Fat Intake

Fats play a key role in brain, nerve and hormone function. Saturated fat is needed to support testosterone levels. A lack of it will impair testosterone levels and sex drive. You need fat in your diet. Fat has more calories per gram than protein or carbohydrates and thus it has more of an influence on total calorie intake.

A higher fat intake is not associated with increase body fat. Body fat is stored when our body has excess energy/calorie. A calorie surplus is responsible for increased body fat.

Calculating Fat Intake

I recommend a absolute minimum fat intake of .35g per pound of bodyweight in order to ensure normal hormone function. The upper limit can go up as far as 1g per pound bodyweight. This is suited to athletes doing a huge amount of training with larger caloric needs and/or people who feel bloated or tired after carbs. Start with .5g per pound of bodyweight and adjust from there.

Once you are above the minimum requirements your fat intake largely depends on your personal preference.

What type of fats:

We should avoid fats from processed foods

• Hydrogenated fat
• Trans fat
• Omega-6 cooking oils

We should eat fats from whole foods

• Saturated fat
• Monounsaturated fat
• Polyunsaturated omega-6 and omega-3

Aim for

• 1/3 saturated fat: Good sources include animal fat, dairy and coconut oil. They are usually solid at room temperature.
• 1/3 monounsaturated fat: Good sources include nuts, avocados and olive oil.
• 1/3 polyunsaturated (half and half omega 6 and 3): Other oils are usually good sources.

Fat intake is best estimated in conjunction with carbohydrate intake based on your estimated insulin sensitivity and your sport of choice (see Fat/Carb Balance).

Fat/Carbohydrate Balance

People’s tolerance to carbohydrates/insulin sensitivity can vary significantly. Someone who is insulin sensitive requires less insulin to deposit glucose (good). Someone who is insulin resistance requires a lot of insulin to deposit glucose (bad). Someone who has poor insulin sensitivity is at more risk metabolic syndromes and will find it tougher to burn fat. Insulin is sensitive to carbohydrates, and protein to a lesser degree. It is not sensitive to fat. High carbohydrate meals are most responsible for increased insulin. Exercise, less processed carbohydrates, more vegetables and a calorie deficit resulting in fat loss all contribute to improving your insulin sensitivity.

Aim for the higher fat intake, and thus less carbohydrates, if you:

• do not exercise,
• eat lots of processed carbohydrates,
• eat little vegetables,
• have gained excess body fat

Also begin to eat more vegetables and less processed carbohydrates and exercise more.

As you will learn shortly dietary carbohydrates maintain glycogen levels. High muscle glycogen levels will improve your performance in endurance and/or intermittent sprint (field) sports by increasing your time to fatigue.

Aim for the higher carbohydrate intake, and thus less fat, if you participate in:

• endurance sports
• intermediate sprint or field sports

So What?

Eat minimally processed whole foods. Food has one ingredient, not twenty.

Recommended dietary intake for someone doing weight training by order of importance

BW=body weight.