Fat Is Not The Enemy
The Quick Cut:
Many people fear fat because they think it will make them gain fat but this is a myth.
Fat is essential to proper body functioning, especially having essential fatty acids.
Don’t avoid fat but be cautious because it’s loaded with calories.
To benefit from fat without hurting your fat loss efforts, you have to have the right types and right amounts of fat, while doing the right kinds of exercises to burn fat.
The Long Slice:
Many people fear fat because they think having any kind of fat will make them gain fat. This is mostly a myth.
This myth exists because people:
Consume too much fat because fat is more prevalent than we realize.
Have the wrong kinds of fat like processed/fried fats and transfats.
Don’t do the right exercises to sufficiently burn fat.
WHY WE NEED FAT
Healthy fats, like the unsaturated and monosaturated fats you find in olive oil, nuts, eggs, fish, avocados, etc. have numerous benefits, including keeping cholesterol low, protecting you from heart disease, and fighting inflammation.
In addition, fat binds to the macronutrient and micronutrients we eat and helps us digest and absorb those nutrients better.
Best of all eating healthy fats helps us get rid of stored body fat. Sounds ironic, doesn’t it? (In fact, I feel like I should’ve called this lesson ‘Want To Lose Fat? Eat More Fat.’ That would’ve turned some heads for sure!).
HOW TO WIN THE FAT GAME
Let me be clear: You absolutely have to be careful with your fat intake. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that you can eat all the fat you want and you won’t gain weight. Obviously, you will.
Even if it’s 'healthy fat', you still have to be careful.
In fact, your room for error with over-consuming fat is much smaller than it is with carbs!
That’s because:
Of the three macronutrients - protein, carbs, and fat - it’s fat that gets stored most easily as body fat. There's no conversion required from the fat you eat to the fat you store. Said another way, fat requires very few calories to be burned in the process of digesting it. This is in contrast to:
Proteins, which needs to be converted into amino acids, and
Carbs, which need to be converted into glycogen
A gram of fat packs more than double the calories (9 calories) of a gram of carb or protein (both of which carry 4 calories per gram).
Thus, eating a lot of fat will quickly drive up your caloric intake and leads to putting on unwanted weight.
Not you, though. I’m going to tell you how to avoid the 3 mistakes above that most people make when it comes to consuming fat:
Consume the right amount of fat - If the goal is fat loss, most people will do well eating between 45 - 75 grams per day, depending on their body weight and exercise intensity that day. Fat should make up around 30% of your daily caloric intake. For the math lovers, the equation to figure out your recommended fat intake is: [(calories per day consumed) x .25 or .35] / 9 = grams of fat to consume per day
Have the right kinds of fat - You want to have unsaturated fats from natural sources like egg yolks, nuts, seeds, avocados, and fatty fish, such as salmon. Olive oil, flaxseed oil, and macadamia nut oil are also good sources. You want to avoid bad fats, such as fried foods, processed fats like butter and margarine, or high cholesterol containing fats like fatty cheeses, or Omega-6 containing foods like peanuts.
Eat fat at the 'right time' - It's best to have fat with protein and veggies only. Limit combining fats with carbs because this combination will spike insulin (even if it's healthy fat and healthy carbs, like nuts with fruit, this will still spin your insulin levels).
Do the right kinds of exercises - As mentioned previously, people will do exercises that can hurt their efforts or that simply don’t challenge them enough (e.g. doing planks instead of weight training). Embrace resistance training and do compound, multi-joint movements like squats, lunges, rows, pull ups, and presses.
With this new knowledge about fat, you no longer have to see fat as the enemy.
As long as you do it right, eating fat won’t make you fat. And that’s a fact!
Happy cutting, 🔪
