We’ve come to believe that fat is bad. Having fat, being fat, eating fat… bad, bad, bad. Per usual, we’ve been brainwashed incorrectly. EATING FAT IS NOT MAKING YOU FAT. Let me repeat myself, eating fat is NOT making you fat.

 

Fat is easily the most misunderstood macro-nutrient in your diet; long story short: fat is absolutely critical to your body and should make up a BIG portion of your daily calories. Things like avocados, almonds, olive oil, walnuts, and almond butter are great sources of healthy fat (polyunsaturatured and monounsaturated). Full fat milk, coconut milk, and fatty cuts of meat will provide you with sources of saturated fat. Buying products that claim to be “low fat” or “fat free” are never recommended, when you see a label claiming those things just think “chemical storm”.

 

Fat loss and weight loss are also misunderstood. We obsess over the weight of our body instead of the composition of our body. Yo-yo dieters unite! You’ve lost weight a bunch of times but always manage to gain it back. But why? Your sole purpose in the diet or program you chose was to lose weight instead of losing fat. I hear people joke all the time about needing to lose weight so they’ll just stop eating. I’m telling you guys, my soapbox is seeing a lot of wear and tear.  I’ll spare you my entire speech and give you the straight facts. Your body is smarter than you and it will self-adjust to fix your mistakes. Eating too little causes your body to STORE fat (because it uses fat as stored energy). Your body then wants less tissue because tissue burns more calories (calories that you aren’t getting). What type of tissue burns a lot of calories? MUSCLE. So your body starts ditching that precious calorie-hungry muscle tissue. Studies show that up to 70% of weight lost while eating less come from burning muscle – not body fat.

 

Eating less and avoiding fat does not make us thin. It makes us stocky, sick and sad. Eat more, move more. Burn the fat, feed the muscle!

 

Sweat & Smiles,

 

Melissa