et al. Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Mar;91(3):535-46.

CONCLUSIONS:
A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD.


really for a diet there is no ceiling on any one macronutrient, the only time i would say going over in fats is bad, is if it leads to you consistently being under you minimum protein goal for the day (roughly 1g per lb of lean body mass). you will still lose weight if you are in a caloric deficit

I agree with acg67 ,your total fats should not be exceeded,the type of fats that you want to mainly compose that limit are poly&mono unsaturated fats as they are your good fats needed in your daily values,omega 3's ect ,there are few things going over is great protein,&fiber for instance ,other than that staying under your calories but going over your fats is a terrible idea ,& not good on your body if on a low calorie diet due to the comment effect of loss of muscle mass with fat when losing weight,that said keep fats low,carbs,moderate,sugar low,& high protein to help prevent muscle breakdown,and fiber to help with digestion

Unsaturated fats are healthy, in moderation. Saturated fats are healthy, in moderation. The body needs these to have healthy brain, muscle, immunity and insulin control.

Again the simpliest answer is "moderation", eating a wide variety of natural unprocessed foods, with caloric restriction and exersize, as best as we can in our individual unique lives. The myfitnesspal guidelines are not some "1 size fits all rule in stone". They are a guideline to finding moderation. If you say, "I eat alot of nuts" you probably have already have answered your own question about balance and moderation.


A follow up to what can happen when we fail to find balance:

Your immune cells love saturated fat. They scavenge it like candy. When some of these immune cells get so "full" of saturated fat they get sick, start behaving abnormally, and start putting out danger signals (inflammation). They also start messing with our insulin resistance. Sometimes they can even get hung up on the walls of the heart and circulation and become foam cells that may contribute to things like hypertension and closing of arterial walls. Scientists have become pretty good at tracking down the exact genes that do this kind of stuff, but still are so far away from giving the average person some sort of easy, simple explaination that they can take with them to their supermarket.

When you look at big groups of humans, over a long period of time, its so hard to pick out one signle factor and say for certain, yes, this one macronutrient causes X or Y, because its almost impossible to control for how different our genes, our lifestyles and our environment is. Heart disease especially is a very complicated animal with likely hundreds of contibuting factors and 100 people for each who is the exception to the rule.

But when you look at fundamental molecular studies in a well controled environment, it becomes pretty clear that yes, saturated fats (and even some unsaturated ones) do bad mojo to our bodies, as does too much sugar, etc. Without getting into an unpleasant publication posting war, suffice it to say, there are alot of reasons to have concern over our sat fat intake, though it is not neatly black and white (Good vs bad) as we have been told for 40+ years.

NVintage wrote: »

I'm looking at newer research about this... Is it healthy to have a very high percentage of the diet be "healthy" fats like olive oil, nuts, avocado, etc. or would too much of even those fats cause problems in some people?

Was initially going to point out this is a really old thread, but you have noticed this and anyway the subject is still interesting to discuss.

For myself, a higher proportion of fats results in much better satiety and thus works well for weight control. I can't speak for anyone else, but my cholesterol levels are the best my doctor says she has ever seen in anyone, never mind someone my age.

I am sure that "too much" of anything will cause problems, but would question what "too much" looks like.

Thanks:)That's good to hear! What would too much be? I think to most dieticians, it's over 30%??? I was going to start a new thread, but found this while searching and it seems the comments on here are still relevant. I'm looking at research from the University of Minnesota and some others that suggest that there's no reason to limit "good" fats as long as you eat a Mediterranean diet. (generally more like 40%fat?)The traditional lifestyle of those regions are so different than most in the U.S., though, with more activity and less stress. So I'm wondering if the high fat percentage would still be okay in sedentary, stressed out people. ?:)

SnifterPug wrote: »

NVintage wrote: »

I'm looking at newer research about this... Is it healthy to have a very high percentage of the diet be "healthy" fats like olive oil, nuts, avocado, etc. or would too much of even those fats cause problems in some people?

Was initially going to point out this is a really old thread, but you have noticed this and anyway the subject is still interesting to discuss.

For myself, a higher proportion of fats results in much better satiety and thus works well for weight control. I can't speak for anyone else, but my cholesterol levels are the best my doctor says she has ever seen in anyone, never mind someone my age.

I am sure that "too much" of anything will cause problems, but would question what "too much" looks like.

NVintage wrote: »

Thanks:)That's good to hear! What would too much be? I think to most dieticians, it's over 30%??? I was going to start a new thread, but found this while searching and it seems the comments on here are still relevant. I'm looking at research from the University of Minnesota and some others that suggest that there's no reason to limit "good" fats as long as you eat a Mediterranean diet. (generally more like 40%fat?)The traditional lifestyle of those regions are so different than most in the U.S., though, with more activity and less stress. So I'm wondering if the high fat percentage would still be okay in sedentary, stressed out people. ?:)

SnifterPug wrote: »

NVintage wrote: »

I'm looking at newer research about this... Is it healthy to have a very high percentage of the diet be "healthy" fats like olive oil, nuts, avocado, etc. or would too much of even those fats cause problems in some people?

Was initially going to point out this is a really old thread, but you have noticed this and anyway the subject is still interesting to discuss.

For myself, a higher proportion of fats results in much better satiety and thus works well for weight control. I can't speak for anyone else, but my cholesterol levels are the best my doctor says she has ever seen in anyone, never mind someone my age.

I am sure that "too much" of anything will cause problems, but would question what "too much" looks like.

There are some traditional diets where people got 30% or more of their calories from fat and it doesn't seem to be "too much." I'm skeptical that one HAS to follow a Mediterranean-style diet, as it seems like a lot of the factors associated with good health in the Mediterranean region can be adopted by anyone.

People everywhere have stressors. I think if we're assuming that health is something that can only be accomplished in some mythical bucolic low stress situation, it's both keeping us from seeing the stuff that we can do to control our own outcomes and is kind of patronizing to people in those regions. The stuff we stress about -- family issues, workplace issues, general worries about the future of the world, economic concerns, etc -- those things impact people everywhere. Am I more stressed than someone in the Mediterranean region in the mid-20th century (when many of the data about the "Mediterranean diet" was collected)? I doubt it. The specifics of our life may look different in some ways, but stress about money and family and love and all that is stress. In some ways, you could argue that many of those people dealt with a stress I've never had to encounter, in that many of them lived directly through the tumult and trauma of WWII.

I do remember reading somewhere about the beneficial health impacts of rationing during WW2 in the U.S and England... I bet they did eat less protein during that time. I wonder about the percentage fat...

janejellyroll wrote: »

NVintage wrote: »

Thanks:)That's good to hear! What would too much be? I think to most dieticians, it's over 30%??? I was going to start a new thread, but found this while searching and it seems the comments on here are still relevant. I'm looking at research from the University of Minnesota and some others that suggest that there's no reason to limit "good" fats as long as you eat a Mediterranean diet. (generally more like 40%fat?)The traditional lifestyle of those regions are so different than most in the U.S., though, with more activity and less stress. So I'm wondering if the high fat percentage would still be okay in sedentary, stressed out people. ?:)

SnifterPug wrote: »

NVintage wrote: »

I'm looking at newer research about this... Is it healthy to have a very high percentage of the diet be "healthy" fats like olive oil, nuts, avocado, etc. or would too much of even those fats cause problems in some people?

Was initially going to point out this is a really old thread, but you have noticed this and anyway the subject is still interesting to discuss.

For myself, a higher proportion of fats results in much better satiety and thus works well for weight control. I can't speak for anyone else, but my cholesterol levels are the best my doctor says she has ever seen in anyone, never mind someone my age.

I am sure that "too much" of anything will cause problems, but would question what "too much" looks like.

There are some traditional diets where people got 30% or more of their calories from fat and it doesn't seem to be "too much." I'm skeptical that one HAS to follow a Mediterranean-style diet, as it seems like a lot of the factors associated with good health in the Mediterranean region can be adopted by anyone.

People everywhere have stressors. I think if we're assuming that health is something that can only be accomplished in some mythical bucolic low stress situation, it's both keeping us from seeing the stuff that we can do to control our own outcomes and is kind of patronizing to people in those regions. The stuff we stress about -- family issues, workplace issues, general worries about the future of the world, economic concerns, etc -- those things impact people everywhere. Am I more stressed than someone in the Mediterranean region in the mid-20th century (when many of the data about the "Mediterranean diet" was collected)? I doubt it. The specifics of our life may look different in some ways, but stress about money and family and love and all that is stress. In some ways, you could argue that many of those people dealt with a stress I've never had to encounter, in that many of them lived directly through the tumult and trauma of WWII.

The who expert panel on lipids was somewhere in the sub 35% range if I recall correctly-and should be double checked on-but no hard upper limits though like Anne I think that these lack of limits become meaningless at the point they make you limit other useful nutrients.

What's more relevant eating at least 400g (and preferably 800g+) of veggies and fruits a day or measuring whether your fat intake was 29% or 36%? And whether your "free" sugars were 10% of 15% or whether you can sustainably eat within your caloric needs? The 10% saturated fat content (which I vaguely recall and should be double checked on was actually 11 to 13g of saturated fat as the underlying metric per American heart association) would concern me more (perhaps because I regularly exceed it )

Sure, shade your eating towards what appears to be healthier but deal with the bigger issues first: sustainably sane calories eating things you're likely to continue to eat without burning out, good enough protein intake, good variety....

AnnPT77 wrote: »

OK, so I'm going to be the curmudgeon and suggest that one is eating "too much fat" if in order to eat (however much fat) and stay within calorie goal, one is consistently eating too little of something else important, like protein, fiber, veggie/fruit servings. (No, taking vitamins/supplements is not a general replacement for veggies/fruits.)

/curmudgeon

This is how I define too much fat too.

So how much it works out to be, of course, is determined by the rest of the diet. I tend to eat more fat, as a percentage, when I'm eating less (as a percentage) lower fiber non fruit or veg carbs (for these purposes I don't really count grains or starchy sides like potatoes as veg, although I know some do, and that certainly doesn't mean I demonize grains (even refined) or potatoes/sweet potatoes, which have a decent amt of nutrients).

This research is really interesting! Dr. David Ludwig, an endocrinologist, explains the "Framingham State Food Study" (**starting around 25.00 minutes into the video) where there were 3 groups eating the same 20% protein, but different ratios of fats and carbs...
https://youtu.be/OK1zePxBJu4