Fat - How much is too much?

[nikki6]

I'm not sure how much fat is a healthy amount to have per day. Is 70 grams too much, provided most of it comes from almonds, natural pb, olive oil?

[gfundaro]

That just depends on your macro breakdown...I personally eat 90g a day because I'm on keto, but I ate much less when I was eating 40/40/20.

[Mrs_Muscles]

Like gfundaro said, it depends upon your macros. It also depends upon your caloric intake. The 40/40/20 is a good goal to shoot for, or something close to that. A gram of fat is 9 calories, so you are getting 630 calories from fat daily. If you are on a 1700 calorie diet you would only need about 340 calories from fat, or roughly 37 grams of fat daily.

We could give better and more information with a synopsis of your goals and current diet...

[nikki6]

Fat loss is the goal. I do weight training 4 times per week for approx. 30-40 mins, and cardio 3 times per week for 30-40 mins. I have a back injury right now, so lifting is very light and cardio is elliptical or walking. Should be back to lifting heavier in about a month.

Calories: 1715
Fat: 70
Carb: 107
Fiber: 36
Protein: 173

Meal 1:
1/3 cup oatmeal (sometimes w/cinammon)
Whey Shake

Meal 2 (post-workout):
Whey Shake
8 strawberries

Meal 3:
Tuna or Chicken on high fiber/low carb tortilla
1oz almonds

Meal 4:
Pure Protein Bar OR chicken salad
1oz almonds

Meal 5:
Chicken, Fish, or Turkey
2 cups Broccoli
6 Mushrooms
1/2 tbsp olive oil

Meal 6:
1 cup lowfat cottage cheese
1.5 tbsp natural peanut butter

[twinnett]

That's within an ok range for fats...around 35%...wouldn't get much higher...are you carb cycling? Those carbs are pretty low to be doing on a consistent basic

[Mrs_Muscles]

Originally Posted by twinnett

That's within an ok range for fats...around 35%...wouldn't get much higher...are you carb cycling? Those carbs are pretty low to be doing on a consistent basic

Agreed.
Otherwise the diet looks pretty good. Maybe try to get a bit more of the protein from food sources rather than supps if possible. Try egg whites with breakfast instead of the protein power etc. But I fully understand if you can't. I've certainly been in the position of just having to use supplements for convenience in a hectic schedule.
Keep at it and good luck!

[nikki6]

What's your opinion of a proper amount of carbs while trying to lose fat? I don't plan to keep my carbs at that level permanently...are you saying that the amount I'm eating is unhealthy? When I try to eat more carbs, I start gaining, and that's not the direction I'm trying to go in. I have tried carb cycling, but only for a few weeks....maybe I need to go back to that philosophy.

[terracotta]

Originally Posted by Mrs_Muscles

Like gfundaro said, it depends upon your macros. It also depends upon your caloric intake. The 40/40/20 is a good goal to shoot for, or something close to that. A gram of fat is 9 calories, so you are getting 630 calories from fat daily. If you are on a 1700 calorie diet you would only need about 340 calories from fat, or roughly 37 grams of fat daily.

We could give better and more information with a synopsis of your goals and current diet...

That's actually pretty low on the fats, and one reason I prefer to ignore the ratio thing. Personally I feel best hungerwise when I get at least 50 g of fats daily. When I reduce my calories, I try to reduce it from carbs mainly.

[terracotta]

Originally Posted by nikki6

Fat loss is the goal. I do weight training 4 times per week for approx. 30-40 mins, and cardio 3 times per week for 30-40 mins. I have a back injury right now, so lifting is very light and cardio is elliptical or walking. Should be back to lifting heavier in about a month.

Calories: 1715
Fat: 70
Carb: 107
Fiber: 36
Protein: 173

I'd lower the protein to 150, up the carbs to 150 and lower the fats to 60 (that's 1740 cals).

[Mrs_Muscles]

Originally Posted by terracotta

That's actually pretty low on the fats, and one reason I prefer to ignore the ratio thing. Personally I feel best hungerwise when I get at least 50 g of fats daily. When I reduce my calories, I try to reduce it from carbs mainly.

When I reduce cals I try to take it from carbs first too, then fat. But when my fat intake gets higher (even from healthy sources) my acne gets worse. I always read/thought that 20-30% of calories from healthy fat sources was a good goal?

[terracotta]

Originally Posted by Mrs_Muscles

When I reduce cals I try to take it from carbs first too, then fat. But when my fat intake gets higher (even from healthy sources) my acne gets worse. I always read/thought that 20-30% of calories from healthy fat sources was a good goal?

Yes, but these sources always assume a 2000 calorie diet. Someone eating less than 2000 calories can have a higher percentage of fats, and someone eating more than 2000 calories can have a lower percentage.

A much better number to go by is 0.35 * goal bodyweight in grams of fat (as a minimum). Your minimum fat needs do not change depending on how much/little you eat.

When you do not intake enough fats, you stall your fat loss efforts because you need fats to keep your hormones in balance.

If your acne increases, I'd eliminate different fat sources one at a time, and see what the cause is (I seem to get worse acne when I eat peanuts for instance).

[Mrs_Muscles]

Originally Posted by terracotta

Yes, but these sources always assume a 2000 calorie diet. Someone eating less than 2000 calories can have a higher percentage of fats, and someone eating more than 2000 calories can have a lower percentage.

A much better number to go by is 0.35 * goal bodyweight in grams of fat (as a minimum). Your minimum fat needs do not change depending on how much/little you eat.

When you do not intake enough fats, you stall your fat loss efforts because you need fats to keep your hormones in balance.

If your acne increases, I'd eliminate different fat sources one at a time, and see what the cause is (I seem to get worse acne when I eat peanuts for instance).

That makes sense. I definitely need to do some experimenting with the diet and see what is exactly causing the acne though. I know the more fat the worse it gets, but even on a totally clean diet I'll get nasty breakouts out of no where. I don't really eat much peanut butter, I'm more of an almond gal... I'd cry if it was those