Dietary Fat Requirements to Achieve Healthy Weight Loss

You might be thinking that all fat is bad for you, and that you need to avoid as much of it as possible in order to slim down and keep the weight off. But the opposite is actually true. There are certain dietary fat requirements that you need to meet in order to keep your body in a state of balance, and to achieve healthy weight loss.

What are the fat requirements that you need to pay attention to so you can ensure your body’s needs will be met? Check out our tips and guidelines below, but if you have any questions about what eating plan is truly best for your unique body, it’s best to consult with a nutritionist.

Your Body Needs Fat: Here’s Why 

There are three macronutrients that you need to pay attention to when you are coming up with meal plans for your health and your weight: protein, carbohydrates, and fat. That’s right, fat is a necessary macronutrient, which means you have to meet certain fat requirements, just like you need to meet certain protein and carb requirements.

According to Cleveland Clinic, your body uses fat for energy, and fat is also a part of your cell walls. Plus, you need fat to absorb certain vitamins, which are referred to as fat-soluble vitamins. Those important nutrients include vitamins A, E, D, and K. And, it doesn’t stop there, as fat is used to protect your organs, and there are certain essential fatty acids that your body does not produce on its own, so you need to get them from your diet. 

As you can see, fat is not only necessary, but it can also be beneficial. The key, though, is to get the right type of fat into your diet, and then meeting your fat requirements with those healthy fats.

The Types of Fat, and General Fat Requirements 

Here is a breakdown of the different types of fat:

• Saturated fat
• Monounsaturated fat
• Polyunsaturated fat
• Cholesterol
• Trans fat

You shouldn’t get any trans fat from your diet at all because it is harmful to your health. And, you should aim to get less than 300 mg daily of cholesterol.

In terms of how much fat you should be getting, the answer is: 20-35% of your total calories should come from fat. If you’re getting around 2,000 calories per day, that translates to roughly 44 to 77 grams of fat daily because there are roughly 9 calories in a gram of fat.

You can also further break it all down based on the type of fat. You want to get more of the good fats into your diet, while avoiding the bad fats:

• 15-20% of your total calories can come from monounsaturated fat
• 5-10% should come from polyunsaturated fat
• Less than 10% of your calories should come from saturated fat

There you go: now you know why fat is important, and why you need it in your diet, even when you want to lose weight!