Fat often gets a bad rap in the diet world for being bad for you. While you can manipulate your body composition and greatly improve your health with dietary fat, it is often confusing when we think to ourselves, ‘how many fat grams should I eat a day’? This is where our nutrition services and coaches come in handy. We’re going to address what is fat, why is it good for you, and how many fat grams to eat in order to change the body’s composition, like eating fat to lose fat and gain muscle.
How Many Fat Grams Should I Eat A Day
The Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range (AMDR) for fat is anywhere between 20-35% of your total daily calories. [R] While this changes from person to person, and goal to goal, including some amount of dietary fat within a moderate range is crucial for biological function. If you eat too much of it, you can put yourself at risk for unnecessary weight gain and cardiovascular issues if blood triglycerides increase. We also want to consider the type of fats that we eat on a daily basis, maximizing omega 3 fatty acids and reducing or avoiding partially hydrogenated, hydrogenated, and trans fats altogether.
Why Is Fat Good For You
Fats in their most basic function provide energy for the human body, boasting 9 calories per single gram of dietary fat, making this energy source twice as dense as compared to carbohydrates or protein. They’re a major source of fuel when our bodies are at rest for our muscles, organs, and our brain. [R] While dietary fat can provide energy to do things like move more and to get purposeful activity, by participating in sweating and exercise, we can mobilize stored body fat from any of the following sources: muscle, adipose tissue, blood lipoproteins, and/or dietary fat consumed during exercise, contributing to those fat loss goals.
Further more, dietary fat enables the transport of fat-soluble vitamins for metabolic functions, they help maintain cell function (they’re a critical part of every cell membrane), and stored body fat provides protection and heat to our bodies. What else is fat good for? Great question - they can also provide us with a robust flavor profile when we eat our food and provide us with feeling satiated and full after a meal.
Eating Fat To Lose Fat
Eating fat to lose fat can sometimes be a hard concept for people to grasp. That being said, we do need some fat to provide energy and function to our bodies in an appropriate way. Often times when we cut out entire food groups or follow restrictive diets, we deprive our bodies of nutrients they need to perform essential functions, like omega 3 fatty acids from food and helping our hormones or cognitive function. Many people, when on a diet, will try to lose fat by consuming less than 15-20% of calories from fat, which can actually do more harm than good, especially if they’re eating less than 1500 kcal or 1200 kcal per day. Not only that, but diets that severely limit dietary fat consumption don’t often provide desired health benefits or performance benefits, and they’re often really hard to follow.
Eating To Lose Fat And Gain Muscle
Now if you’re eating to lose fat and gain muscle, most diets will include a higher amount of carbohydrates, moderate amount of protein, and a lower amount of dietary fat. Why? Well, for the active individual, carbohydrates are essential in replenishing glycogen. How many fat grams should I eat per day if I’m an athlete? Ideally 15-25% of calories should come from fat per day and the actual amount of grams depends on the total daily calories that they’re taking in. As far as carbohydrates and fat, carbs will make up anywhere from 40-60% of their daily calories and fat is in the 20-35% range.
Now if you’re eating to lose fat and gain muscle at an average daily activity level, this is absolutely achievable, and you may be wondering to yourself well ‘how many fat grams should I eat in a day if I’m NOT an athlete’, which is a great question. Similarly, depending on the amount of calories you eat in a day, you want dietary fat to be around 20-35% of your daily calories. After you figure out how many calories you’re going to consume on a daily basis, then you can break down your fat grams.
It's important to note that bodybuilders, for example, will follow extremely low diets for a short period of time which can be potentially harmful and dangerous. If you're looking to reduce your body fat under 12% or more we recommend only doing so under the guidance of a professional, certified, and experienced coach who will ensure that you stay as healthy as possible while pursuing a lower body fat composition.
High Omega 3 Foods
- Wild Caught Seafood (salmon, halibut, cod, herring, mackerel, sardines)
- Meat (highest amounts are found in grass-fed and finished) such as beef, lamb, venison, buffalo
- Flax and Chia Seeds
- Avocado
- Edamame
- Nuts
- Eggs With The Yolk
- Kidney and Navy Beans
- Firm Tofu
- Brussels Sprouts
- Antarctic Krill Oil Supplement
Omega 3 Supplement - Krill Oil
Krill oil supplementation is a great, high quality way to add more omega 3s to your diet, especially if you’re unable to get your fatty acids from fresh foods on a regular basis. As compared to Fish oil supplementation, Krill Oil provides a few more benefits that fish oil doesn’t such as:
- Better Bioavailability - Krill oil omega 3s are phospholipids which can be utilized immediately by the body without conversion, unlike fish oil, which are bound in triglycerides. Triglycerides have to undergo additional processes in order for them to be bioavailable [R]
- Faster Absorption - Krill oil has been shown to be absorbed 68% faster than fish oil supplementation [R]
- Added Antioxidant - Krill oil, unlike fish oil, contains astaxanthin which is a powerful antioxidant that helps fight the build up of free radicals, reduces inflammation, and improves immune system function [R]
- Reduce Joint Pain and Inflammation - Krill has anti inflammatory properties that can help reduce joint pain and inflammation [R]
RECOMMENDED PRODUCT: Swolverine 60 soft gel Krill Oil
How Many Fat Grams Should I Eat A Day: Takeaway
If you’re trying to change your body composition, lose weight, gain muscle, and/or improve performance, it’s important to note that you shouldn’t eliminate entire food groups like most diets suggest. The reason? When you eliminate things like meat, dairy, eggs, and nuts for example, you’re also eliminating protein and a ton of essential vitamins and minerals that your body needs for good health, body composition optimization, and improving athletic performance markers. The best approach? Include the high omega 3 foods in this article, figure out your daily calories, and break down your grams from there. Not sure where to start for your body and your goals? This is where a nutrition coach comes in to help eliminate the guesswork around ‘how much’ and ‘of what’ you should eat on a daily basis.
THE SWOLE KITCHEN provides 1:1 nutrition coaching, macro coaching, and custom meal plans to help guide you to becoming the best version of yourself.
We believe nutrition should be simplified and delicious. We give you the tools you’ve been missing to anticipate and meet your needs on a daily basis. Discover what if feels like to truly love your body and your life with personalized 1:1 nutrition coaching.