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Conference rocks::weight_control

Title: Weight Loss and Maintenance
Notice:**PLEASE** enter notes in mixed case (CAPS ARE SHOUTING)!
Moderator:ASICS::LESLIE
Created:Tue Jul 10 1990
Last Modified:Tue Jun 03 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:933
Total number of notes:9931

827.0. "How much fat do you need to consume?" by BINKLY::FRANCESCHI (wild child) Fri Sep 17 1993 01:09

    I've looked around a bit in here, but couldn't find the answer to my
    question...
    
    Would anyone know how much fat you do need on a daily basis?
    And would that figure be different if you were trying to reduce
    your body fat?
    
    thnx,
    /gina
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827.1I agree with you Mike Z...PURCH7::OSHAUGHNESSYLet LIFE be your GOALFri Sep 17 1993 01:289
    
    
    See  Mike Z's     715.2...
    
    Sounds good in my book !!!
    
    Or DIR/TITLE=FAT brings up several notes on fat.
    
    Laurie O
827.2BINKLY::FRANCESCHIwild childFri Sep 17 1993 01:3310
    thanks for the quick answer Laurie!      :-)
    
    i did find that and read several of the notes on fat, but what i've
    found is how much to restrict fat to, ie: don't have more than n
    grams or n%...
    
    i'm wondering about how much you SHOULD eat and stay healthy on a 
    bodyfat reducing food plan...
    
    /gina
827.3PURCH7::OSHAUGHNESSYLet LIFE be your GOALFri Sep 17 1993 01:4515
    
    
    I don't consider 15-20% a restriction per say.  That is a level most
    nutritionist recommend.  If you are trying to lose weight 1200-1500
    calories 15-20% fat.  
    
    If you are trying to maintain then it takes some experimentation with 
    how many calories you need to maintain (Karen put a good chart in here 
    somewhere how to calculate this, I don't know where off top of my head 
    HELP, SOMEONE).  But still the 15-20% applies when you are maintaing 
    your weight.
    
    Maybe someone else can add more....  Karen... Mike ...
    
    LO
827.4yeah - what's the minimum?GOLLY::CARROLLsomething inside so strongFri Sep 17 1993 18:5211
    Gina, I asked the same question a while ago - what is the *minimum* fat
    percentage (everyone likes talking about maximums).  I got no answers.
    
    My fat % has gone up since then (I got less paranoid about eating fat)
    so I'm not worried now, but at the time I was eating about 10% fat,
    which is 1/3 of the "maximum" recommended.  I have been told that fat
    is necessary to carry nutrients to the body, but no one ever says how
    much - it's like there's this basic assumption that every diet has
    *enough*, and some have too much.  I wonder if that's true.
    
    D!
827.5PURCH7::OSHAUGHNESSYLet LIFE be your GOALFri Sep 17 1993 19:1315
    
    
    I've read as little as 10% or as much as 30% fat.  As anything else,
    these are just guidlines, there is no magic number.  I still believe that 
    you have do what feels right for your body.  Some people can function on 
    10% calories from fat, and that's fine for them, but another can get 
    seriously ill.  You still have to remember you body *DOES* need some
    dietary fat.
    
    I average about 15%-18%... Some days a little more (p-nut butter days), 
    some days less.  I feel that I've found where I'm comfortable, for me, 
    for my body.  This is a level, where I don't have to give it much
    thought either and is not a struggle. 
    
    LO 
827.6HDLITE::ZARLENGAMichael Zarlenga, MRO AXP BPDASat Sep 18 1993 13:146
    The minimum amount of fat you need to consume?
    
    Good question!  None of my books lists a minimum.  They do mention
    that low-fat diets will stunt the growth and development of children 
    and adolescents.  They say nothing about minimum amount of fat that
    matured adults require.
827.7CNTROL::JENNISONJohn 3:16 - Your life depends on it!Mon Sep 20 1993 18:0821
	In a course I took this past July, the instructor noted that
	this is being studied more closely right now to try to determine
	the minimum.  Preliminary studies indicate that the minimum is
	higher than most people would assume (10-15% range).  Some health
	problems are being studied to determine if a very low fat diet
	is the cause.  Again, the studies are preliminary.  I don't have
	a source (there was probably one mentioned during the lecture, but
	I didn't take note of it).

	Recommendation to us was to continue to use the 25-30% guideline
	set up by the ADA. (and supported by the American Heart association,
	though I did hear about a year ago that they were considering lowering
	the recommendation to 25% maximum.)
	
	Personally, I tend to eat about 18% of my calories from fat.  
	This is more habit than anything else.  I find that when I'm making
	healthy food choices, I just tend to average out at that point.

	Karen
	
827.8gall-bladder problems from low-fat to high-fatGOLLY::CARROLLsomething inside so strongMon Sep 20 1993 18:579
    Well, I don't know about a minimum fat percentage, but I have heard
    that a radical *change* in fat percentage (in particular, going from a
    very low-fat diet to a high-fat diet) can cause gall-bladder problems. 
    In fact, I heard there were some suits against some of the commercial
    diet programs (Nutri-system?) because after getting off the diet (and
    presumably going back to the before-diet eating habits) the people got
    very sick.  Have no idea what the details or results were, though...
    
    D!
827.9FWIW....TOLKIN::OSHAUGHNESSYLet LIFE be your GOALThu Sep 23 1993 17:4019
    
    
    FWIW:
    
    I was reading "Eat more, Weigh Less" by Dean Ornish M.D.  In his book
    he said:
    
    	" Your body only needs about 4 to 6 percent calories of fat to
    	  synthesize what are known as essential fatty acids."
    
    He goes on to say that his Life Choice approach gets 10% calories from
    fat.
    
    I'm not saying he is right or wrong, he's just one Dr's opinion.  This
    is the first actual statement that I've read that actually stated a
    minimum amount of fat needed by the body.
    
    LO