You are looking for how to burn fat? You might be surprised to hear that consuming fat can actually help you burn body fat. In this article, you’ll find all you need to know about why you need to eat fat to burn fat.
The idea of eating more fat still makes a lot of people upset. For years, we have been heard about reducing fat from our diet, fearing weight gain, but the truth is, we haven’t got us very far. Although we have been reaching for non-free, low-fat, and fat–free options, obesity rates continue to grow across America because the truth is that including fat in the diet is actually a suitable means for weight loss. So, if you are still striving to lose weight and hesitant to add fat to your diet because you think it’s going to transform into body fat, let me help. Here you will learn why you should implement it in your diet and why you need to eat fat to burn fat.
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The Important Role of Fat
Although body fat and dietary fat both have the word “fat,” they have little in common and are very different. Dietary fat is one of the primary three macronutrients in our diet and is vital for human health. In their natural food forms, fat is the building block for our brain and nerve tissues, hormones, and cell membranes. Fat helps us regulate and control inflammation and help for absorbing essential nutrients including vitamin A, D, E, and K. Dietary fats, in the form of cholesterol, triglycerides, essential fatty acids, protect our vital organs, help to shield us, and are used as a source of stored energy.
Burning Fat Instead of Carbs for Fuel
Same as a car, our bodies need fuel to work well. We need fuel(energy) for our vital bodily functions, and we need fuel to meet our daily challenges.
The human body can utilize two primary sources of fuel– carbohydrates and fat
Carbohydrates (sugar or glucose) are the body’s primary fuel source, while fat is the body’s second energy source or some backup fuel.
This means that if both carbs and fat are present, the body will utilize the carbohydrates first. If they are no longer available, then the body naturally switches to burn fat for fuel. Think of it like a “switch”. As long as carbohydrates (or sugars) are present in your diet, your body will continue in a carbohydrate burning mode, and then it will “change the switch” and start to burn fat as fuel.
Usually, if the body is in a balanced state, it should naturally switch over back and forth between using both carbs and fat for fuel. Unfortunately, nowadays, many people struggle to switch their fuel source, making burning fat more difficult. Why? For many people, the master manager of this switch, insulin, is no longer working as it needs to.
Weight is about hormones, not about fat
Insulin is one of the primary fat-storing hormones. And although that may sound like a bad thing, it is merely doing its job. Whenever you eat food, you activate insulin. Insulin tells the body to convert the food you’ve just eaten into stored energy, and once you finish eating, it then forces the body to use this energy. Precisely this process, storing food as energy, and then using that stored energy, makes the human body efficient.
In simple words, after you have a meal, it is quite normal to have energy stored for several hours, so you shouldn’t need to be searching for food continually.
However, it is essential to understand that the body stores’ energy for later in one simple form–as body fat. Body fat is simply a sort of stored energy, and its primary purpose is to protect and save us when we no longer have food available.
The problem is that first, humans today rarely go long periods without food, and second, people do not allow their bodies to access this stored energy.
Control Insulin to Control Your Weight
The key to successful long–term weight loss has less to do with calories and a lot to do with insulin
Why? The reason is that not all calories are the same, and only counting the calories will not be enough. Instead the quality of food you eat and the balance between protein, carbs, and fat mainly determine how effectively or not effectively you will burn body fat.
Since insulin is the main factor determining whether your body is collecting fat or burning fat, you need to be sure insulin is working the way it has to.
Important to know that high insulin levels will maintain your body in a fat-storing mode. In contrast, low insulin levels will allow your body to burn fat efficiently and transform it into energy. Of all the three macronutrients, carbohydrates, not protein or fat, have the greatest impact on insulin.
Important to know that high insulin levels will maintain your body in a fat-storing mode. In contrast, low insulin levels will allow your body to burn fat efficiently and transform it into energy. Of all the three macronutrients, carbohydrates, not protein or fat, have the greatest impact on insulin.
Every time that you eat carbs, you are activating an insulin response
By eating a diet high in carbs, especially if these are refined carbohydrates and sugars, you get used your body to use the carbohydrates (or glucose) as a fuel source instead of fat. And the more carbs you eat, the higher blood sugar levels and higher insulin levels you will undergo, and therefore, the more you will accumulate these carbohydrates as body fat.
Keep in mind the body is so created that it will always prioritize using carbohydrates for fuel over fat. So, if you continue to consume carbs, you will never allow your body to transform the fat that it has gained back into energy. By continues this way, it may come a moment further when it becomes even harder for your body to convert stored fat into energy, as your cells are closed to insulin–now they are insulin resistant. As a result, you experience more and more sugar cravings, and your body becomes all the more inefficient to convert stored fat back to energy.
In this situation, how high your insulin levels are and how responsive your cells are to insulin is critical. Depending on how resistant your body’s cells are to the insulin, even if you eat whole carb foods, it becomes difficult to burning fat for energy. For example, a diet of porridge for breakfast, risotto for lunch, and potato soup for dinner can make burning fat for fuel nearly impossible for someone with insulin resistance or someone who has been overweight for a long time. It is because the carbohydrate load is simply too high.
Why You Need to Eat Fat to Burn Fat?
It is necessary to include fat in your diet in order to address insulin resistance and set your body to get into a fat-burning state
Fat is vital for general health, but what is more important, it does not trigger insulin the same way that carbs, sugar, or glucose do. Without getting enough fat, the body will continue to use and desire carbs as a primary fuel source and never switch to convert stored fat back to energy, so it will never have the possibility to burn fat. Fat not only does not trigger insulin the same way that carbs do, but fat helps control our hunger cues, allowing us to eat less and feel satisfied.
Since fat is very energy-dense(meaning a lot of energy in a small amount), it helps us to:
- maintains us fuller for longer periods
- manages our leptin and ghrelin hormones, which are the gatekeepers of our appetite
- keeps our cravings at bay by helping to balance our blood sugar
By adding more fat to your diet, you can also go long periods between meals, promoting weight loss/burn fat since you force your body to use its fat for fuel during these periods.
By having meals that are high in fat and moderate in carbs, you can easily and more quickly switch from using carbs for fuel to fat for energy, which keeps you in a fat-burning state for more extended periods.
A Few Words of Caution About Fat
Although it is essential to include fat in your diet, it is also crucial to understand that not all fat forms are the same. My suggestion to add fat to the diet is not permission for you to reach out for vegetable oils, deep-fried foods, and processed food.
Which Are The Best Sources of Healthy Fat
If you want to use fat for fuel, you have to focus on whole food forms of fat. As the process forms of fat often come with added sugars (such as pre-made sauces and dressings), which will take your body out of a fat-burning mode. But furthermore, they are often produced along with refined forms of fat and vegetable oils, which encourage inflammation but not weight loss. Preferably, opt for natural cooking oils like butter, coconut oil, olive oil, and avocado oil. Try always to choose high-quality animal meats, whole eggs, high-quality dairy, seafood, nuts, seeds, and avocados.
Ketogenic Diet–Easygoing & High Effective Way to Benefit Fat–Rich Diet
The purpose of a ketogenic diet is simple, to change the body’s primary fuel supply from sugar to fat. Fat converted into ketones then, which are very efficient for energy generation while also emit less metabolic waste products that usually are great contributors to inflammation.
To enter into this state, you need to follow a high-fat, low-carb, and moderate-protein nutrition regimen. By taking this simple dietary change, blood sugar falls to a level where the body needs to utilize fat to survive.
At this point, the body starts to transform fatty acids into ketones, which are then used by the cells in your brain and body to create energy. This state is usually referred to as being keto-adapted.
So simply because ketones result in more energy and reduced inflammation, you can expect to experience an elevated sense of wellbeing, a sharper mind, and also a natural boost in fat loss.
Why Most People Are Not Keto-Adapted?
As we mentioned, the body naturally favors and prefers sugar to fat as an energy fuel source. At the same time, most American people have a heavy dependence on carbs and sugars as the primary calorie source in their diets.
And that’s the place where the keto diet would be advantageous. The Keto diet is a highly effective way to re-teach the body to utilize its own fat for energy. Nowadays, most people spend a significant part of their life in a sugar-burning mode, and their cells lose the metabolic strength necessary to burn fat.
This is why It usually takes about 2-3 weeks for someone to become entirely keto-adapted after beginning a keto diet. Even though the body will start producing ketones within a few days, it takes more time for the cells to begin converting these ketones into energy.
How To Follow A Ketogenic Diet?
A keto diet has been shown to help people lose stubborn fat, drastically decrease inflammation, boost their energy, and enhance brain health (Study). With all of these great benefits, you might be wondering how do I follow a keto diet?
The consistent testimony and research behind a ketogenic way of eating are compelling. By teaching your body to utilize fat for fuel instead of sugar, you enhance almost every cell’s function in your body. This is likely because of the anti-inflammatory effect of being in ketosis as well as more efficient energy production that takes place from ketones.
How does it look like the keto diet?
Low in carbohydrate: 5-10% of your calorie intake should come from net carbs (total carbs – fiber)
Moderate in protein: 20-30% of calories should come from protein
High in fat: 60-80% of calories should be from fat consumption
This is a great blueprint to start with. Just keep in mind that different people require a different and personalized approach–some individuals need to stick to the 5% carb range while others can get away with 15%. If you live more actively, you will likely need more protein and more overall calories in general.
Getting a personalized plan specified to your personal needs, activity levels, and food preferences is maybe the best way to start a keto diet. Immensely, if your goal is a long-lasting and sustainable result, whether you intend to lose weight, improve health, or both.
Final Words
Including fat in your diet is vitally important for weight loss, especially if you aim for long-term results. However, don’t forget that choosing high-quality whole foods sources is just as necessary.
When it comes to melting body fat, carbohydrates are more troublesome than dietary fat. That is not to say you can’t consume carbs. The quality always should trump quantity, and for most people, decreasing their consumption of refined carbs and increasing their fat intake is key to burning more fat and successful weight loss.
A Keto Diet Can Improve Your Health in Numerous Ways
The benefits of adopting a keto lifestyle are incredible. By decreasing inflammation, promoting better mitochondrial energy, stabilizing blood sugar levels, and enhancing fat burning, you can significantly improve your life and prevent many chronic illnesses.
If you are looking to start following a keto diet but don’t know where to begin, these articles can be a great initial point for you:
Read » Is The Custom Keto Meal Plan Right For You?
Watch» Proof You Can Quickly Transform Your Body By Following Keto Diet.
An in-depth program, entirely created by nutritional experts, dieticians, and fitness coaches, can give you everything you need to implement a keto diet for maximum benefits: 8 Weeks Custom Keto Meal Plan.
