Most people understand that it is wise to limit
amount of fat grams in their daily diet. The dietary reference intake amount for an adult ranges from 20% to 35%[i] of daily calories; or about 44 to 55 grams per day[1]. Since a single slice of pecan pie carries with it 27 grams of fat, and a mere tablespoon of thousand island salad dressing contains 8 grams of fat[ii], it is not surprising to see more and more people checking food labels and “passing over” an order of onion rings[2] as they try to lose, or maintain, inches and pounds.However, relentless avoidance of fat – even of healthy unsaturated fat – is creating a troubling scenario for many individuals. Instead of losing weight when they go “fat free”, they are actually gaining weight.
Many people on road to weight loss forget – or simply do not know – that words “fat free” do not also mean “calorie free”. As a result, many people ingest far too much “fat free” food, believing that it will not add weight, since, alas, it is dubbed “fat free”. Yet it is calories in these fat-free foods that cause weight gain; not fat grams themselves[iii].
A single gram of fat contain nine calories, which is more than double amount of calories in a gram protein or carbohydrate. Therefore, mathematically speaking, an eater can consume twice as many protein or carbohydrate grams than fat grams, and achieve same caloric intake. Since many high-fat foods contain an excessive amount of fat grams – such as onion rings – it has become a staple of dieting wisdom to reduce fat intake and avoid such oily, greasy foods[3].
Yet it bears repeating that reason to avoid fat-rich foods is not because of word “fat”; it is because each fat gram contains a scale-tipping 9 calories. In other words: weight-conscious reason for avoiding excess fat grams is because it leads to a higher caloric intake.
Dieters who neglect to realize this basic nutritional fact – that weight gain is about calories and not about fat grams themselves – fail to realize, and often at their eventual dismay, how body actually gains and loses weight.
The typical adult male American diet calls for 2000 calories per day because this is how many calories are collectively use and burned (i.e. converted into energy) by body each day. As an example, an average male dieter who consumes 1800 calories a day will “save” 200 calories per day. As there are 3,500 calories in a pound, dieter in this scenario will “save” 3,600 calories over course of 18 days (18 x 200 calories). This translates into a loss of one pound. Similarly, if this dieter consumes an excess 200 calories per day, a pound of weight will be gained in 18 days.
A dieter who is not aware of this mathematical formula may indeed avoid fat altogether and consume, for example, 6 tablespoons of “fat free” caramel topping per day; believing that this is not a part of weight gain equation, because it is labeled as “fat free”. This is not false advertising, as fat free caramel topping contains no fat grams. However, fat free caramel topping delivers 103 calories per two tablespoon serving[iv].
If this dieter is adhering to a diet regimen of 44 fat grams per day -- and does not count calories -- then he will simply not know that in these 6 mere tablespoons are a substantial 309 calories; or 15% of total daily caloric intake for a 2000 calorie/day diet.
In fact, a dieter could subsist entirely on “fat free” foods, and easily exceed their target daily caloric intake by their second meal of day. These excess calories are obviously not deriving from fat grams; but they are coming from another source, most probably carbohydrates.
Again, message here that many dieters do not receive from advertising and marketing media is that fat grams in and of themselves do not necessarily “cause” weight gain. Rather, fat grams contribute to total caloric intake, and they should be counted alongside carbohydrates and proteins.
