One very common misperception many women have about their fat loss diet is that if they want to see best results, they should be avoiding eating fat as best as possible.

After all, if you want to lose fat, why on earth would you eat fat? That just seems backwards…

But the truth of the matter is that dietary fat is an essential nutrient needed for life and can actually help to promote the body fat loss process.

Remember, your body is going to break down and digest all the foods you eat regardless of whether they’re proteins, carbs, or dietary fats.  As it does so, it’s also going to burn energy throughout the entire day.

It’s the total energy balance that you experience (energy coming in versus energy going out) that determines whether or not you gain or lose body fat, not whether you consumed dietary fat.

So yes, dietary fat can and should be an important part of your day.

Let’s look further into the details of why and what sources of fat you should consume – they are not all created equally!

Why Eat Fat?

The first thing you need to think about is why you should eat fats in the first place.  One very essential reason to be adding fats to your day is because doing so is going to help to ensure that your hunger stays lower.  Fats take a very long time to digest in the body and break down, so they’ll satisfy even the strongest of hunger pains!

After eating a meal containing just 5-8 grams of fat, you’ll be satisfied for hours whereas with a non-fat meal, you’d likely be hungry an hour later.

The second reason to eat fat is because it’s important for the absorption of a number of vitamins and minerals.  If you aren’t getting enough fat in your diet don’t be surprised if you fall short in some key nutrients that you really must be taking in.

Dietary fat is also vital to promoting healthy skin, hair, nails, and reproduction function, so it’s a must for any woman.

Finally, it adds taste.  Ever tried a fat free diet? It’s not the most pleasurable thing in the world.

Which Fats To Eat?

So after saying how important dietary fats are, you do need to be careful to eat the right ones. You want to only choose unsaturated varieties as well as omega fats as these are what will support all-around good health.

This includes foods such as nuts and nut butters, seeds, olive oils, flaxseeds, fatty sources of fish, and avocados.

Stay away from high fat dairy products, meats, trans fats, as well as fats found in snack products, fried products, and butter.  These will not support good health or a lean body composition.

How To Add Them To Your Diet

So how do you add these fats into your diet?  To help maintain a good rate of weight loss, make sure that you’re measuring them as you add them to your day.  Since they are more calorie–dense, they will add up quickly if you’re not careful.

Add about one tablespoon of healthy fats to most meals that you eat, especially in the evening hours as you shift your carbs sources over to vegetables. If you do that, you should have no problem reaping all the benefits they have to offer without seeing any negative side effects on your fat loss progress.

Are you a former fat-phobic? Tell us when and how you made the change.