Cutting out fats completely is unhealthy and unintelligent. “Fat Free” diets will not necessarily cause you to lose weight and will usually just make you feel weak sick all the time. Good fats contribute to your body in the forms of energy, brain activity, and cell transportation as well as other things we need in order to function. Really the only problem with fat is that like almost everything else we do, we go overboard. The more you get involved in developing your healthy routine, the more you will learn that the key to daily fat intake is balance and knowing yourself.

Let’s start with the “knowing yourself” part. What type of fats are you eating on a daily basis? Is it mostly trans or saturated fats, such as dollar hamburgers, french fries, and milkshakes? Or does it consist of foods containing natural, plant based oils (sunflower, canola, olive), fish and nuts? Doctors and nutrition experts alike say that adults, ages 18 and up, should have a daily good (fish, nuts, plant oil) fat intake equaling 20-35% of their total calories. Do even know what your daily calorie intake is or more importantly what it should be?

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I ask these questions because if I am a 42 year old, 5’3″ female with a large frame who has a light amount of activity in the day then I should have roughly between 2,500-3,000 calories a day with my fat intake being somewhere between 44 to 78 grams of fat a day. But if I am say, an Olympic athlete, 24 year old 5’2″ female with a small frame and I am training and nearly burning every calorie I take in immediately then I can pretty much have as many calories and fats as I want and I don’t have to worry about gaining a pound. Each person is different and has a different lifestyle. Be sure to work on figuring out how to constantly up the amount of activity in your life that gets you moving, and look into how many calories and fats you should have each day and then make it work with your diet.