How Much Dietary Fat Should You Consume During Weight Loss?

Fat contains twice as many calories as carbohydrate and protein, so it makes sense to reduce the amount of fat in your diet if you want to lose weight.

However you shouldn't eliminate all fat from your diet. Your body needs some fat for vitamin absorption, hormone regulation, the health of your heart and the protection of your vital organs. And you need some fat in your diet to enjoy the flavour and texture of your food.

How Much Dietary Fat Should I Consume During Weight Loss?

Females:
Fairly healthy with normal cholesterol and triglycerides: 40g fat per day
At risk of heart disease, high blood pressure or diabetes: 30g fat per day

Males:
Fairly healthy with normal cholesterol and triglycerides: 50g fat per day
At risk of heart disease, high blood pressure or diabetes: 40g fat per day

How Much Dietary Fat Should I Consume to Maintain a Healthy Weight?

Fats should not contribute to more than 30% of your daily calorie intake, but many Australians consume more than 40% of their daily calorie intake from fat.

Assuming that you will remain fairly active when you reach your weight loss goal, you should consume the following levels of dietary fat:

Females: Fairly healthy with normal cholesterol and triglycerides: 65g fat per day
At risk of heart disease, high blood pressure or diabetes: 55g fat per day

Males: Fairly healthy with normal cholesterol and triglycerides: 85g fat per day
At risk of heart disease, high blood pressure or diabetes: 70g fat per day

To find out how much fat is in your favourite foods, visit the Calorie King website.

In summary, it's important to moderate your intake of dietary fat but don't eliminate it completely. Choose foods that are high in healthy fats such as monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and omega-3 fats. And limit your intake of foods that contain unhealthy fats (saturated and trans fats) as they increase your blood cholesterol levels.

How Much Exercise Do I Need to Do to Lose Weight?

The amount of exercise you need to do depends on your weight loss goal. If your goal is:

1. Weight loss 150-250 minutes of moderate intensity* physical activity per week provides modest weight loss. People with a body mass index that classifies them as overweight or obese should aim for more than 250 minutes of exercise per week (e.g. 5 sessions of one hour per week) and perform resistance training to increase the amount of metabolically active muscle tissue in their bodies and reduce their health risks.

2. Weight maintenance More than 250 minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity per week (e.g. 5 sessions of 50 minutes per week).

3. Preventing weight gain 150-250 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week (e.g. 5 sessions of 30 - 50 minutes per week).

*Moderate intensity physical activity is an increase in your breathing rate to a point where you are still able to talk comfortably but not sing. A more technical explanation is that it is exercising in a range of 65-75% of your maximum heart rate. Modes of exercise which are best suited to moderate intensity exercise are brisk walking, swimming, bike riding or cardio machines at the gym. Exercise should be continuous rather than in short bursts (these short bursts occur in sports such as tennis or touch football).

Remember that it's very difficult to lose weight through exercise alone. If you try to lose weight without reducing your calorie intake you'll need to exercise for at least 300 minutes a week! The best way to lose weight is to exercise AND consume fewer calories. Not only will you lose weight at a faster rate, but by engaging in regular aerobic exercise you'll keep the weight off for life.

Reference
Donnelly, J. et al., 2009, ' Appropriate Physical Activity Intervention Strategies for Weight Loss and Prevention of Weight Regain for Adults', Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise Vol. 41:459-471.

How to Increase Your Metabolic Rate

To increase your metabolic rate, or the rate at which your body burns energy, you need to exercise at a moderate intensity (a level where your breathing rate is elevated, but you can still carry out a conversation) for at least 250 minutes a week. You also need to eat small meals every three hours.

Metabolism Explained

Your metabolism is important in determining how much body fat you burn. Every person's metabolic rate is different, but in theory, raising your metabolic rate by 10% can decrease your body weight by up to 7.5 kilograms! Your metabolic rate comprises of three factors, two of which you have the power to change:

1. Resting metabolic rate the amount of energy expended when you are sleeping or sedentary (60 - 70% of the average person's daily energy use)
2. Physical activity (20 - 25% of the average person's daily energy use)
3. Thermogenesis an increase in your resting metabolic rate in response to stimuli such as food digestion (10% of the average person's daily energy use)

The two factors that you have the power to change are the physical activity (engage in regular exercise) and thermogenesis (eat every 2-3 hours).

Don't Slow Your Metabolism

One of the fastest ways to slow your metabolsim is to 'crash diet', or try fast diets and fasting. When you lose weight quickly, your body responds to perceived starvation by slowing your metabolic rate to conserve energy. Hence when you start eating normally again, your body stores fat because its metabolism has slowed!

Yo-yo dieting has a similar effect. The more weight you lose, regain and lose again; the more muscle tissue you will shed. Unlike fat, muscle tissue is metabolically active.

So by maintaining a healthy metabolism with exercise and regular eating, you'll enjoy a healthy metabolism - and a healthy weight.