Counting calories Vs counting fat grams

dark crystal

Hi all,

A few years back, after having my third child, I had put on a lot of weight...I ended up around the 16 stone mark (size 20-22).

Having decided to lose the weight, I noticed that many food & drink products were labelled in fat grams per portion, as opposed to the hassle of having to count every calorie, I thought counting the amount of fat grams I consumed per day would be a lot easier.

Anyway, it is generally accepted that a woman's daily recommended intake of fat grams should not exceed 70 grams. Bearing this in mind, I decided to take in no more than 20 grams a day. On this plan, I lost 6 stone in just under a year ( 11 months) and dropped from a size 20/22 to a size 12 with no ill-effects at all (in fact, I felt way healthier!)

I didn't ever screen any foods for calorie content at all...which allowed me to eat unlimited fat free foods such as yoghurts, fruit, veg, sweets etc. and still drink alcohol whenever I liked too.

It certainly worked for me, so I was just wondering really, why is there so much emphasis on calorie consumption during diets as opposed to fat intake?

Blatter

Limiting your fats to 20g a day is not healthy. Your body needs fats. They are your friend. (apart from trans fats and veg oil)

The reason you lost weight is because you obviously cut calories by reducing your fat intake so much. You probably know that though, it's not rocket science. Reduction in calories = weight loss.

But lots of people lose weight this way and the vast majority pile it all back on- and more, as it's an unsustainable diet for the majority of people to adhere to and just down right unhealthy.

dark crystal

I may have cut down on food calories, but things such as alcohol, boiled sweets, yoghurts, carbonated drinks and fruit juice still contain quite a few calories, even if they are fat free and they all add up, although you can pretty much consume as much of these things as you like on a fat free diet without felling guilty.

That's the sort of difference I'm talking about between calorie counting and fat gram counting.

I also don't think it is unhealthy, as I am consuming fat in things like lean red meat, chicken, olive oil, oven chips, eggs, oily fish etc. as well as eating brown rice, pasta and as much fruit and veg as I can handle! Drank lots of water too.

I did completely steer clear of cheese, nuts and chocolate though!

You can consume 20 gms of fat a day and still feel incredibly full and healthy. Really!

I also allowed myself a chinese takeaway every Friday night as a special treat. Hot and Sour soup and either a chicken chow mein, or a chicken chop suey with boiled rice. Chicken with broccolli in black pepper was a favourite too.

I don't think that's an unhealthy diet, personally,

Mellor

You lost weight as you restricted calories, nothing else.

dark crystal wrote: »

I may have cut down on food calories, but things such as alcohol, boiled sweets, yoghurts, carbonated drinks and fruit juice still contain quite a few calories, even if they are fat free and they all add up, although you can pretty much consume as much of these things as you like on a fat free diet without felling guilty.

No you can't.

I also don't think it is unhealthy, as I am consuming fat in things like lean red meat, chicken, olive oil, oven chips, eggs, oily fish etc. as well as eating brown rice, pasta and as much fruit and veg as I can handle! Drank lots of water too.

If you are eating those foods, I don't see how you were under 20g.

I also allowed myself a chinese takeaway every Friday night as a special treat. Hot and Sour soup and either a chicken chow mein, or a chicken chop suey with boiled rice. Chicken with broccolli in black pepper was a favourite too.

That's more than 20g fat too.

I don't think that's an unhealthy diet, personally,

Your body needs fat to function. The reason that you managed for so long on such a reduced fat intake was because you were overweight. In order to lose fat, your body converted it to a form that could be used for energy in the bloodstream. This could of been enough for you then. But its not healthy, nor will it work long term.

corkcomp

OP, I knew as soon as I read your post that it would spark a lot of comments about the low fat element. Well done on the weight loss, its a huge success by the sound of it. Unlimited fruit, vegetables and water is a solid base for any diet IMO and it could well be that these low calorie foods filled you up and cut out the bad stuff. I would not advise eating unlimited ammounts of sugar though, everything in moderation!

dark crystal

Mellor wrote: »

You lost weight as you restricted calories, nothing else.

I never said my calories weren't reduced - they were just not something I ever paid attention to, as others on strictly calorie controlled diets do. I only ever went by how many grams of fat were in each meal.

No you can't.

If you are on a calorie controlled diet, alcohol, boiled sweets, carbonated drinks etc. all contain calories, but only very bare traces of fat. Therefore, on a fat gram controlled diet, they barely count at all.

If you are eating those foods, I don't see how you were under 20g.

Red meat - a lean fillet steak grilled is only 5-6 grams of fat per portion.
Grilled Gammon steak with pineapple is only 5 grams of fat
2 Tesco living rindless rashers grilled are only 2 grams of fat
250 grams of Tesco reduced fat beef mince is 7 grams of fat

Chicken - 1 chicken breast is 3.6 grams of fat

Olive oil - one tsp. is 7 grams of fat

Eggs - 1 medium egg scrambled with a drop of low fat milk is 6 grams of fat. 1 medium boiled egg is 5 grams of fat.

Oily fish - 150 grams of tuna is 1-2 grams of fat. 1 tin of sardines in spring water is 7 grams of fat.

Oven chips - 100 grams of McCain homefries (chunky) is 3.1 grams of fat.

I'd also add I can eat a whole chargrilled chicken and pesto pizza (could be Pizza Express...the name escapes me at the moment) which contains 11 grams of fat.

That's more than 20g fat too.

Indeed. That's why I said it was a treat once a week.

Your body needs fat to function. The reason that you managed for so long on such a reduced fat intake was because you were overweight. In order to lose fat, your body converted it to a form that could be used for energy in the bloodstream. This could of been enough for you then. But its not healthy, nor will it work long term.

Yes, it is great for losing weight. However, when you reach your goal and just want to maintain your weight, you can up your fat gram intake by 5 and then 10 grams, while still watching the overall amount you take in every day.

El_Dangeroso

A diet so low in fat is guaranteed to be deficient in fat soluble vitamins. Not healthy. Even the conventional advice recommends more fat than you're eating.

Bottle_of_Smoke

I'm a high fat diet fan, but I do think dark crystal raises an interesting point.

Calories are a bitch of a thing to keep track of. as they're measured in the thousands per day people can't keep track of them so easily.

Perhaps this is why weight watchers points method is so attractive to people, as they're just far easier to keep track of. Maybe we should use megajoules instead.

average daily recalorie requirement for men = 10.5megajoules. 8.4 for average woman


average frozen pizza - 3.5-4 megajoules
Bottle of wine - 2 megajoules
bottle of coke - 1 megajoule


Not perfect obviously, but I think could be handier as a general guide than 2000 calories a day

El_Dangeroso

Eating only a tiny amount of fat will reduce calorie intake just by making food less rewarding, still doesn't mean it's healthy though.

I'm not a fan of counting anything and I shudder at measuring the worth of a food to your body by measuring how much energy it produces by burning it, but If you're gonna count anything it might as well be calories. There's loads of apps out there if keeping track is a hassle.

Mellor

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

Perhaps this is why weight watchers points method is so attractive to people, as they're just far easier to keep track of. Maybe we should use megajoules instead.

average daily recalorie requirement for men = 10.5megajoules. 8.4 for average woman

for somebody who lives in a country where kilojoules are the norm for food labels, I can assure you that counting in joules is far far harder.
For a start, most foods are an even joule amount, calories isn't difficult.

If your intake is 2400, and you want to have 4-6 meals, then make sure each meal is 600-400 calories. You don't need to track the whole day. Just be consistant with you food.

Mellor

And to look at your food chpices

dark crystal wrote: »

Red meat - a lean fillet steak grilled is only 5-6 grams of fat per portion.

Very lean steak is about 6-7g per 100g
100g is not a "portion".

Eggs - 1 medium egg scrambled with a drop of low fat milk is 6 grams of fat. 1 medium boiled egg is 5 grams of fat.

That's probably right too, again 1 egg scrambled is a pityful amount.

Oven chips - 100 grams of McCain homefries (chunky) is 3.1 grams of fat.

I ahd to check the website there, but 100g is 6.2g of fat (3.1 is 50g of chips)

100g is a tiny amount here. 50 even less so.

I'd also add I can eat a whole chargrilled chicken and pesto pizza (could be Pizza Express...the name escapes me at the moment) which contains 11 grams of fat.

Don't know the brand or the size


either way, its immediately obvious that if you are eating those find of food, that your quantities and portion sizes are way too small.
I'm all for reducing portion size to reduce calories. But I reduce the whole meal and not the fat containign portions only.

In fact i probably reduce the carb dense foods more in favour for greens ans such.

Bottle_of_Smoke

Mellor wrote: »

for somebody who lives in a country where kilojoules are the norm for food labels, I can assure you that counting in joules is far far harder.
For a start, most foods are an even joule amount, calories isn't difficult.

If your intake is 2400, and you want to have 4-6 meals, then make sure each meal is 600-400 calories. You don't need to track the whole day. Just be consistant with you food.

Well kilojoules seem like the worst of both worlds, with megajoules you get small numbers, which I think may be easier for a lot of people, hence why weightwatchers is so attractive to people.

I see your logic, have never actually needed to count calories myself, just for those who do, I can see why it could be hard to keep track of

SteelyDanJalapeno

Eating Fat does not equal more fat on the body!!! this needs to be a tv advert or something,

its unfortunate that the food source "fat" shares the same name as an overweight person

curlywurly26

First off, well done on the weight loss Dark Crystal - that's fabulous!

The way people lose weight is by burning more calories (energy) than they eat. The food types that contain most calories are fats and carbs so by cutting down on fat intake, you are also cutting down heavily on calorie intake which is why it works! But at the end of the day, people count calories as that's what matters. I personally don't find counting calories very hard - most packages have all this printed on them and once you do it for a while, you can pretty much guess or know what is in everything.

I don't see a problem with a low fat diet - the problem is when people try to cut it out completely! Dark Crystal hasn't ever said she's cutting out all fats, she's getting them from healthy sources like nuts, meat, eggs, etc. I'll agree 20g seems very low for long term as it's quite a bit below the minimum recommended but for a short term fix it's probably fine.

All you'd need to be careful of is that fat isn't the only thing you look at - things can be low fat and full of calories or salt or have little nutrition whereas things like nuts and avocados are high fat but really good for you. People who count calories can also have the problem of eating low calorie food that's not actually heathly either so this is true no matter what diet you're on! As they say, everything in moderation! Means you'll get all your nutrients and stay slim and healthy!

Mellor

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

Well kilojoules seem like the worst of both worlds, with megajoules you get small numbers, which I think may be easier for a lot of people, hence why weightwatchers is so attractive to people.

I see your logic, have never actually needed to count calories myself, just for those who do, I can see why it could be hard to keep track of

Mega or Kilo are jsut prefixes, the scale is the same. I don't see how counting 1, 2, 3 is easier than 1000, 2000, 3000.

Counting in Mj gives small numbers, but trying to add up say a sandwich for example

Bread - 2 slices = 200 calories
Butter = 30 calories
Ham = 50 calories
Salad = nil
total = 280

or in Mj

Bread = .84
butter = .12
Ham = .21
Salad = nil
Total = 1.17 Mj

a mega joule is pretty big and rounding it to the nearest whole number, could cause a lot of variance

SheRa

I count calories and count fat grams at the same time. By counting fat grams, I mean I make sure to get at least around a third of my calories diet is from good fats. if I ate as little as 20g Id be starving and I doubt my heart, skin etc would thank me for it.

Your body needs good fats OP.

dark crystal

After reading the thread through, I decided to up my fat gram intake to 40 grams a day instead - have managed to put on 2 lbs in the process!

I wasn't eating 'bad' fats, but I used two eggs instead of one for scrambled eggs, added a slice of cheddar cheese to my tuna sandwich, added nuts into my diet and added extra olive oil to my salads. Things like that.

So, I'll probably go back to 20 grams, just to kick start the weight loss again and only start increasing it when I reach my goal weight.

Just as a matter of interest, I was reading up about low carb dieting and this appears to be better in terms of losing weight than low-fat dieting. There also seems to be much evidence that it is better for your heart than low-fat dieting.

Has anyone tried both and if so, what did you find better? The low carb diet seems like it would be pretty hard to stick to!!

Kimia

So many people say that but personally I have found that a low carb high fat diet is the easiest of all to stick to. I have eaten this way for almost 2 years now. I still have days when I go bad on useless carbs such as bread, bagels, pasta etc but whatever, it's not the end of the world.

The best feeling for me is that when I eat low carb i feel so skinny! i know there's probably not much change in the scales but my stomach is so flat and there's no bloating at all. I feel satisfied and never hungry and I just love eating that way. I still have problems with going over my calories for the day and that's why I'm not like 8 stone but it's the healthiest way for me anyway.

El_Dangeroso

dark crystal wrote: »

After reading the thread through, I decided to up my fat gram intake to 40 grams a day instead - have managed to put on 2 lbs in the process!

I'm not surprised, if you kept everything else equal then you just amped up how rewarding your food was, though I doubt the 2lb were 'real pounds' ie fat tissue. Would take a lot more than 20g a day extra fat to put on that weight.

You're gonna have to start dealing with raising fat at some point, you just cannot eat that way for the rest of your life. Plus you're gonna have to rebound a little in weight (even though your clothes fit you the same) when you maintain.

Same goes for low carb (prob more so for low carb) or calorie counting. You just have to let your body settle in to a 'set point' which can be about 7lb from your lowest ever weight.

The key with maintaining is to keep an eye on trends. If you freak out with every 2-5lb move of the scale you'll drive yourself crazy eventually.