Good fats

[ROCKILLER]

I'm a bit confused about the amount of good fats I should be getting. I am cutting as of tosay and I have some fish oil caps. I've read conflicting information as to the use of capsules and just regular oils. Should I get get some flax oil too? I am thinking 2-3 in the morning and 2-3 at night. What do you guys suggest? Would this need to change when I start to bulk again?

[BBAddict]

I would always use both omega 3's and flax seed to make sure that you get both kinds of healthy fats that you need. You always need both but the amount of fat you're eating may change during bulking and cutting cycles.

[zed]

what exactly do fish and flax oils do? and whats a typical dosage?

[Lmg2701]

Your body needs fats.....There are healthy fats (fish and flax seed oils, nuts) and non-healthy fats (all your fried foods and fast food crap).


How much all depends on your diet. This could be very different from person to person.

Let's just use an example. Say somebody is eating 3,000 calories and they are running it 40% proteins, 40% carbs, and 20% fats. That means that 1200 calories will be from protein, 1200 calories will be from carbs, and 600 calories will be from fats.


Now using the simple rule that:

1 gram carb = 4 calories
1 gram prot.= 4 calories
1 gram fat = 9 calories


and thus your diet would contain:

300 grams of protein
300 grams of carbs
67 grams of fats


Now look on the back of your bottle of flax seed oil or fish oil and consume however many tablespoons or caps or whatever unit of measurement it is. Hope this helps!

[ROCKILLER]

That helps a lot. One would take into consideration the fat content of the rest of the diet right? Such as that found in a serving of nuts.

[Lmg2701]

Yes.

[Ashop]

I would always use both omega 3's and flax seed to make sure that you get both kinds of healthy fats that you need. You always need both but the amount of fat you're eating may change during bulking and cutting cycles.

My suggestion as well.

[Control]

Don't forget extra virgin olive oil, probably the cheapest source of healthy fats. I also eat avacados when i can find decent ones for a reasonable price.

[zed]

i dont know about you guys but one of my fish oil pills contains one gram of fat...and my breakdown is 60%pro 40%fat on a 3000 cal diet...thats 1200 cals from fat or 120grams of fat. So if i were to consume nearly all of my fats from flax or fish thats roughly one hundred pills a day?? that doesnt seem right to me. When good fats are talked about why is natural peanut butter always left out? isnt it a 'good fat'

[Control]

i dont know about you guys but one of my fish oil pills contains one gram of fat...and my breakdown is 60%pro 40%fat on a 3000 cal diet...thats 1200 cals from fat or 120grams of fat. So if i were to consume nearly all of my fats from flax or fish thats roughly one hundred pills a day?? that doesnt seem right to me. When good fats are talked about why is natural peanut butter always left out? isnt it a 'good fat'

Yes, it is. I prefer whole nuts to PB for 2 reasons.
1. Fiber
2. By combining peanuts with cashews or almonds you get a complete protei because peanuts are actually not nuts (they're legumes).

You're right that you can't get all your fats from pills. A tablespoon of EVO is 14 grams of fat, a serving of nuts is 14-16 grams of fat. Whole eggs and red meat have alot of fat so if you eat those you can get up to 120 grams of fat quick. If not, it may be hard to get that much fat from only healthy sources (it's not impossible though, especially if you eat salmon all day).

This is why carb cycling diets aren't good long-term. You generally end up eating too much saturated fat, too much salt and not enough fiber. I'm on a carb cycling diet now, but it will only be for a short while. Then I'll go back to a more sane diet

[zed]

ok thanks