# Fatty liver dieting



## slyfox (Nov 18, 2007)

Recently after an ultrasound, I was told that the results showed I have a fatty liver. I don't know how severe it is yet because I was only told on the phone and don't have an appointment with the doctor until June.

Overall aside from some slip ups I've been eating far healthier than I used to. I already am losing weight faster. I don't know if this is enough but I've been calorie counting and trying to stay at or below the recommended daily value of fat(65 grams?), carbohydrates(300 grams?), and sugar(25 grams?). I've also been trying to get over 50 grams of protein per day. So far while doing this I've only been getting in about 1,600 calories a day.

Just wanted to know if I'm doing enough. I've still eaten small amounts of unhealthy things some days, but make sure I stay within the amount of fat and sugar I've been allowing myself. I'm finding it hard but I'm trying to eat more fruits and vegetables. I've been being careful with fruits though because even though fruits have healthier sugar I don't know if I should be going much over the amount of sugar I'm allowing myself. I also find it confusing if I can go over with nuts and fish because they have fat but it is supposed to be healthier fat. I've also been doing some walking most days.

Should I allow myself a cheat day once a week if I do good dieting the rest of the week? I was planning to let myself eat how I want once a week if I behave the rest of the week. I was also thinking of allowing myself a soda once every other day for awhile while I quit, even though it would put me over on sugar those days. I don't know if that is still too much even though it is much better than the 6+ sodas I used to drink a day. I'm probably going to check with my doctor if my insurance will cover a dietitian. 

TLDR; I'm wondering if I can eat however I want with a fatty liver as long as I stay within a certain amount of fat, sugar, and carbohydrates. Also if a once a week cheat day would be alright. How extreme do I need to take this? Thanks for any recommendations.


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## Kevin001 (Jan 2, 2015)

You pretty much want to eat as organic as possible and stay away from sugar. I wouldn't even cheat until after you see improvements. Like wait until after your appointment in June. You need more calories than what you are getting. You can eat more as long as its healthy stuff.


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## slyfox (Nov 18, 2007)

Kevin001 said:


> You pretty much want to eat as organic as possible and stay away from sugar. I wouldn't even cheat until after you see improvements. Like wait until after your appointment in June. You need more calories than what you are getting. You can eat more as long as its healthy stuff.


Ok thanks. Yeah I was thinking my calories were too low.


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## Kevin001 (Jan 2, 2015)

slyfox said:


> Ok thanks. Yeah I was thinking my calories were too low.


Np, I really hope you can reverse it.


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## McFly (Jul 15, 2014)

Make sure your carbs are complex carbs like from wheat bread and brown rice, rather than simple carbs like white bread. And your fats should come from healthy plant fats like olive oil or nuts or avocados, rather than animal products. I'd suggest keeping the fruit and grains at a minimum due to the sugar you'll take in, which converts to fat in the liver if you don't burn the carbs. Eat lean meats, seeds and nuts with omega-3's, and a lot of green vegetables. You can check out foods and meals in the DASH diet, or the Mediterranean diet which are of the healthiest diets out there.


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## RelinquishedHell (Apr 10, 2012)

My step dad has the same thing. He's been a vegan ever since getting diagnosed


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## sheblushed (Dec 29, 2012)

we're all no doctors (i think?) so i'll give my two cents too.
i think you should eat a whole food plant-based diet.
you could also look into the 80/10/10 diet/"lifestyle". it's a high carb low fat raw plantbased diet. raw sounds hard but i think it's not as hard and impossible as most people think it is.
anyway i'd stick to plant based.

i hope your results are gonna be good next time!


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## slyfox (Nov 18, 2007)

Thanks everyone for the replies. I'm finding this very difficult. Feel like I won't be able to eat any of the foods I've loved ever again  Don't think I would be able to go full vegan, because of how much trouble I have eating vegetables. Even if I could stand them worry I would get malnourished.



RelinquishedHell said:


> My step dad has the same thing. He's been a vegan ever since getting diagnosed


Has your step dad's liver improved?


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## SplendidBob (May 28, 2014)

1600 calories might not be too low as you are trying to lose weight, assuming you are accurately counting. I have to eat sub 2000 to lose weight at a decent rate and I am still (probably) heavier than you are  (I guess, I am heavier than most people heh).

I don't know much about fatty liver though, would it be just a case of getting your bodyfat really low and then the problem would resolve? - presumably even internal organ fat will go under these conditions? (sorry if this is stupid, I don't know about the condition).

Re cheat day, I would avoid it if you can. It depends on your weight though I guess. I used to be able to get away with it, but now I am a lot lighter it just prevents weight loss for the week. If you eat 1500 cals extra on that day, that's getting on for half a lb, and since you are probably realistically only looking at 1.5lbs per week that will seriously draw out the length of time to reach your target weight. 

Obviously depends on how much you eat though, but it would be better to do it once a month or not at all


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## slyfox (Nov 18, 2007)

splendidbob said:


> 1600 calories might not be too low as you are trying to lose weight, assuming you are accurately counting. I have to eat sub 2000 to lose weight at a decent rate and I am still (probably) heavier than you are  (I guess, I am heavier than most people heh).
> 
> I don't know much about fatty liver though, would it be just a case of getting your bodyfat really low and then the problem would resolve? - presumably even internal organ fat will go under these conditions? (sorry if this is stupid, I don't know about the condition).
> 
> ...


I'm hoping lowering my body fat will help too, but I have a long ways to go. I've lost some weight, but I weigh about 305lbs(138kg) right now. Yeah I should probably avoid cheat days or only cheat a little.

I'm mostly having trouble getting my calories high enough without going over on the sugar and fat I allow myself. If you look them up online, a lot of vegetables have sugar too but not very many calories. Earlier I ate about 200 grams worth of green bell pepper and according to google that would have 4.8 grams of sugar, but would only give me 40 calories. If I ate the same amount of broccoli it would be 3.4 grams of sugar, but only give me 68 calories. Makes it hard to stay under when you are only allowing yourself 25 grams of sugar per day. Maybe I should allow more from fruits and vegetables though because they have healthier sugars.

Hope I'll be able to get a dietitian to tell me what I may be doing wrong with my dieting. I'll have to ask my doctor.


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## SplendidBob (May 28, 2014)

@slyfox I have been well over 300lbs myself, so it's doable  - have lost 115ish so far.

Do you have diabetes, or metabolic syndrome? Just reading up about fatty liver now it seems the priority is to lose weight and vigorous exercise. My guess would be, you need to lose weight asap, as difficult as it is, it kinda needs to be done.

I can help you though perhaps, if you want it. Always available to PM if you wanna talk about weight loss or whatever  - it's a mental game more than anything imo.

Regarding the exercise, I don't know how much is recommended, but I found impressive benefits from tabata sprints, which literally take up 2 minutes a day, if you have an exercise bike. The goal here isn't to burn calories, it's to improve cardio fitness rapidly to a decent level (it takes like 3 weeks to get improvement doing this, there are studies on it etc), and its very maintainable.

Yeh, if you are having to go low on sugar and fat, calories gonna be tough for sure, are there any complications with protein though? what about slow release carbs?

I can tell you for what its worth @ around 300lbs my maintenance level was a disappointing 2900 calories (as a basically sedentary person). I aimed for 2000 per week, which gave me approx 2lbs per week. I did have a semi cheat day of 3000 calories, but made up for this with the other days being below 2000. So 1500 or 1600 isn't too low by that much, but you should be losing around 3lbs p/w at that deficit. A little higher would be better, 1800-2200 probably more maintainable.

So yeh, re weight loss you can cheat, but so long as you log it, it's fine.


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## McFly (Jul 15, 2014)

slyfox said:


> I'm hoping lowering my body fat will help too, but I have a long ways to go. I've lost some weight, but I weigh about 305lbs(138kg) right now. Yeah I should probably avoid cheat days or only cheat a little.
> 
> I'm mostly having trouble getting my calories high enough without going over on the sugar and fat I allow myself. If you look them up online, a lot of vegetables have sugar too but not very many calories. Earlier I ate about 200 grams worth of green bell pepper and according to google that would have 4.8 grams of sugar, but would only give me 40 calories. If I ate the same amount of broccoli it would be 3.4 grams of sugar, but only give me 68 calories. Makes it hard to stay under when you are only allowing yourself 25 grams of sugar per day. Maybe I should allow more from fruits and vegetables though because they have healthier sugars.
> 
> Hope I'll be able to get a dietitian to tell me what I may be doing wrong with my dieting. I'll have to ask my doctor.


If you lower your body fat you'll lose fat in the liver. I developed fatty liver and type II diabetes in 2013 that I was able to reverse and stabilize by eating healthy and losing weight. I read a study where they took a group of overweight people with type II and put them on a 800 calorie diet until they were underweight and the diabetes quickly disappeared and their liver functioned at normal levels.

Not suggesting you cut that many calories, but if you don't take the steps necessary to reduce a fatty liver you can expect to develop serious health problems over time. Broccoli or bell pepper carbs aren't going to add much. Some fruits and vegetables have high amounts of sugar you should only take in small amounts like beets or bananas. If a cheat meal is that important you can afford it once or maybe twice a week, but also keep yourself physically active to counter the extra calories you'll be taking in. If you google for the healthiest fruits and vegetables and meat and eat at a calorie deficit the fatty liver will go away on it's own over time. Of course I'm not a doctor so take that with a grain of salt... or iodine rather.


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## slyfox (Nov 18, 2007)

@*splendidbob* 
Congrats on the weight loss  I'm at about 15-20 lbs lost so far. Something was mentioned about my thyroid from a blood test, so I'll probably have to check that out with my doctor. Thanks I'll send you a PM if I think of anything.
@*McFly* 
Congrats on overcoming fatty liver and type 2 diabetes. Good to know it can be reversed. Yeah I want to do my best to improve things so it doesn't develop into something like cirrhosis.


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## sheblushed (Dec 29, 2012)

i don't believe in calory cutting. your body needs calories to function properly, especially if you're gonna exercise (even a little). your goal should be to cut down the fat to as little as possible (which i believe to be around 10-15 percent of the diet).

what problems do you have with vegetables? digestion problems?

honestly, maybe there's food you love but that doesn't mean you can't learn to love other food. you'll try entirely new things! and you don't need to eliminate your favourite food for ALL time. your health is also more important than your tastebuds, don't you think? you'll feel a lot better when you're healthy.

i'd like to recommend you two movies to watch that might inspire you; "Fat, sick and nearly dead" and "Forks over Knives".


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## SplendidBob (May 28, 2014)

@slyfox good stuff man, its coming along. Interestingly myfitnesspal wouldn't let me log in with facebook yesterday and so I had to log in with my old account, and it turned out I had already passed my "goal weight" heh, which was nice. But funny considering how fat I still am 

But yeh, shoot me a pm if you are running low on motivation or find yourself struggling to keep on the diet or whatever, I understand what its like to have to lose a large amount or weight. (same goes for anyone in this position btw)


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