Is peanut butter good for losing body fat?

Peanut butter is primarily a source of fat, not protein.

Calorie wise it's a poor choice for protein and calorie restriction / weight loss. That's not to say you can't fit some PB into your overall diet of course as it's your entire diet that determines your calorie balance.

You should be weighing in grams how much you are eating as it's extremely easy to eat more than you intend as it's very calorie dense and delicious.

amberchen86 wrote: »

I eat too much peanut butter everyday just about.Tsp 4g protein which is easy for me to get lots protein.Does anyone know is peanut butter a good choice for losing body fat and build muscle? I am trying to loose body fat not weight.

No.

**calories and fat

There is nothing wrong with eating peanuts and other nuts. I do it every day. All are fats and are good for you. Eating fats does not make you fat-- over-eating overall makes you gain weight. The portion size for calorie dense foods is important, so it can be a good idea to weigh out what you will eat, at least for a while until you get a good eye for the portion.

I personally shoot for getting about 30 - 50% of my calories from fats depending on what exercise I'm doing in that day. (For which I add more carbos.)

In the same vein: eating protein will not make you muscular. You need to use your muscles to get muscular, eating enough protein to support that. How much protein exactly is a big debate that you can find elsewhere. I can just say that I eat on the lower end of those estimates.

There’s a spreadsheet linked in this thread that is a useful source for figuring out how to get protein in a way that meets your needs. https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10247171/carbs-and-fats-are-cheap-heres-a-guide-to-getting-your-proteins-worth-fiber-also

Peanuts are a legume. One ounce of peanuts = 7 gms of protein. One ounce of full fat yogurt = 8.5 gms of protein. One ounce of roast beef = 8 gms of protein.

Hi, Amber.
I eat very high protein, and my food diary is open. I eat a lot of meat, cottage cheese, skyr, homemade liquid whey, and plain powdered whey.

Boneless skinless chicken breast is low calorie and high protein. There are cuts of beef and pork that are also very low calorie and high protein. I can slice a roast into small steaks for grilling, or may dice and sauté with onions for a tasty sandwich.

Likewise, a pork loin can be sliced into medallions to grill or roast, or put in a crockpot with barbecue or taco sauce.

I add cottage cheese to a lot of foods. I add it to pancakes (moister!) and smoothies (creamy!).

Unflavored whey powder hides easily in baked goods or smoothies.

I make homemade ice cream every night with fat free skyr or Greek yogurt. You can make a crazy easy cream cheese spread with greek yogurt that’s high protein.

Beef jerky is my go-to snack when I’m low on protein.

Game night with girlfriends tonight will be high calorie pasta. I’ll be taking a big dish of boiled shrimp for me and a vegetarian friend. Super high protein and very low calorie.

Eating lots of protein isn’t going to build muscles. You’ve got to exercise.

First of all, you’ve just had surgery. Allow your self time to heal!!!! Don’t push beyond what your medical team recommends.

My trainer explained to me that cardio would slim me down, weight training would build me up.

Common sense tells you runners get calf muscles, bikers get thigh and calf, weight lifters tend towards thighs arms and shoulders. You can tell a runner by their legs, right? So I guess it depends on where you want to work on, what you personally feel is attractive, but above all, what do you enjoy and will get in the habit of doing regularly.

If you’re worried about losing weight by doing cardio (or any other exercise), the solution is very simple. Eat more! (Yay!!!!)

And by the way, if your surgery was that recent, honey, give yourself a break.

I split a bunch of stitches open following surgery because I thought I knew more than my doctor. I have extensive scarring to prove it, and the healing process was awful because the new stitches weren’t on “clean cuts”. They had to patch the raggedy *kitten* splits up. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Stupid stupid stupid hardheadedness.

Remember, too, you’ll have a LOT of water gain and bloating following surgery since your body kinda sort redirects water to injuries for healing, whether it’s sore muscles after a new workout or surgery healing.

It is higher in fat than protein, but I think it’s fine as long as you’re hitting your desired calorie goal and protein macro. Personally, I’m very careful with peanut butter because it’s so calorically dense. Peanut butter does taste really good 😫

@decadentrue : I think you used the wrong emoji: "Peanut butter does taste really good 🤤."

I eat nuts with oatmeal every morning. You can mix a measured amount of peanut butter in hot oatmeal with cool berries and Greek yogurt on top. Pretty tasty 🤤.

32 grams of plain peanut butter (just peanuts and salt), which is two tablespoons, has 180 calories and 8 grams of protein, which is 1/5 my protein minimum for the day and much less than 1/5 my calories for the day. So for me, it's a good protein source.

I often eat maybe 16 grams of peanut butter or less at a time, though, and have a collection of nut and seed butters for variety.

I also like to eat roasted peanuts in the shell or shelled. It's a legume and I treat it that way in my diet. So I will add it like other legumes to various other foods.

I don't eat a lot of bread with it because I need to limit wheat. Sometimes I just combine it with raw veg as a sandwich filling (try shredded carrots and chopped onion with it or really any crunchy veg like broccoli slaw) or instead of bread I might use a cabbage leaf or large leaf lettuce as the container. Peanut butter with just apple slices or carrots or celery is pretty classic. Other nut and seed butters and their blends work as well. I also like a large amount of greens with peanut butter etc. in a simple sandwich.

I don't care how it compares to meat or fish or dairy or egg because I don't eat those. I can guarantee that you can lose a lot of weight while still eating peanut butter, though. It all depends on what else you are eating. It's just food.