Fats, also known as lipids, are an essential macronutrient, and whether you want to gain muscle or lose fat, you need them.
Unless you don't want to have good results.
Fats play a number of fundamental roles in the human body, and have a strong impact on the hormonal system.
They are also the most caloric nutrient, so knowing how much to eat can be vital to the success of a diet.
To gain muscle mass extra calories can help, but to lose fat, a small slip can hinder your progress.
So, do you know how many fats you should eat each day?
Number of calories
There are two mandatory initial steps to determine the amount of fat you need on a daily basis.
The first is to know what you want.
Do you want to gain muscle mass?
Lose fat?
After defining your goal, you should know how many calories to eat to achieve it.
Without knowing how many calories you should eat each day, you will not be able to calculate the ideal amount of fats for your diet.
And how do you know this?
It's simple.
See This article and follow the instructions for calculating the calories you need to lose weight.
If your goal is to lose weight, you don't need to change anything.
If on the other hand your goal is to gain muscle mass, then you must make a small change.
In the final step, instead of reducing calories, it increases.
Instead of reducing between 200 to 300 kcal, you should increase between 200 to 300 kcal.
Amount of fat
Now that you know how many calories you need per day, you can now switch to fat calculation.
There is no exact figure, but there are approximate figures that work for most people.
Obviously, this number varies according to your goal.
Goal to gain muscle mass
If your goal is to gain muscle mass you need calories.
Fats are an excellent source of calories, as they are the most dense macronutrient.
Each gram of protein and carbohydrate gives you 4 kcal, but fats give you 9 kcal for every gram.
Not to mention the essential role they play in the hormonal system, and beyond.
So, how many grams of fat should you eat to gain muscle mass?
Reserve between 20% to 30% of your daily calories for fat.
As you know, each gram of fat counts with 9 kcal, so the calculation is not difficult.
Example.
Alfredo wants to gain muscle mass and discovered that he needs 3000 kcal to achieve it.
He chose to use 30% of this value in fat, which corresponds to 900 kcal.
To know this Alfredo multiplied the number of calories (3000) by the percentage of fats he wants to use (0.3).
3000 x 0.3 = 900 kcal
Therefore, 900 kcal of Alfredo's diet will be fats.
How many grams of fat does this represent?
Just divide this number by 9, which is the calorie value per gram of fat.
900: 9 = 100g
That is, Alfredo will include 100g of fats per day in his diet to gain muscle mass.
Goal to lose fat
You may want to lose weight and fat, but that does not mean that you should eliminate lipids from your diet.
In fact, it would significantly damage your results.
You should only reduce the amount used.
The method for knowing how many grams to eat is similar to the one used to gain muscle mass.
What changes?
The percentage of calories that must come from fats.
In case your goal is to lose weight and fat mass, you should use between 15% to 25% of fats per day.
Follow the method shown above but multiply by a value between 0.15 to 0.25.
Then, as above, just divide the result by 9 to know how many grams of fat it corresponds to.
Attention, 15% is a low value, and if you use it, leave it for a final phase of fat loss, and only for a short period.
Conclusion
Is it difficult to calculate the amount of fat you need?
No.
It is quite simple as you may have noticed. And useful too.
Attention, these values are approximate, and you should be aware of your results.
There are those who feel better, and achieve better results, with higher fat percentages.
But there are also those who prefer lower values.
Above all, do not eliminate the fats from your diet. They are essential.
Use these values as a guide, and adjust if necessary.
To know how much protein you need per day, go through here.
If you have any questions, use the comment area below.
There are still two articles that can be useful to you.
Sources.
The values presented in the article are those used by authors Eric Helms, Andrea Valdez and Andy Morgan in the book The Muscle and Strength Pyramid Nutrition.
hello, I'm in doubt as to the fat to eat to lose fat, are we going to remove the % at the caloric level for mass gains at 3000kcal or are we going to remove the kcal to be ingested to lose weight?