I'm still a little confused on eating fats and losing fat?

#1

It just seems counter-intuitive that eating a high percentage of your calories in oils/fats somehow makes your body prefer to utilize body fat as fuel. I guess I don’t get the science - but I’m still reading. I’m about 1/3rd through the Fung book. It seems that adding lot of dietary fat to your system would make it more immediately available for energy usage than body fat, but there must to be more to the story. Can someone give me a 25-words or less explanation on why adding dietary fat (carbs or no carbs) can still result in body fat being utilized by your body instead?

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #2

No.

(Ken) #3

Fat contains Leptin. Leptin fluxes through the hypothalamus and tells you you are sated, so you stop eating. There is no short term fat storage like there is glycogen for carbs. Not eating carbs causes you to secrete glucagon instead of insulin, so dietary fat is burned instead of stored.

More like 50 words.

#4

Thanks amwassil and 240lbfatloss (wow!) … Starting to make a little sense. I’ll read the beginner’s guide link too… thx.

Brian

(Full Metal KETO AF) #5

@240lbfatloss :clap:t2::clap:t2::clap:t2::clap:t2: Well said Ken.

:cowboy_hat_face:

(Bob M) #6

Personally, I’ve found protein way more filling than fat. Give me a fat bomb, and I’ll eat 5 of them instead of one. Give me lean meats, and they fill me and keep me full longer than do high fat meats.

(hottie turned hag) #7

I think I love you :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:
You always glibly sum it up.

(Ken) #8

For me, it’s the fat-protein combination that is the most sating. Much better than either fat or protein by themselves.

#9

Different contexts, differnet results.

Minimize insulin and hunger. Maximize fat for fuel.

(bulkbiker) #10

No because with carbs it won’t be effective and you will lkely gain. Without carbs you will be using the fat for fuel some from what you eat (although fat can be extremely satiating so you may eat a bit less then your body will use stored fat.
If you are eating carbs then you won’t get into this state (ketosis).

#11

Yes … for me, the fat is satiating more than anything else, but I only have it with proteins too. I don’t really want to eat fat alone (Mmmm… drink melted butter :frowning: ) :smiley:

Brian

(bulkbiker) #12

I wouldn’t recommend fat alone but always with some protein…
These days I add little if any but have been on this ride for 3 1/2 years.

#13

Thanks. I’ve been maintaining about a 76% fat calories diet and carbs around 10g per day, the remaining protein of course.

My weight went through 3 stages… big loss first week (water), post induction stall for 6 or 7 weeks where I lost and gained (net zero change), and finally losing a pound a week for 4 weeks running. The egg fast for 2 days ended the stall (barfo). Did a 36 hour fast a while ago. Doing another starting tonight. Otherwise usually just 2 meals a day, no snacks, 16+ hours from dinner to early lunch typical. I think I’ve finally got this…

Brian

(Dirty Lazy Keto'er, Sucralose freak ;)) #14

To me it seems completely “intuitive”… You get your body used to using fat for energy… Then deprive it just a bit, and Bam, it goes straight to using your excess fat without a second thought :slightly_smiling_face:

That’s why fasting works so well in conjunction with Keto :slightly_smiling_face:

(Mazzy ) #15

Hey - I’m a newbie here too (first post!) and I’m definitely not super-clear on all this, but I think I understood that, if you eat carbs you store fat (as your body prefers to burn the ‘easy’ carbs. But if there are no carbs (aka you eat fat), your body has to make the switch to burning fat. In the beginning, the body is a little confused and reluctant to make the switch, so you feel tired, hungry, need to eat more fat, then as you become fat-adapted, you become less hungry, need to eat less fat and this is when the magic happens as your body settles in to using up some of your stored fat alongside your dietary fat.

(Polly) #16

That certainly accords well with my understanding. I like the way you put it!

(Dirty Lazy Keto'er, Sucralose freak ;)) #17

Yes, this is more or the less the whole thing in a nutshell :slightly_smiling_face:

Here’s the thing, one can get all scientific about Keto, and start splitting hairs over macros… Types of fats, metabolic processes, etc, etc, etc…
And that’s fine, IF you are into this kind of thing, but you really don’t have to. Keto can be just as simple as you and I described it. I truly believe that without a lot more knowledge than yours or mines, short little description of Keto above, a person could really turn a poor diet / health situation completely around :slightly_smiling_face:

(Bob M) #18

True, although it’s difficult to eat protein without eating fat, if you’re eating real food. I find, though, that lower fat, higher protein foods tend to sate me better, at least after lifting weights + HIIT. But I’ve never done a true test, where I adjust fat/protein ratios after exercising. This would have to be done while keeping calories stationary (otherwise, the calories could be sating, regardless of the effect of the fat/protein).

I could do that, but then I’d have to get a scale and deal with the vagaries of measuring everything. And even then, it would only be an estimate.

This likely depends on what you’re doing. If you’re lifting weights to failure and combining that with HIIT (as I am), the answer might be different than if you’re not exercising at all or maybe exercising using aerobics only. It might be different between men and women. It might be different in your weight loss progress (I’m way leaner and more muscular now than when I was on a much higher fat LC/keto diet). It might be different based on age. Genetics could play a role. Or based on any combination of those factors.

(Dirty Lazy Keto'er, Sucralose freak ;)) #19

Hey Bob, eating proteins without fats is easy, and I used to do that every day. For nearly 5 years, I ate 10 to 12 jumbo egg whites, 7 mornings a week. I SO wish I could go back to that point in my life (before my back injury) and shift from the basically Paleo diet I was on, to the Keto diet I’m on now. Pretty sure I could have finally gotten to less than 10% BF… but more importantly, could have finally been satiated ! I used to eat 4000-5500 cals a day, and I was constantly freaking starving ! Kind of ridiculous, right ?

(Bob M) #20

That’s not a whole food. The whole food would the egg whites and yolks.

Can you eat very, very high protein and very, very low fat? It’s possible. You could eat shrimp and mussels all day long, every day. I typically eat real food, which includes shrimp and mussels, and other stuff too. Eat a ribeye, and you’re somewhere around 70% fat.

Again, it depends on the person. If you ate high protein, low fat, and did not like it, then don’t eat it. It’s really as simple as that.