I have been on a diet for 4 months and 3 weeks. I have lost 93 pounds in that amount of time. My starting weight was 485 pounds. I am eating a low-fat diet and have stopped eating all meat. I do eat seafood, beans, grains, fruit, and vegetables. My question is I have been eating approximately 8 grams of fat per day and approximately 2000 calories. Is this healthy?
Do I have to worry about eating so little fat and so many calories? It seems to be working but I am a little worried that I am not be eating enough fat.
Your weight loss has been about 4.9 pounds per week, which is faster than recommended. The concern is that fast weight loss most often is due to loss of some muscle weight along with the fat. Would recommend that you slow your weight loss because you will be more likely to keep the weight off.
A low-fat eating plan that includes a variety of foods is a good idea. The fact that you don’t eat meat (beef, pork, chicken or turkey), but that you do eat beans and grains in addition to seafood should provide you with enough protein. I guess you would call yourself a pescatarian
You were right to be concerned about your fat intake. The risk you take in eating very low fat is developing a fatty acid deficiency. At your current level, you probably aren’t using any polyunsaturated margarine or oil. Make sure you get at least 1 teaspoon of oil per day for the fatty acids.
Eight grams of fat in 2000 calories is about 3.6% fat. I would not recommend less than 10% or 22 grams of fat in 2000 calories. You should increase your fat intake to 22 to 67 grams of fat if you continue to eat 2000 calories. Have you tried the Healthy Body Calculator®? You can include your weight and nutrition goals including adjusting the levels of fat intake. Your Nutrition Facts report will include the number of grams of fat to eat.
The other issue is 2000 calories is fine until your weight loss stops. Then you will need to re-evaluate your calorie needs to continue losing weight. After every 10-pound weight loss, redo the Healthy Body Calculator® to determine your calorie needs for continued weight loss. Remember though not to go below 1200 calories per day.
