How much fat per day?

[crecia1975 4]

I was banded about a month ago. I've been making sure I get all of my Protein, Vitamins, Water and fruit/veggie. I haven't been keeping track of how much my fat intake is. My doctor said not to focus on fat while I was in the blended stage, but focus more on the protein. I've still made good choices while I've been in the blended phase. I start my solids on Wednesday and I want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to utilize this great tool. I'm not afraid of eating too much since I measure all of my food and I plan out my meals for the week to get the best protein intake. I am just cluess as to how much fat would be considered a good or bad amount. Can anyone shed some light on this for me? Thanks.

[isaviolinist 11]

I dont know if this is the right answer, but for me, looking back at my food logs, on average, my diet ends up being 1/3 fat, 1/3 Protein, 1/3 carbs. Its pretty even. That seems to work okay for me. Two weekends ago I no carbed it for 2 days (I was trying to break through a plateau) and on those days, it was roughly 47% percent protein, 48% fat, 5% carbs. You should check out fitday.com to log your food. When you log your food, fitday creates a pie chart for your day showing percentage of fat carbs and protein (and also alcohol but I dont really drink alcohol so thats never a factor for me). They also have pie graphs for all individual foods (incuding foods that you custom enter) and you can also see pie graphs for longer lengths of time (like 1 month or 6 months...so you can so your overall trend). Its great, especially for monitoring your protein intake. If you're aiming for a certain number (say 65g of protein a day), it makes it really easy to track that. I log my food (literally everything single thing that goes in my mouth) on fitday and its been absolutely invaluable. When I don't log, I dont do as well. You can also track your exercise on there as well.

[crecia1975 4]

Thank you very much isaviolinist.

I log my food and exercise, but I need to start logging it on fitday. It sounds like a great tool and will help me when I go to see the doctor for my first fill. This will be a big help if I get to a point where I'm not losing anything.

Thanks again!

[isaviolinist 11]

Thank you very much isaviolinist.

I log my food and exercise, but I need to start logging it on fitday. It sounds like a great tool and will help me when I go to see the doctor for my first fill. This will be a big help if I get to a point where I'm not losing anything.

Thanks again!

No problem! I love logging online - everything is just so much neater and more organized. And I love that I can see automatically how much of each group I'm eating. And I can budget my calories for the day very easily. Sometimes I put in a proposed plan for the day so I can see if it will work with my calorie budget...or if I want to have a snack at night, I can enter it in before I eat it to see if I will be able to have it and stay within my calorie range for the day. So helpful!

[TracieCat 8]

I am sure every Doctor has different things that they want patients to shoot for. For mine, he recommends no more than 20 grams of fat a day, although with getting my Proteins and healthy fats in there, I am tending to be more in the 25 or 26 grams area.

[isaviolinist 11]

I am sure every Doctor has different things that they want patients to shoot for. For mine, he recommends no more than 20 grams of fat a day, although with getting my Proteins and healthy fats in there, I am tending to be more in the 25 or 26 grams area.

This is actually about my average too. My fat intake is anywhere between 18-30g a day. I don't eat red meat, pork or poultry so I get my Protein from seafood, tofu, Beans, nuts etc. So if I eat an item thats higher in Omega-3 fats (like salmon) or if I have Peanut Butter or soy products/beans that contain essential fatty acids like edamame then my fat intake will be higher. But these essential fatty acids are good for general health so I don't avoid them.

[TracieCat 8]

This is actually about my average too. My fat intake is anywhere between 18-30g a day. I don't eat red meat, pork or poultry so I get my Protein from seafood, tofu, Beans, nuts etc. So if I eat an item thats higher in Omega-3 fats (like salmon) or if I have Peanut Butter or soy products/beans that contain essential fatty acids like edamame then my fat intake will be higher. But these essential fatty acids are good for general health so I don't avoid them.

I am working on trying to get some Beans and nuts in my diet more as well since I know they are so healthy for us and the Fiber boost plus the Protein is a good thing. What kinds of beans do you like best? So far, have only been intaking some black beans and some chick peas and going to pick up some almonds later this week to start adding to my oatmeal in slivers or in other things.

[isaviolinist 11]

Well I really do love Edamame. So delicious and healthy for you. Here is an edamame burger recipe that is a staple in my diet (I make these almost once a week). Violinist With A Band: Edamame Burger Recipe

If there is a supermarket near you that has raw edamame on their salad bar (like Whole Foods), you can skip the step where you cook the edamame. This recipe also uses the whole grain millet which is an awesome, very underused food (its actually a seed).

I also make falafel and hummus a lot (chickpeas). I bake the falafel instead of deep frying. If you like the fried taste of falafel you could pan fry them using a nonstick pan and some cooking spray.

I'm a sucker for Peanut Butter too. Its fine if you just watch how much of it you're eating and make sure you budget your calories for it.

Sometimes I do a bean dip with black Beans and fat free refried Beans with tofu which is so yummy. I do a similar vegetarian chili with kidney and pinto beans (and tofu).

And I have a recipe for a great red lentil Soup (lentils are beans!) with barley (which is a great source of fiber).

[btrieger 21]

Fat in general is not bad.

You should try and keep trans fat to 0 and saturated fat to less than 20 grams a day.

Talk to Pam or David at Dr Kim's office. They'll be happy to answer.

[crecia1975 4]

Fat in general is not bad.

You should try and keep trans fat to 0 and saturated fat to less than 20 grams a day.

Talk to Pam or David at Dr Kim's office. They'll be happy to answer.

Thanks for the response.

You're right. I just need to call Dr. Kim's office. I just feel like I have stupid questions, but I know they will answer anything I ask.

[btrieger 21]

Thanks for the response.

You're right. I just need to call Dr. Kim's office. I just feel like I have stupid questions, but I know they will answer anything I ask.

There is NO such thing as a stupid question! Especially when it comes to your health and well-being!

[bambam31 168]

In late November I completed a 17 week period of food journaling in Fitday. I like to do that from time to time to keep an eye on how I'm doing. My fat intake averaged 108g a day for 34% overall intake from fat, but only 10% of that was saturated. Avg. calorie intake was 2,886 with 320g of carbs and 165g of Protein.

Brad