Please explain importance of fat intake

(Kristi Lutes) #1

I’m really struggling to get enough fat to meet my macro goals lately. I understand that once you are in ketosis, your body should be burning stored fat so, why would I need to have so much fat in my diet. Wouldn’t less fat in my diet result in my body burning more stored fat? If I consume fat, wouldn’t that just be used as fuel instead of the stored fat on my body?
I’ve hit a stall after losing about 22lbs and am researching every option of what might be causing it. Thanks in advance!

Kristi

(Leslie) #2

You’re thinking is flawed but it’s not your fault. You’ve been lied to your entire life about how fat works.

When we stop fueling our bodies with carbs we force it use fat as fuel. In the beginning that’s the fat on our plate. After we’ve become fat adapted, which can take months, we are burning our body fat as well as the fat we consume. In order to produce the amount of energy our bodies require for life, a person would have to eat a lot more fat than just 100g per day, or whatever your macro level is. If you consume fewer fat grams, it doesn’t drive your body to use your stored fat more efficiently or more quickly, it may instead lower your basal metabolic rate, causing your weight loss to stall.

I think you should do some more research about fat burning, fat loss and keto.
I recommend listening to the Obesity Code podcast and the 2 keto Dudes.

For everyone I encounter who is keto and questioning or stalled, I recommend examining their fat intake. What are you consuming as your fat? Are you certain you are getting enough and are the sources appropriate?

Keep calm and keto on

(Justin Roberts) #3

To my knowledge, and please anyone correct me if I’m wrong, but it comes down to your caloric intake being too low without the added fat.

If you have removed carbs from your diet, but have not added in fats, then your calorie intake has dropped significantly from your old intake which will cause your metabolic rate to slow down (possibly the cause of your stall). You add the fats to up your caloric intake which in turn ramps your metabolism back up. Fats do not raise your insulin. Carbs do raise insulin. Excess protein will raise insulin.

So definitely don’t eat the carbs for obvious reasons. Overeating protein to try to up your caloric intake would result in insulin spikes due to the body processing the excess protein. Fat is the only way to make it happen without raising your insulin.

The idea is to have enough calories so your body doesn’t think it is starving and slow down your metabolism, but keep the insulin as low as possible so your body can release the fat from your cells and now be triggered to store it.

@Lesliemont is saying a lot of the same thing and replied as I was typing this up. Great info!

(Kristi Lutes) #4

Thanks Leslie! That totally makes sense now. I couldn’t find anything anywhere to actually explain it to me that clearly.

I will listen to the podcasts today. Thanks for the recommendations.

My fat consumption is MCT oil, bacon, cheese, mayo, eggs, avocado, pork and other meats along that line. Is that appropriate?

(Liz ) #5

Sounds DELICIOUS! :smile:

(Leslie) #6

Watch for hidden carbs in stuff like mayo from the grocery store. MCT oil is good but you might want to try some grass fed butter and coconut oil added to the mix.
Have you tried to make fat bombs?

Also, avocados are really important to make fat easy to eat.

(Kristi Lutes) #7

I do have grass fed butter that I try to cook with when I can. I also try to use avocado oil. I have actual liquid coconut oil that I put in my coffee daily.

I’ve made a few fat bombs but they always make me go over my protein. I like the ones with peanut butter. I’ll have to find some without peanut butter.

Unfortunately, I absolutely HATE avocados so the only way I eat them is an egg/avocado salad with mayo.

(Leslie) #8

I really believe that you are on the right path. Find more ways to add fat to your diet. My daughter and I have a great dressing that uses avocados but tastes more like the cilantro, jalapeños, garlic and lime that we add.

Be careful about the peanut butter because it is high in carbs and also can be problematic for people with metabolic syndrome or leaky gut.

Macadamia nuts, pecans and walnuts are also a small part of everyday. I put them all together with butter and pink Himalayan salt, yummy!

She, the daughter, makes walnut butter, maybe substitute that in the fat bombs

(Raj Seth) #9

Beyond what’s already be said, the reason for using plate fat as the primary source of energy is to keep your insulin low. Fat evokes little insulin response. Wit insulin levels lowere for longer, lipolysis is permitted, and the body can gradually strengthen its lipolysis pathways so you can fat adapt

Once you are fat adapted, your body will be indifferent whether it gets its fat from the plate or from the Kristi kreme (Freudian slip?)you ate a decade ago stored as body fat. It will stop dialing 911 hunger all the time. And you will be on your way

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #10

This is why we eat fat. Protein doesn’t raise insulin as much as carbohydrate does, but it still has an effect. We eat protein because we have to—Bad Things happen when we don’t get enough. Since fat has a minimal effect on insulin, it becomes the macronutrient of choice, once we’ve eliminated carbohydrate.

The reason we advise eating fat to satiety is that it eliminates the guess-work of calorie-counting. We can trust our bodies to tell us when we’ve given them enough energy, so we do well to let them.