How much fat per day

In this blog, we will discuss How much fat per day a person needs. Those who want to lose weight will ultimately have to eat fewer calories than they burn; if you don’t, you can still be so natural and unprocessed, but you really won’t lose weight in the end. In an effort to cut back on calories as much as possible, many people cut fats almost completely from their diet.

How much fat per day

This is understandable because fat is the macronutrient that contains the most energy – but certainly not immediately sensible. After all, fats are essential for the functioning of your body, just like all other nutrients! Today we’re looking at exactly what place it should take up on your plate and how much fat per day.

Risks of too little fat

If fat is so rich in calories, why should you keep eating it? Very simple: the disadvantages of a fat deficiency are much greater! For example, a lack of fat means that you can no longer absorb vitamins A, D, E and K, because those vitamins only dissolve in fat and are used by your body.

A deficiency is bad for your skin, your eyes, your immune system, your bones and teeth and the health of your blood. Furthermore, a shortage of fat causes your amount of ‘good’ cholesterol to become too low, so that the bad cholesterol gets the upper hand and your total cholesterol balance deteriorates.

Also, omega fatty acids important for the functioning of your brain: a deficiency can even lead to depression. Finally, fats play a role in the production of hormones and add flavor to your food. Your diet should therefore always contain some fat.

Healthy and unhealthy fats

Is that a reason to run straight to the snack bar around the corner and order a large fries with mayonnaise? Well, no, it’s not that easy. Not all fats are created equal, and the unhealthy types are better left in any case. In general, you can assume that unsaturated fats (fats in nuts, olive oil, avocado, chia seed, etc.) are healthy anyway.

About saturated fat still exists discussion: one went long assumed that they were bad for your heart, but recent studies showed no association between saturated fat and heart disease, which means that a little anyway no harm.

Trans fats, also known as partially hardened fats (biscuits, chips, fries, pastries, snacks ) are in any case insanely unhealthy: when you come across them on an ingredient list, it is best to get away quickly.

How much fat per day?

But if you only eat healthy fats now and ignore the hardened mess, how much fat should you get from that per day? It depends a bit on your overall goals and the rest of your nutritional schedule. The general advice is to get between 20 and 40 percent of your calories from fats, but this is of course a broad estimate that can vary enormously from person to person.

Also read this: How much protein is too much

If you actively exercise, proteins and carbohydrates play an important role in your diet and it is wise to eat relatively less fat. Are you less active and do you eat less carbohydrates? Then the fats take up a larger place in your diet in percentage terms. As long as you keep a close eye on your total calories and based on preference within the margin of 20 to 40% from fats, you are certainly in the right place.

How many grams of fat per day?

When you know which part of your calories should come from your fat consumption, you of course do not immediately know how much fat you actually need. However, that is easy to calculate if you know that every gram of fat contains nine calories.

Let’s say you’re trying to take in 2,500 calories a day and get 30 percent of that from fat – 750 calories, in other words. Then all you have to do is divide that amount of calories by nine to know that you need to eat about 83 grams of fat per day.

A somewhat faster commonly used method is to assume your body weight. In that respect, most people with about 1 gram of fat per kilogram of body weight are fine. This can be a little more or less, but for the big picture, it does not matter. However, if you are very overweight, this method of calculation is not very suitable because it will quickly result in too high. It is better to use a percentage of your total number of calories.

Which foods contain fats?

If you know how much fat you need per day, it is of course still important to actually get those fats in a healthy way. Natural foods are the best possible sources here. Fatty fish such as herring and mackerel provide much needed omega-3 fatty acids.

Furthermore, avocados are excellent fats, just like nuts, eggs, and of course vegetable oils such as olive and linseed oil. By varying a lot, you can easily achieve that 20 to 40 percent per day!