Is this group just about weightlifting or can we talk about fat and protein, too?

If the latter, I'd like to know how many fat grams people "average":

< 40? 50 grams?

> 50 grams?

I've been averaging under 40-45 or so...just trying to gauge if this is healthy or too little...

If the former, then I hope Melkor will kindly delete this topic and I'll happily run off to the "weight loss" forum.

As far as I'm concerned it's about all aspects related to picking up something heavy - and you know how anal I can get about optimizing nutrition and nutrient timing to the best of my ability ;)

 Healthy? Depends on what those fats are - according to Berardi and several of the other nutrition gurus you should have at least 15g of omega-3 a day.

 Lowery actually wants you to have a bit more, as long as it's the right kind: Practical Fats

Since you mentioned protein, I might as well ask, how much protein do lifters recommend?

My trainer has me eating about 50-60g a day mostly from good sources, that works out to be about 20-25% of my daily allowance of my im working my way upto to a level of calories i can bulk on, im currently on about 1700-1800cals daily.

Did he base it on your weight. Most sources say X amount per pound of body weight.

Sweet. Thanks, leiela.  Okay, just wanted to get a sense on the fats thing, maybe other people will get a chance to reply as well.  Most of my sources are "healthy fats", and I eat omega-3 eggs a couple times a week, along with flax seed in my protein shakes, avocados, fish oil, and nuts (and dark dark chocolate). 

Regarding protein, I've been trying to find the "perfect" amount ever since I started actually lifting.  There's a discussion about it on the fitcast (episode 100, I think) when Berardi, the guy Melkor mentioned above basically says that there's no 100% perfect answer. One guideline I've found helpful came from an article that I read yesterday (which jived with other things I've read).  In my un-certified opinion (this advice is not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat or cure disease :)  ) it's better to calculate protein intake by kilograms rather than pounds.  I've read, 1.6 g / pound, which for me is about 200 g of protein, which would require a direct IV of eggwhites for most of the day, but 1.6 g / kg bodyweight equals out around 95 g a day.  I try to shoot between 85 and 100 g on lifting days (about 40% consumed in a post-workout shake) and 65-100 g on non-lifting days.  I read a post from Melkor the other day that said pre-workout protein is better, but I actually look forward to my post-workout shake and don't want to change.

im on about 50% protien ... works out at abouyt 150g-180g a day .. im 116lbs atm so i guess its about 1.5g per pound ish.

The new trainers got my diet pretty well pinned down im pretty much told what to eat and when with very litle wiggle room ...

 i eat the same meal plan everyday but i get to choose my lunch and evening meals .... sort of...  i have a list of options

Such as for dinner i have

• 50g or either white potato or sweet potato (i find white potato is higher cals and carbs),
• 3 cups from a list of veg ( i tend to mix and match but depending what i pick it varie my macros)
• Then lastly i have 125g of lean protien again i have a choice of a couple i can pick and it alters my macro's slightly 

i just keep changing things around so i don't get bored, somedays ill have sweetpotato, cod and spinach, another day White potato greenbeans/ cabbage with chicken...

it does mean my end of day macro's can really vary ... my cals seem to end up anywhere from 1500-2000 at their highest most days its about 1700-1800 the diets been designed that way though.

The list of combanation of the meals i can pick and the fixed meals give my trainer the knowledge of the mins and max's for macro's i can hit so i always get enough but it keeps it constently changing too.... 

Even if i pick the lowest "protien" options from my lists she knows i'll still get "enough" tbh i think even if i tried i think the lowest i can hit is about 130g per day.

wow. and oh my. When I eat at home I average between 10-15 grams of fat/day.  4.5 of that comes from my breakfast, which is 1 1/4 C of Special K Satisfaction, 1 tsp of ground flaxseed meal, and 1/2 C of 1% milk. My protein shakes are 4.3 g.

Soooo...I'm thinking this is not good. I occasionally have almonds, but the cal count in them makes me hold back from having them on a daily basis (it's either a handful of almonds or a meal- not a hard choice for me).

The (dubiously) good news is I eat out usually once per week and on those days I have no problems hitting 50 grams of fat. Not the good kind, though.

Yeeha, you mentioned fish oil, I really know nothing about it at all. I'm assuming that comes in capsule form- does it have calories, and how many grams of fat per capsule, or does it vary by brand and/or the type of fish (sorry if this is a really stupid question!!) :)

What are the effects of having such a low fat diet?

*squinting my eyes, just make the blow as quick and painless as possible!

ooo, thats a real low fat diet. you are right, thats not good at all.  try nuts, seeds, drizzle olive oil on salads, pasta etc. you need fat, your brain needs fat, your hormones need fat, to have healthy looking skin you need fat, your immune system needs, to utilize certain vitamins you need it. not all fat is stored as fat. i was kind of like you with nuts, use them as a snack. if you are exercising you should be able to fit some extra oils/nuts/whatever into your diet especially if you are lifting.

queen media -

Yes, that does seem to be a really low fat diet.  I completely understand, however, the inclination to avoid things like almonds due to the calories.  At the same time, as rnjt explained, the benefits to having "good fats" far outweigh the added calories and, I think take some sort of precedence over calories that come from carbs.  That's not necessarily to advocate a lot-carb diet, but the great stuff that comes from fats seem to me more and more essential as I continue to read about them.  I really do think that you should up the amount that you're eating - nuts, avocadoes, flax seed (I put milled flax seed into my protein shakes) and, of course, stuff like fish oil.  If nothing else, I personally have not experienced an increase in fat that I would attribute to eating a lot of fats - eating a lot of calories is what does it, as I'm sure you know.

You might consider reading the link that melkor posted earlier in this discussion - that goes into some explanations of the different fats and some of the benefits.  From what I understand, fish oil is just the cat's pajamas.  I don't want to claim to be an expert or start touting advice based on layman's research, but the types of fats that are in fish oil is what's important - omega-3s and the like.  Googling "fish oil benefits" will find you a lot of hits that speak positively about the fish oil and better outline the why's and how's of its influences on health.  If you choose to give it a try, keep it in the fridge (I've also read that putting it in a glass jar is the best way, so that oxygen is kept out).  I just ordered some yesterday and will begin taking it more consistently, hoping to actually notice some effects, rather than just believe that they're happening. 

i cannot count the number of times i read about the fat-burning effects of fish oil, not to mention their anti-inflammatory properties.  i'm writing this to encourage myself to start taking them. 

here's an article on the benefits of fish oil for athletes.

I hit about 50 -60 grams of Fats and for the most part they are you good kind heres a list of what my trainers got me including in my diet by way of good fats.  

• Breakfast - 1 tsp of sunflower seeds in my porridge
• Preworkout - 1 tsp flax seed in my shake.
• Lunch - 4 flax oil capsules + 2 CLA caps  
• Dinner - 4 Cod liver oil

The average capsule has about 1g of oil in it but check the bottle,

i can't say ive noticed much difference since  included all the oils but saying that ive only been doing it 3 weeks so im not expecting much just yet.. haha.

However it's also worth noting that even though i have about 40-50g of fat in my diet almost none of it is the REALLY BAD kind.

I'f i look thought my logs most of mine seems to come from the supps, oatmeal, milk yogurt, and a little tiny bit from meats (i only eat lean meats atm)