Most adult women will probably need between 50-60 grams of total fat per day (with a maximum of 10-15 grams of saturates), and perhaps some tall, very active, adult women will need up to around 70 grams of total fat. Bearing in mind that some men have very physically demanding jobs, and some men sit at a desk all day, and some men are 5' 4" and some men are 6' 4", as well as varying considerably in muscular build and other ways, the actual amount of fat needed by different men is likely to vary a great deal more than it does between women, so men may need between 70-95 grams of total fat (with a maximum of 20-30 grams of saturates).

Remember that the amount of saturates consumed in a day is part of the total amount of fat per day, so if you are female, and if you were to consume a total of 70 grams of fat in a day, then no more than 20 grams of that fat should be saturates. If you ate a 30 gram (a bit over an ounce) portion of hard cheese, such as cheddar, which contains a total of about 10 grams of fat, this would leave you with an allowance of 60 grams of total fat for the rest of the day. The total amount of fat in the cheese contains 6½ grams of saturates - so this would leave you with an allowance of 13½ grams of saturates for the rest of the day.

 

Most slim people won’t actually know how many grams of fat they’re consuming each day, but if you’re currently overweight, then initially you do need to have at least a rough idea of how many grams of total fat and saturates you’re consuming, and then compare the amounts to the figures given above. You can then 'fine tune' your fat intake to suit your own personal needs, but this website recommends that women should not reduce their fat intake below 50 grams of total fat, and men should not reduce theirs to below 70 grams, without the advice of their G.P.

 

NEVER try to eat a totally fat-free diet, as your health and appearance will deteriorate, although you could completely stop eating anything with ‘added’ sugar, if you really wanted to - and in fact, you must check your intake of 'added' sugar, as well as your fat intake.

 

 

Woman	Man
Total: 70 grams (Saturates : 20 grams)	Total: 95 grams (Saturates: 30 grams)

Some foods contain so much fat in a portion that they should really be labelled with a health warning! For example, if you ate 2 small pork pies (weighing 75 grams each) you would use-up nearly 39 grams of a daily fat allowance in just one meal (or snack!), and that would include 14½ grams of saturates. That wouldn’t leave you much of your fat allowance for the rest of the day. In fact, all pies and quiches (unless they are very small) will contain a lot of fat, because there doesn’t seem to be a way of making low-fat pastry that manufacturers regard as being satisfactory. Even quiches marketed for ‘slimmers’ can contain over 15 grams of fat, including over 7 grams of saturates – always read the nutritional information on the label, and don’t be taken-in by marketing hype. There are websites that provide recipes for pastry which are described as low-fat, if you think that making your own pastry is preferable to avoiding shop-bought pies etc., but check how much fat is actually contained in the ingredients that you use.

 

As mentioned above, 30 grams, or about an ounce, of hard cheese, such as Cheddar, contains a total of about 10 grams of fat, of which 6½ grams are saturates - but cheese contains protein, which is needed for general health, and good levels of vitamins and minerals, so if you like cheese, it’s worth ‘spending’ some of your fat allowance on having some. However, it isn’t a good idea to eat more than about an ounce of hard cheese per day, because it would start to use-up too much of your allowance for saturates, and it’s better to use your fat allowance to eat a variety of nutritional foods. Obviously, you wouldn’t want to weigh some cheese every time you wanted some for a sandwich, or something else, but if you just weigh an ounce to get an idea of what an ounce looks like, then you can just take a good guess at cutting an ounce in the future. You don’t have to be obsessed with accuracy when making a cheese sandwich.

So-called ‘red’ meat has received a lot of ‘bad press’, but meat is nutritious, and the amount of fat in grilled or roasted lean meat is an acceptable use of part of your daily fat allowance. The fat content of beefburgers varies a lot, usually depending on what percentage of the burger is breadcrumbs, as well as how much fat the meat contained before it was minced. Organic beefburgers tend to contain more fat than non-organic burgers, but they usually have a lower salt content, so this website recommends organic burgers, if you’re going to buy burgers. The best solution though, is to make your own burgers – all you need to do is to buy some ‘extra lean’ minced beef, add some of your favourite spice or herb, if you like, then using a little flour, press and flatten portions of the meat into burger shapes. Don’t add salt to the burgers. Burgers can be baked in the oven, instead of frying, and some of the fat will come out of them whilst they are baking (put them on non-stick baking foil, on a baking sheet, so that you don’t need to add fat to cook them). Bake at gas no. 6 (200c) for 20-25 minutes. Turn them over half-way through cooking time, and make a cut in the middle to check that they’re completely cooked-through before serving.

 

Food fried in fat may absorb a lot of it, so it’s better to grill, or bake food – baking food has the advantage of not having a messy grill to clean. Chicken, lean meat, and vegetables may need brushing with a little oil, but that’s still better than frying. Organic rapeseed oil is recommended, as it’s very low in saturates, and it can be brushed onto food with a pastry brush (only about 50p at supermarkets, displayed in their cookware aisles).

 

White fish is very nutritious, and naturally low in fat, as long as it’s grilled, baked, or poached. Cod and haddock that’s coated in batter is likely to contain a lot more fat than fish that’s just lightly ‘dusted’ or ‘floured’ and baked, so it’s worth checking the labels of packaged fish – fish and chips bought from a ‘chippy’ are definitely going to contain a lot of fat, including a high level of saturates.

Eating  oily fish, such as mackerel, sardines, salmon, and fresh tuna, is recommended because it contains nutrients that are very beneficial to health. However, not many people eat oily fish on a regular basis, so you may prefer to take a Fish oil supplement - but if you have any medical problems, check with your G.P. before you take it.

 

Milk  is regarded as a nutritious food, but it can be easy to use-up more of your fat allowance on it than you realise. If you have milk with cereal, and also add it to tea or coffee during the day, then you may be surprised at how much of your fat allowance is used-up by milk – check the label of the milk that you currently use. You may want to consider using skimmed milk, or unsweetened soya milk  (choose one with added calcium), which is reported to have health benefits for women.

 

Margarine tends to have the same total amount of fat as butter, but has less saturates. If you eat sandwiches, you could use about 10 grams of butter (about a heaped teaspoon) or margarine for each one, but the margarine will only contain about 1½ grams of saturates, and the butter will contain about 5 grams of saturates  – so you could be using a quarter of the maximum daily allowance of saturates on just one sandwich! – or maybe even more, as butter tends to be spread more thickly than margarine. The amount of saturates contained in different margarines does vary, but as they are all going to contain a lot less saturates than butter, it’s worth choosing one that tastes better, rather than choosing the one with the lowest amount of saturates. Organic dairy-free margarine with olive oil (most supermarkets sell one) is worth trying. However, don’t worry if you eat a ready-prepared meal, or restaurant meal, which contains  some butter, as long as you don’t consume too much of your daily allowance for total fat and saturates in one meal. If you have a main course which contains butter, it’s better to have a low-fat, or fat-free dessert.

 

Don’t choose something to eat or drink because the label states that it’s either “low fat” or something like “contains only 4% fat”, without checking how much fat will actually be in the amount that you are likely to eat or drink, and also how much sugar is in it – and then consider how much of your daily allowance it will use-up.

 

There is also usually less choice of 'low fat' versions of foods such as cheese, and as they may not contain a great deal less fat than full-fat versions, you may as well choose the product that has the taste that you prefer.

·         Introduction - follow a balanced diet for weight-loss

·        Guidelines - balanced diet  

·         Guidelines - fat   <<<<<

·        Guidelines - sugar

·         Guidelines - salt

·        Guidelines - alcohol

·         Food labels

·        Breakfasts and mid-morning snack suggestions

·         Lunch and mid-afternoon snack suggestions

·        Evening meal and supper suggestions

·         Eating out, special occasions, and holidays

·        Morale, motivation, and stress

·         Exercise – but first of all, relax!

·        Carbs, Glycaemic Index and Load

·         alli pills

·        Meal replacement weight-loss products  

·         Wholemeal muffins - about

·        Spiced choc-chip wholemeal muffins

·         Double choc-chip wholemeal muffins

·        Chocolate and prune wholemeal muffins