So please forgive me but I still don't understand some things.
A lot of posts talk about "adding fat" and not be scared of "adding fat". They say 60-70% of the calories should come from fat. So is the meat the bulk of that fat or the "added fat"? How much fat I am supposed to add? Is there a rule or if I am eating meat and green beens I just put a little butter on the green beans? How much butter (measuring from the stick) or how much mayo on the tuna? If I'm cooking with oil, should I add more oil to the plate?
Thank you so much for your help! I think I'm not doing it right.
Thanks again.

Well, my first suggestion is that if you really want to do this right, you need to read the book. You have certainly posed a good question, but you will have a hundred more just as important over the coming days that would be answered by reading the book.

If you figure that you are eating 1500 calories in a day, then approximately 1000 (or more) should come from fat to give you at least 65% fat for the day. One tablespoon of butter equals about 100 calories and 10 grams of fat. Fat contains 9 calories per gram. So, if you multiply 9 times 10 grams of fat, that means you've eaten 90 calories in fat. Poultry has about 1 gram of fat per ounce. So, if you ate 3 oz. of chicken, you've had about 3 grams of fat equaling 27 calories (of fat- 3 grams times 9 = 27). Now, you certainly don't need to be doing all of this math on a daily basis, but you do need to understand the concept of fat grams/percentages/etc.

Given the above information, you can see that if you ate a 1500 calorie a day diet, you'd want to get in about 110-120 grams of fat to reach a daily total of 65-70% fat.

The reason for "added fat" is because generally your daily food doesn't contain enough fat to get you to that 65-70% mark. Even a high fat steak at 75 calories an ounce probably contains 5 grams or so of fat (that equals 45 calories of fat which is about 65% fat in the meat). Just eating a meal with much fish or poultry REALLY lowers your daily intake, since they are so low in fat. If you didn't add butter or nuts or oils, you'd never be able to eat enough high fat stuff. Make a little bit of sense? Hope so! And good luck!

if you are not using fitday.com, definitely give it a try. though it can be time consuming, it is so helpful to help you get that fat percentage up. after a lifetime of lowfat eating, i had to really work at adding fat in!

i found a great butcher that makes the bacon and sausage with nothing else in it. so i always keep bacon around to add into salads. i started using butter on lots of thing...sauteeing veggies and dipping pork rinds in spinach dip.

now i have switched to CAD and need to get my fat % down....geesh just when i learned how to get it up there.

have fun eating the things you've always been told not to eat
-catherine

Anais57,
Maybe I'm dumb, but what is CAD??

I'll help... CAD stands for Carbohydrate Addict's Diet. The plan is very low carb for most of the day with a one hour "reward meal" which is a balanced meal involving carbs you may be craving. The principle is basically insulin control: when you keep those carbs that trigger a response in a one hour window of the day, you no longer really crave them. The reduction in insulin surges is what aids in weight loss as well.

Hope that helps.

Angela, thanks! I think I'll stick to Atkins.

definitely katinka.... stick with atkins... wow look at your success....congratulations!!!!!
i wish it had worked for me. i look forward to getting down to goal and not having so many rules and just eat lo carb forever. i got stuck after the first 2 weeks....so i had to try something different. i still prefer atkins. i am learning CAD ok.

Louisa,
I have the book, and I have read most of it, but when it talks about the menus in induction it does not say "two tablespoons of mayo" or "one tablespoon of olive oil"
I really need how to learn to do it, I'm not sure I will be able to use fitday everyday. I am leaving for South America and will be a month down there and I need to learn how to do it right.
Thanks for your help.