Low fat diet weight loss can be extremely confusing. If you don't get enough of the right fat, your body can suffer and if you get too much fat, you don't lose weight. It's enough to make you pull your hair out in frustration. Here's a quick guide to fat, good and bad fat, and how much of the good fat you really need.
A Quick Look At Fat, Calories, And Weight:
That means if you want to lose one pound a week, a very reasonable goal, you'll need to burn 3500 more calories each week. That's a good healthy 45 - 60 minute workout every day.
If working out that much doesn't sound interesting, then you can of course cut back on the number of calories you consume. If you cut back by 250 calories a day then you only have to exercise 3-4 times per week to lose that one pound.
To lose weight faster many people cut back on the amount of fat they take in. This is great, if it's the right fat.
What Are Good Fats And Bad Fats?
It's no secret that there are different types of fat. Some are necessary for proper organ function, brain function and optimal health. They include:
Monounsaturated fats are found in olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, avocados, nuts and seeds
Polyunsaturated fats found in vegetable oils, nuts and seeds
Omega-3 fatty acids found in fatty, cold-water fish like salmon as well as flax seeds and some nuts.
Bad fats clog arteries, cause inflammation and put us at risk for heart disease and stroke includes:
Saturated fat which comes from animal products like meat and dairy as well as many oils
Trans fat or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils which are found in many processed baked goods, fried foods and shortening and margarine
Dietary cholesterol, which is found in animal products like meat, diary, lard and butter.
How Much Fat Should I Eat?
The FDA recommends adults fat intake to be between 20%-35% of your total daily calories from fat. This works out to 44 to 77 grams of fat a day if you eat 2,000 calories a day. Of course, if you're looking to lose weight then you'll aim for 44 grams a day and less than 10% of that should be saturated fat. Now comes the tricky part, how do you know how much fat you're eating and whether or not it is good fat or bad fat.
How to Monitor Your Fat Intake
To understand how much fat you're eating and what type of fat you're eating, there are two courses of action. The first is to read the label. You'll see what type of fat is in that product and how much. Most labels are based on a 2000-calorie diet. If you're consuming more or less calories, you'll need to do a bit of math to find out the percentage.
However, what do you do if the product doesn't have a label, like almonds for example. There are wonderful resources both online and off which will give you a figure. A quick look online tells us that raw almonds have 1 gram of saturated fat and 15 grams of total fat.
Yet that information is deceiving. You must also look at how many almonds you're eating. The information in this case is based on 24 almonds. However, if you're only eating a handful, which would be about 12, then you're consuming about half the fat. If you're eating 24 almonds, you may be consuming half of your allotted fat for the day and even though it's primarily good fat, it's still fat.
Keep a tally of how much you're eating each day and keep it under 35% of your total calories consumed each day to lose weight and give your body what it needs to stay healthy.
A pound of fat equals 3500 calories.
Lisa E. Jones is a fitness and diet consultant on a mission to help people lose weight, tone up and achieve the body of their dreams. For weight loss tips, strategies and real results visit All-About-Fat-Burning.com All-About-Fat-Burning.com
No comments:
Post a Comment