Taking an adequate amount of fat per day is essential in every context: to stay healthy in the short-long term, to lose weight, to build muscle mass, and for sports performance. This article answers the question: “How much fat per day?”. The answer, as always, is not just one because it is necessary to evaluate the needs of the individual, depending on several factors we will analyze.
How Much Fat Per Day? Daily Fat Requirement
The amount of fat to be eaten by the population corresponds to 20-35% of total daily calories. For a person who consumes 2000 kcal daily, 400-680 kcal must come from fat, while the sum of carbohydrates and proteins will supply the rest. Translated into grams, we are talking about 44 – 76 g per day. Therefore, the concept that must also pass is that fats must NOT be eliminated from one’s diet: the indicated percentage must always be respected, even when you want to lose weight. However, the quantity of fats must be differentiated according to their quality:
- Saturated fats should be limited to a maximum of 10% of your total daily caloric needs.
- Unsaturated fats ( monounsaturated and polyunsaturated ) cover 10-15% of caloric needs.
To learn more about it and understand what saturated and unsaturated fats are, their effect on the body, and in which foods they are found, you can learn more with this article: good and bad fats.
A Minimum Amount Of Fat Per Day
Ensuring at least a minimum amount of fat per day (20-35%) allows you to stay healthy, as fats are the basis of many vital functions:
- are an integral part of all cell membranes,
- are precursors of steroid hormones,
- carry fat-soluble vitamins,
- at the subcutaneous level, they contribute to thermoregulation and shock protection,
- They are an energy reserve.
In addition to the indicated percentage, we can also give a minimum quantity to be taken in g / kg (g of fat per kg of body weight):
- for men, the minimum amount to be taken per day is 0.5 g / kg,
- For women, the minimum amount to be taken daily is 0.8 g/kg.
The minimum amount for women is higher because they physiologically have essential body fat to maintain. A body fat percentage below the essential (in the long run) would cause hormonal problems.
What Happens If You Eat Too Much Fat? Excess Of Lipids In The Diet
Eating more fat does not always correlate with gaining more weight. Gaining weight (in the true sense of “putting on fat”) is determined first of all by how many calories you introduce: if they are in excess, you get fat (hypercaloric diet). If you follow a low-calorie diet (to lose weight) or a noncaloric diet (to maintain weight), you won’t gain weight if you respect your caloric intake and eat more fat. What is dangerous for your health and causes you to put on fat, therefore, is the chronic caloric excess which results in weight gain, which in turn leads to:
- increased fat in the blood, which in turn can lead to atherosclerosis and, therefore, obstruction of the blood vessels,
- accumulation of abdominal fat, a benchmark for the incidence of cardiovascular risk,
- alteration of the hormonal profile,
- fatty liver: the liver (metabolic center of the organism) undergoes a subversion of its cellular architecture, corresponding to an alteration of its numerous functions and, therefore, systemic damage.
How Much Fat Per Day In Bodybuilding
The recommended amount (25-30%) is also recommended for those who do bodybuilding, even if there is some difference depending on whether you are in the definition or mass phase. In the definition phase, calories are lower and fats – also because proteins in this phase are predominant and “occupy” more calories, as they minimize the loss of lean mass and muscle.
Therefore, the amount of fat to consume is 15-25%, being careful not to drop below 0.5 g/kg (men) or 0.8 g/kg (women), except for very short periods and in competitive cases. In the mass phase, calories are higher; therefore, fats can also be increased, always staying in the 20-35% range or increasing to a maximum of 40%. The amount will also need to be balanced against the amount of carbohydrates – based on guidelines and your preference. In g/kg, exceeding 1-1.5 g/kg of fat per day would not be necessary.
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