Many people curse their fat image in the mirror. Weight loss is not an impossible task. You need to follow a properly informed diet plan involving both pros and cons of calories. Find below seven striking facts on fat so that you can plan your diet properly.
1. Why do you gain weight
Basically, weight gain is a result of unprocessed calories accumulating in the fat cells of your body.The problem is complex because fat cells can expand up to six times their natural size.
In addition, when the load of storing calories is too great, the body responds by rapid multiplication of the cells. The average adult has approximately 40 billion adipose cells. If you are not careful about the calorie count, these can multiply quickly to as much as 100 billion cells!
How does the body gain extra calories? Precisely, it is a gluttonous loop where your body does not use up all the calories you intake.
2. Fat is the highest energy supplier
You need to understand that fat itself is not the culprit of weight gain. Excess fat is! In fact, your internal organs such as the liver have an outer adipose tissue layer for protection.
You need to limit your fat intake in relative to other nutrients as it has higher calorific value than they do.
Carbohydrates supply 3.75 Kcal/gm; proteins present 4 Kcal/gm; and alcohol delivers an energy rate of 7 Kcal/gm. Fat, on the other hand, holds the highest position with 9Kcal/gm. Use this information to balance your diet so you can cut down on fat, and increase the amount of another nutrient.
3. Carbohydrate is the preferred fuel
The cells in your body prefer carbohydrate as their energy source instead of fat although the latter is the highest energy supplier.
This is the reason why you cannot just boost your energy level by taking a high amount of fat! Instead, the cells tend to store all these extra energy.
Furthermore, the cells also have an optimum limit of carbohydrate balance. They transform the extra carbohydrate into fat for storage. The bottom line is: you need tu cut down on both carbs and fats for a fit body.
4. Fat affects female fertility
Many young female athletes experience delayed puberty. In fact, an adult ideal female body naturally has 20-30% of the weight in fat, which is about double the amount in an adult man. It turns out that maintaining an optimum balance is important because both the lack and the excess of it are undesirable.
When body fat levels are below 18%, ovulation may stop altogether. When it is more than 50%, same thing happen. Your brain depends on the feedback of an adipose tissue hormone called leptin to maintain healthy ovulation.
5. Your diet must not be bereft of fat
Your body needs fat for healthy functioning, but in a balanced amount. In fact, you need a minimum of at least 30 gm fat daily to absorb certain vitamins such as A, D, E, and K. In fact, these vitamins form a special class called the fat soluble vitamins.
In addition, fat from fish oil, vegetable oil, and nuts are called essential fatty acids for a reason. These are vital for a healthy skin, visual functions, and cardiovascular health. Know the bad and good of cholesterols to follow a healthy diet. Not all types of cholesterols are culprits. Some of them are.
6. Fat affects sexual health in men
Big bodied men can suffer from serious sexual dysfunction issues. This happens because the extra fat cells increase the secretion of estrogen, a ‘female sex hormone’ in men.
In moderation, estrogen is a good girl, helping your heart and sharpening your memory. However, when you abuse the fat intake, it becomes a bad girl causing you to lose your libido, develop man boobs, lose muscle tone, and lose stamina.
7. Extra fat affects your immune system
In a complex cycle, the body responds to extra fat in the same it would when you have an infection. So, these fat deposits attract immunity system cells called the macrophages to fight the infection.
However, there is no real infection per se as fat cells are not germ-ridden. Then, the effect of the macrophages causes inflammation instead of eliminating a supposed issue within the body.