% Calories from Fat seem High

[thunderation]

Hello everyone! I've been on PP for about 2 weeks now and have lost 7 pounds. Everything is going well as my body adjusts to the changes in my diet.

I've been entering everything I eat into FitDay and am surprised by what I am seeing. Specifically, as a percent of total calories I am consuming:
FAT = 56% calories (average 80g/day)
PROTEIN = 37% calories (average 121g/day)
CARBS = 4% calories (average 27/day)

I know fat has more calories than the other macronutrients, but 56% seems high. The book said not to worry about fat intake but those FitDay pie charts are scary with those stats!

http://www.thunderations.com/images/chart.jpg

What do you guys think? Any comments are appreciated!

[cmcole]

I think that looks about right, but who am I to say?
Let me look at mine, and see in comparison, what it might be.

Yesterday, for example (and I probably ate more than I should have):

Calories Eaten Today

grams cals%total
Total: 1425
Fat:89 798 58%
Sat:35 317 23%
Poly:10 87 6%
Mono:33 293 21%
Carbs:34 82 6%
Fiber:14 0 0%
Protein:126 504 36%
Alcohol:0 0 0%
The day before:

Calories Eaten Today

grams cals%total
Total: 1336
Fat:95 854 65%
Sat:37 329 25%
Poly:8 75 6%
Mono:40 356 27%
Carbs:22 70 5%
Fiber:4 0 0%
Protein:96 385 29%
Alcohol:0 0 0%

[laughingW]

Not to worry. When your carbs go down, the protein and fat percentages go up, because it always has to come out to 100%.

If you look at your total fat *grams* instead of percentages, it's 80, and if you were eating a 2000 calorie diet chock full of carbs, that would only be 30-35% fat calories, not that alarming.

This is why Dr. Mike on his blogs disses the whole idea of talking about percent instead of grams. Mostly for protein but it applies to fat and carb too.

[Mitra]

I averaged about 55% fat over six months of journalling. Protein is mainly used by your body for building and repairing. Your energy to maintain your metabolism, keep your heart beating, and fuel your daily activities has to come from carbs or fat (and the fat can be your body fat, or fat that you eat). So if you're not eating much in the way of carbs, your fat levels are going to be much higher than you're used to seeing.

You're getting enough protein, and you're burning some body fat, so it sounds fine - just not what you're used to. Sometimes the mental adjustments take longer than the physical ones ;).

[thunderation]

Good to know becuase I feel fine and the weight is dropping. But it's always good to hear how others are fairing.

Thanks for the input!

[deirdra]

I do best on 65% calories from fat and lost all my weight and have been maintaining on this much fat. But I am very sensitive to carbs and do best on 30g ECC (~50g total carbs since I eat tons of veggies). I can eat 40-50 ECC occasionally with no problem, but doing it every day brings back cravings.

None of my previous diets (including PP) or maintainance were successful when I was restricted my fat in the 10-60% range.

[Kathy]

I do best on 65% calories from fat and lost all my weight and have been maintaining on this much fat. But I am very sensitive to carbs and do best on 30g ECC (~50g total carbs since I eat tons of veggies). I can eat 40-50 ECC occasionally with no problem, but doing it every day brings back cravings.

None of my previous diets (including PP) or maintainance were successful when I was restricted my fat in the 10-60% range.

I do my best on higher fat too. I lost more weight keeping my fat intake around 65-70%. Like you, I also try to restrict my carbs to around 30 ECC, and occasionally I go up to 40 with no cravings. :)

[miralin]

Did you all listen to that interview with Stephen Phinney? When he was doing his studies, he had his subjects at 85% fat/15% protein (calorie wise) and they did remarkably well.

I was kind of stunned, mainly because of the years of food pyramid preaching, but it inspired me enough that I don't worry about fat points if the carbs stay sufficiently low.

[Belfrybat]

About three months ago I upped my ECC to 50-55 and have been getting around 45-50% fat these days. Before that my average fat intake was 60-65%. I've lost 34 lbs. since June 2005. I'll admit it isn't a stellar loss, but at 57, I'm grateful to be losing at all. And I'm only 20 lbs. from goal.

Read Dr. Mike's blog on fat, both the current and the one past article. And he states that tomorrow he's going to blog on saturated fats -- that should be a doozy!