Weight Loss
Moderators: coach_k, spoiled_candy, devilish_patsy, Mollybygolly, nycgirl

1400 calorie diet. How many fat grams should you eat?

Quote  |  Reply

I know calories are important, but what about the fat? How much fat intake should you have on a 1400 calorie diet?




19 Replies (last)

The generally accepted standard based on a 2000 cal diet (which of course almost no one CC is following) is 65g of fat. I myself have never eaten more than 35g of fat daily so just take this information with a grain of salt until someone posts a better answer than I.

I personally am not sure why 65g would be the recommended amount or maximum amount, seems much too high to me. I suppose it takes healthy fats into consideration like almonds and avocados which I rarely consume. Its saturated fat that you need to cut out in its entirety.

The rule of thumb is 60-20-20 on carbs fats and protein. The closer to 50% on carbs you can get the better but as long as you are eating whole wheat/grain bread, brown rice and fruit, 60% is perfectly acceptable. 

Fat: 65g

Protein: 50g

Carbohydrates: 300g

Sodium: 2400 mg

Sugar: 40g

Cholesterol: 300 mg

Saturated fat: 20 g

Fibre: 25g

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet (the standard).

EDIT: duplicate post done in error.

clara_29: It isn't so much about grams of fat, but percentage of calories from fat. Ideally, you should be getting about 20% - 30% of your daily calories from fat. I think this works out to about 31 - 47 grams of fat daily for a 1400 calorie diet, but someone should probably double check my math.

heathersmilez: Actually, fat is wrongly demonized in much diet literature, and a low fat diet is not necessary for most people to achieve lasting weight loss. Like you said, healthy fats (like olive oil, avocado, nuts, fish, etc) are important. However, it is not necessary to cut out all saturated fat either - recent studies have shown no conclusive link between saturated fat consumption and heart disease. Trans fats, on the other hand, should be avoided entirely.

Plus, the 60-20-20 macronutrient ratio is by no means a rule of thumb. For example, many diets and fitness plans (including Zone and NROL) use a 40-30-30 ratio instead. Personally, I feel awful when I eat 60% of my calories from carbs!

Thanks for your responses to my question! It was really helpful!

If I consume 31-47 grams of fat Daily on a 1400 calorie daily, will I still lose the weight?

My husband and I are on a 1400 Calorie diet together and we were having a discussion about this.

He says he'll lose weight the same way as I do even though he is eating foods high in fat. We're both sticking to the same Calorie amount though. So on any given day we'll have different fat amounts. I eat about 25 grams and he eats about 45 grams.

Is he right that it's more about the Calorie content and that Fat does not matter as much?


He is right that the calorie content is the most important, but you might want to warn him that 1500 is the recommended minimum for sedentary adult males - he'll want to eat more than 1400.

If you are burning more calories than you are consuming, you will lose the weight no matter how many grams of fat you eat. That's a very basic answer and doesn't take into consideration nutrition, but as long as you burn more calories than you put into your body, you will lose weight.

Thanks for the heads up amethystgirl. I'll let him know that. 1400 did seem a bit low for him. We're new to dieting so we're trying to figure it all out while we go.

Thanks Jamibuch, that's helpful info.

I think the biggest challenge will be burning more calories than I put in my body. I don't have a gym membership and my walk home from work only burns 272 calories.

What's the fastest most effective way to burn calories off?

What works for you?

Your husband is right. I generally eat around 30-35% of my calories from fat (mostly unsaturated), and have lost weight successfully. Keep in mind that dietary fat is not the same as body fat. Generally speaking, dietary fat is an energy source like carbs and protein. If you eat more than you burn (no matter what you are eating), you gain weight. If you eat less than you burn, you lose weight.

Just as a note, it is very likely that your husband needs to eat more than 1400 calories/day. 1500 is considered the bare minimum for an adult male, and he may need more depending on his size and activity level.

edited to add: amethystgirl, you beat me to it!

Don't discredit those 272 calories that you burn off! That's 272 calories!  It doesn't sound like a lot, but it adds up fast. That's a pound every 12-13 days.

And when I say BURN more calories, I don't mean through exercise alone. I just mean that your daily calorie expenditure (calories - exercise) should be less than what your maintenance calories are.

For instance - if your body uses 1800 calories a day, just by being alive, then any time you eat less than 1800 calories a day, you'll lose weight. That's your calorie deficit. So if you eat 1400 calories a day, you've created a 400 calorie deficit. You can increase your deficit by exercise. Your walk to work, in addition to the 400 calorie deficit created by eating less than what your body uses to get you through a day would mean you had a calorie deficit of 672 calories a day. That's about a pound every 5 days.

Use the tools on this website to figure out what your daily calorie expenditure is, and then work on creating and increasing your deficit to between 500-1000 calories a day.

Mathematically it's easy. :-)

For exercise I usually go to the gym. Spending the money on a gym membership ensured for me that I would go - especially when I first joined. Now I go more because I know I need to. I usually walk on the treadmill or use one of the precor machines. I'm getting back to where I want to start taking some classes again.



Thanks Jamibuch! At first I thought you meant I had to burn 1400 calories a day in the gym or by running. haha, that would be a crazy feat I imagine. I'd just be running like a hamster in a wheel all day.

The information you share was really really helpful! This is my second day of dieting and walking more, so I still have a lot to learn. you cleared up a lot of my confusion about things and you're right that it's easy to grasp once you know the concept! I'll definitely check out the tools on this website.

I'm a person that has just been eating and eating whatever I feel like, whenever I feel like.. and now it's caught up with me. It's hard to know where to start when making the decision to lose weight and change my diet.


Thanks so much!

Thanks Holla! I always associated "FAT" with body fat, not really thinking of it in a dietary fat term, or as energy.

You mentioned that 30%-35% of your calories are from fat, but mostly unsaturated.

I've noticed on the labels the difference between regular fat and Saturated Fat content.

Should I try to avoid Saturated Fat at all costs? When you see that on a label, do you tend to bypass that food product and move on to something else.

(Some of the most delicious foods have a kind of high saturated fat content.. even some Lean Cruisines and Smart ones frozen Meals, so i'm wondering what I should be looking out for)

your best bet to avoid saturated fat would be to avoid pre-packaged "meals" or things like that. if you eat as natural and clean as possible this will eradicate much of the unneccessary saturated fat.

as other posters above have mentioned good fats are vital and you should never go below 20 grams or your skin will seriously suffer trust me lol! walnuts, almonds and brazils, natural nut butters (only nuts not added sugar), avocados, oily fish are all full of heart healthy mono-saturated fats which are very important for you.

whilst calorie count is the most important aspect in losing weight, your breakdown of macronutrients into fats/carbs/protein will become more essential as you lose the weight. many people find 60% carbs is far too high. I myself like to keep carbs to 30-35% as i find protein and fats much more satieting and protein is vital to retaining my muscles after working out.

if ur not a member of a gym why not consider investing in some free weights to have at home. training with free weights 3 times a week with relatively heavy weights will do wonders for your body.


You don't need to avoid saturated fat all together. The current recommendation is to make sure that it is 10% of your daily calories or less (so less than 15.5 grams/day for a 1400 calorie diet). Based on what I've read, it seems that the science doesn't actually back that up, but you may as well go by the guidelines for now. It shouldn't too hard to stick to either. Heck, you could eat 1 tsp of butter, 3 slices of bacon, a cup of 2% milk, and a full ounce of cheddar cheese and still be under your daily limit.

If you are interested in reading up on the saturated fat debate this article is a fine place to start.

I don't make a conscious effort to avoid saturated fat. I just don't eat much full-fat dairy or any red meat. This wasn't a diet decision for me though - I am mildly lactose intolerant and red meat wreaks havoc on my digestive tract!

Don't let anyone talk you out of carbs though - one thing you'll learn on CC is that there are 10,000 opinions for every idea, i.e diet pop good vs bad, eatting too much/not enough protein...

Carb-wise, I eat 1/2 cup original all bran for breakfast, apple as morning snack (which is a carb) dry all-bran flakes in the afternoon for snack and brown rice at dinner so I never go below 50% carbs, if I happen to have a sandwich it goes up to 64% - which yes, is a little high but energy comes from carbohydrates hence one of the problems with Atkins in addition to halitosis (bad breath) ew!

Just read around on cc, decrease your calorie intake and you'll start to you see how you body handles everything especially if you hit a plateau and then get more specific at that point towards what has worked best for you. Decreasing calories and increasing exercise is hard enough for most people, don’t get caught up in eating exact percentages of food, eat well rounded and lots of veggies, done!

Best of luck!


Thanks so much Harriet for your helpful advice! Much appreciated!

Thanks so much Holla for all the great advice!

Thanks so much Heather!

I really appreciate all the helpful advice I've gotten today from everyone!

I have a better idea now where I want to go with my diet and how to eat/what to watch out for!

Original Post by theholla:


Very interesting article, theholla - I'll have to read it closer when I'm more fully awake.

19 Replies
Allergy Remedies
Is It Possible to Go Natural?