Weight Loss Tips - Some Fat Facts

There are basic facts you should know about fats. There are mainly two classes of fats; saturated fat, and unsaturated. The unsaturated ones are the polyunsaturated fats, and monounsaturated fats. Some fats are dangerous, while some are not. When fats come combined with proteins in the body, they form a complex called Lipoproteins. We will look at these later in a broader view to see why some are desirable and some are not, but first, let’s look at the major kinds of fats.

Saturated fat- Fatty acids are made up of several chains of carbon atoms, it is said to be saturated because the carbon atoms have no free bonds to link with other atoms. Normally a carbon atom has 2 free bonds that are ready to attach with other atoms to form a compound. When these free bonds are used up entirely, usually by another carbon atom or a hydrogen atom, the fat becomes saturated. That is because there is no room for any more attachment.

These are the bad type of fat and the one we must avoid in trying to stay healthy. The body has a tough time processing saturated fats, because of the number of bonds it needs to break down in the process. Saturated fats raise cholesterol levels, which increases the chances of a heart attack. For a healthy dieting plan, saturated fats must be reduced significantly from the diet.  Examples of sources of saturated fat are all forms of fat in animal flesh (meat), coconut oil and palm oil etc.

Polyunsaturated fat - Polyunsaturated fat have two types: omega 6 and omega 3. It is ‘poly’ because there are more than one unsaturated bonds in the compound. It is Omega-6 because the first unsaturated bond exists at the 6th carbon atom. Same is applicable to omega3. Omega 6 type comes mainly from vegetables, and omega 3 come from oily fish.

This type of fat is actually the healthy type and helps to reduce the level of cholesterol! So a small consumption is important for health. Remember, ‘small’.

Monounsaturated fat - They have only one carbon atom carrying unsaturated bonds. They are derived mainly from vegetable and are found in olive oil and almond oil. They also have the ability to help reduce cholesterol levels.

Lipoproteins: They are fat-protein complexes and play important role in the development of heart attacks. They are two classes of these lipoproteins.

High Density Lipoproteins- These lipoproteins reduce the chance of a heart disease.

Low Density Lipoproteins- Increases the likelihood of heart diseases. If the level of LDL is higher than that of HDL, the likelihood of a heart disease, stroke diabetes etc. is increased and vice versa.

Fats produces very high levels of energy and the daily intake shouldn't exceed 30% of your total calories. In other words, for an average daily intake of 2,000 calories, only about 600 should be fat derived. This of course is if you are not trying to lose weight, but if you are; your daily fat consumption should not be enough to produce 600 calories.

Every 1g of fat gives out 9 calories. That leaves you with about 66.7g of fat daily. But for losing weight, it should go lower than that.

This can be achieved by cutting down on all fatty foods and eating more of fruits and vegetables, a little of pure carbohydrates. With little or no fat at all, you will soon be getting used to the low fat diet.

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Weight Loss Tips - Fighting Fat

Dealing with being overweight or obese and the consequences of these conditions is a daily nightmare for some people. A lot of people are overweight because of their own lifestyle choices. Others have ended up with a lot of extra weight through no fault of their own. These people have to face everyday the prejudices of others and to live in a world that doesn’t always take kindly to them. An overweight man is funny on a good day. An overweight woman is not even that. This is the sad reality some of us have to face at great personal cost.

Self-image and self-esteem depends largely on how other people see us and it takes a lot of egotism or willpower not to care about the opinions of others. And the bigger you are the harder it gets. People staring wherever you go and having to listen to all sorts of bad jokes and insults is a surefire way of lowering your self-esteem and triggering a self-destructing circle. Obese people prefer to stay in-doors and avoid moving about much, which leads to even more weight gained from lack of exercise, which leads to less exercise and so on. People whose self-esteem is low find it very hard to motivate themselves to improve their lives.

Relationships are hard to handle for overweight people. Sex becomes awkward, especially for a self-conscious person who doesn’t enjoy being naked. The extra weight makes sustained effort quite hard to perform and heavy sweating is not sexy. Unfortunately, the shape of an overweight person is not sexy either and most overweight people are hard pressed to find sex partners who don’t mind their shortcomings. The fact that overweight people don’t go out much makes finding partners even harder, which is why many simply give up and reach out for more sweets to stave off depression.

One of the good ways to deal with obesity is to help motivate yourself. Outside support is crucial because obese people are especially prone to taking the easy way and eating more than they should. A little flexibility also counts. Food addiction is next door to drug addiction and less food means less glucose triggering endorphins in the brain. This, in turn, means that a person who used to feel quite content is suddenly faced not only with depression, but also with the perspective of a lifelong depression. And that is bound to be harsh on anybody.

Getting fat is easy, shedding all that extra weight is not. Fighting fat is a struggle every step of the way and one needs to be strong and also to have the emotional support of a loving circle of relatives and friends. Being able to rely on others to help you through the worst parts of a diet is almost half the battle. Especially since after the diet comes a lifetime of less food and more exercise. This may sound a bit scary to the average overweight person, but you must remember that looking into the mirror or walking down the street won’t be a nightmare anymore.

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About Fat - Body Fat And Cholesterol: What's The Connection

It's no secret that if you're overweight, you're going to suffer from a number of negative health risks.  Everything from high blood pressure to the development of diabetes to a higher incidence of stroke can be linked to being obese or overweight.

But, one connection that sometimes goes overlooked is that of body fat levels to your cholesterol levels.

Let's take a closer look at what this is all about.

The Diet That You're Eating
The very first thing that you need to consider regarding your body fat level and how it relates to your cholesterol is how you gained that body fat in the first place – the diet that you eat daily.

Those who are quite obese and who are carrying an excess of body fat often got this way because they are eating far too much fast and convenience food.

They didn't get that way because their diet was too full of fresh fruits and vegetables along with whole grains and lean proteins as these foods are naturally lower in calories and you just wouldn't eat enough of them to accumulate that degree of excess body fat.

Because of the types of foods they're eating, this means they will have higher intakes of saturated fat and cholesterol, therefore this will cause their overall cholesterol level to go up.

While in a few very rare cases if someone was feasting on healthy fats (such as consuming high quantities of nuts, nut butters, and healthy oils) each day in addition to their usual diet that could cause them to become overweight without suffering high cholesterol, those cases are far in between.


The Lack Of Exercise

The second major reason why being overweight or obese can cause you to have high cholesterol levels is because the second thing that most of these individuals are doing is not exercising.

Being overweight is attributed to too many calories coming in while too few calories are going out. This is accomplished through that higher calorie diet along with the lack of physical activity to burn those excess calories off.

Those who are exercising regularly and who are still at a slightly higher body weight may not see nearly the same degree of blood cholesterol levels as those who aren't.

Exercise does help to combat high cholesterol levels so this on its own will definitely provide some benefits.

Even still, if you're exercising but eating a diet high in saturated fat you're still going to be running into problems as far as your overall cholesterol profile goes.

So there you have the information you need about the connection between having high body fat levels and having a high cholesterol level. It's vital that you do take your body fat level seriously so that you can gain control over it and avoid all the negative health consequences that come with high cholesterol.