Fat intake

[Cariadai]

Hi everyone, new vegan here (although it’s not my first time, I was vegan for a year a few years ago). I’m convinced that plant based nutrition is the healthiest choice, that’s my motivation in choosing this path. But when tracking my food, I’m concerned to see that I cannot get my fat intake down to the levels suggested in all the literature, not even close. I’m currently eating around 35-40% of my calories as fat. I don’t eat ANY processed food, and I don’t eat excessive amounts of nuts/seeds, or pour oil over everything, so I genuinely can’t see how I can eat less fat. I seem to need this amount to stay satiated and not get low blood sugar symptoms; should I worry about my health?

I’m a 42 year old woman, no health problems, and I’m in very good shape, around 19% body fat. I workout every day, mostly body weight stuff. So I don’t need to lose weight (it would be bad if I did), and I don’t have genetic predisposition to heart disease or diabetes or anything scary. Should I just listen to my body and carry on eating high fat?

I’ll give you an idea of my days meals:

Breakfast: oatmeal made with soy milk, blueberries, peanut butter
Lunch: quinoa, roasted veggies, chick peas
Dinner: stir fry veg, tofu, brown rice
Snacks: fruit, dark chocolate, handful of nuts, hummus

My overall calories is pretty low, 1800-1900, (I’m 5’10 and 135lbs, and active; my recommended calorie intake is 2000) so perhaps that’s skewing the percentages, so I’ll give you figures instead:

Carbs: 218g (48%)
Fat: 79g (39%)
Protein: 61g (13%)

I’d be so grateful for some advice!!!!

 

[Second Summer]

Hello @Cariadai and welcome to the forum! (Properly this time, I assume you already got the automated thing )

I've never made much effort tracking the foods I eat, nor do I exercise much except for some walking. (I want to start jogging, though ...)

Anyway, I wanted to say that while I'm clueless about food tracking and exercise, I have a couple of uni-level math courses in by belt! (And a calculator! ) I think you got your percentages slightly confused:

Carbs: 218g (61%)
Fat: 79g (22%)
Protein: 61g (17%)
Total: 358g (100%)

Do those numbers look better? I hope so!

 

[Cariadai]

Hello @Cariadai and welcome to the forum! (Properly this time, I assume you already got the automated thing )

I've never made much effort tracking the foods I eat, nor do I exercise much except for some walking. (I want to start jogging, though ...)

Anyway, I wanted to say that while I'm clueless about food tracking and exercise, I have a couple of uni-level math courses in by belt! (And a calculator! ) I think you got your percentages slightly confused:

Carbs: 218g (61%)
Fat: 79g (22%)
Protein: 61g (17%)
Total: 358g (100%)

Do those numbers look better? I hope so!

Thanks! The percentages are of the total calories. I didn't calculate it, its automated by my food tracker.

 

[Second Summer]

Thanks! The percentages are of the total calories. I didn't calculate it, its automated by my food tracker.

Ah, of course! That explains it. What fat calorie percentage is recommended in the literature you're reading?

You could of course just eat a bit more carbs and protein while keeping below 2000 calories in total. That would get you in the direction you want since the fat percentage would then be lower ...

 

[Cariadai]

I think most say 10-30% max, but I’ve also read somewhere that if you can keep your intake per meal to below 30g (which I definitely do), that’s acceptable.

 

[Second Summer]

I think most say 10-30% max, but I’ve also read somewhere that if you can keep your intake per meal to below 30g (which I definitely do), that’s acceptable.

With some googling I find sites that suggest between 20 and 35% (or even 40% for a certain body type). Some talk about different ratios for different body types (ectomorphs, mesomorphs, endomorphs ...), though I'm not sure how scientific all this is ...

 

[Cariadai]

Oh, that’s reassuring, thank you so much for your help! I was starting to feel more discouraged the more I read on the subject, although I know that much of that is tailored towards people who want to lose weight.