Can I ask another low fat diet question...

[Angel]

Really, I think this will be the last one. Maybe Quiver can help since she's lost so much weight with a low fat diet.

I've never counted fat grams before. If I stay around 40-45 fat grams a day (I think that's what I figured out, have to recheck that), do I need to count calories too?? It seems much easier to count the fat grams, but I'm not paying attention to calories now. Will I not lose weight if I don't count calories as well? It seems that some things have no fat, but still have some calories.


Why is losing weight and getting healthy such effort!!???:ack2:

Thanks again for your help!!

[Cathy in IL]

It depends. You can eat things that are low fat, but still high in calories. If you eat more calories than your body uses, you will gain weight whether it is all low fat or not. If you are eating fresh vegetables and food that are low in calories as well as fat, you don't need to count every calorie. I tend to pay close attention to calories too, but it comes naturally and easily to me. You ultimately need a plan that will work for you and that you will stick with.

[Alexandra]

the 20/30 plan by Dr. Gabe Mirkin. I think some folks here have posted about this diet. I believe that you take in 20 grams of fat and 30 grams of fiber. You could probably get the book from the library. The author also has a website.
Good Luck!

[Quiver0f10]

I recommend joining spakpeople.com and tracking what you eat there for a bit. It will set up what amounts you should aim for each day and it really helps to keep it in check. I eat @ 10% of my calories from fat.

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

the 20/30 plan by Dr. Gabe Mirkin. I think some folks here have posted about this diet. I believe that you take in 20 grams of fat and 30 grams of fiber. You could probably get the book from the library. The author also has a website.
Good Luck!

Dr. Mirkin recommends a veggie/whole grain/seafood diet. In his earlier book, Fat-Free, Flavor Full, he says you can eat a regular (dinner out) meal once a week. My dh and I followed this for 18 months and lost a lot of weight - my dh actually got too skinny. We ate large quanties of food (grains, beans, veggie) and were never hungry. I would recommend that you buy lots of BEANO in the beginning until your body adjusts!! I would have stayed on it if I could have incorporated more seafood into it, but since I'm allergic to most of it, I was limited to grains/beans/veggies :-(

Since his books have come out, there has been a lot of promoting of "healthy fats", so I don't know how these healthy fats can be incorporated into the 20/30 formula.

Hth,
K

[abbeyej]

You can absolutely maintain or even gain weight on a low fat diet, if your caloric intake is too high. If you're eating very little fat, then excessive calories will come from carbs -- the worst being refined sugars and flours.

You may remember in the early/mid 90s when low fat diets were all the rage. People imagined that they would lose weight simply by limiting fat -- but for many of them their sugar consumption went way up. That was the era of SnackWells cookies, lol, and other "non-fat" (but high cal) snacks. It didn't work well. It wasn't because "low fat" was a bad idea -- it was because high sugar is a *terrible* idea. ;)

I lost 26lbs in 2 months earlier this year following the Eat to Live (http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Live-Revolutionary-Formula-Sustained/dp/0316735507) plan (and have kept it off since then), and I highly recommend it. My parents have been doing it for a month now (at dh and my encouragement) and have lost about 15lbs each so far. It's not an "easy" diet, but it's *simple* to follow, very, very healthy, and it works. It's a great diet for losing weight and lowering cholesterol too.

[Angel]

Thanks all for the replies. I thought that my reasoning was off. Especially after I posted and looked at a can of Coke. No fat in that but you couldn't live on a diet of my favorite red can:lol:

Really, I do appreciate the help. I have used Spark People but I haven't used it consistently lately.

I am having an especially hard time this week as it is almost "that time" and I'm craving food something horribly. Not to mention that I've exercised every day for 20 min (one day 30) and I have gained 2lbs. It's probably pms weight, but at this point those 2lbs puts me at the highest weight I ever want to be when I'm NOT pregnant.

Thanks for taking time to help me out!

Angel