Why Does Eating Fat Make You Fat?

The main reason that eating fat makes you fat simply is that fat contains more calories per gram than any other kind of food. Each gram of fat contains nine calories, while one gram of protein or carbohydrate contains only four calories. Fat is a calorie-dense food, it provides a large number of calories in a small volume. If you eat carbohydrates or protein, especially in whole foods, you can eat more than twice as much without increasing the number of calories.

For example, it is not carbohydrate foods such as bread and potatoes that make you fat, it is the butter or margarine you add. It is not the salad that is fattening, it is the fatty dressing that is added. Whole milk is a great source of protein, but it is also fattening. That is because it contains 3.5% fat which, amazingly, accounts for almost 50% of the calories. Most of the weight in milk is actually water. If you eliminate most of the fat by consuming not fat milk, you will get all the protein and other vital nutrients, but 40% fewer calories.

To add to the problem, fat stimulates your appetite; it encourages you to overeat because it tastes so good! Ask yourself, would you be inclined to eat a baked potato with sour cream and butter on it or without anything on it?

Research shows that fat calories are more easily converted to body fat than other calories. Studies at Harvard and Stanford Medical Schools found that excess body weight is actually more closely linked to fat consumption than to calorie consumption.

Tufts University Diet And Nutrition Letter described the two studies this way: What it comes down to is that if two men require 2,0000 calories a day each, the one who eats a greater proportion of his 2,000 calories as fat is more likely to end of with body fat than the one who takes in more of his calories as carbohydrate. What is the explanation of this?

Experiments at the University of Massachusetts Medical School show that dietary fat can be turned into body fat so easily the process only uses up 3% of the calories consumed, while it takes 23% of calories consumed to turn carbohydrate into fat stores. In other words, if you consume 100 excess carbohydrate calories, only 77 of them will end up as body fat; but if you consume the same number of calories as fat, 97 will turn up on your body as fat. That is a difference of 25% and, over time, it can add up to many extra pounds of body fat.

The bottom line is, if you want to get and stay lean, reduce your calories slightly while lowering your fat intake so that you consume no more than about 15% in total fat calories. Include about half an hour of mild aerobic exercise and strength training per day in order to lose about one to two pounds of body fat per week. It is not difficult, you can do it!

Dallas Cove is the author. If you are interested in more tips on losing weight and getting lean for life, please visit our website: http://dallascove2.com