“How much fat should I eat on keto?” is a common question that I often hear followers of the keto diet ask often when starting the ketogenic diet.
Fat is an important component of the keto diet and the amount of fat that you eat will determine whether you will reach the state of ketosis or not.
Ketosis is when your body starts converting fats for energy. So when following the keto diet, fat will serve as your primary source of fuel.
But how much fat should you eat per day while on keto? The amount of fat that one must consume in a keto diet will vary depending on certain factors.
In this article, we’ll talk more about fats and hopefully address the question, ”How much fat should I eat on keto?”
Related reading: Doesn’t A High Fat Diet Clog Up Your Arteries?
What Is Fat?
Healthy fat is one of the most important macronutrients in your diet, along with carbs and protein. Dietary fat can be found in both plants and animals.
There are four types of fat in food which are saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and trans fats. I will go into what exactly all these are in another article.
Although the main function of fats is to provide more energy to your body, it plays other important roles, such as:
- Adds richness to your food and helps you feel full and satisfied
- Helps your body absorb fat-soluble vitamins, such as Vitamins A, D, E, and K
- Maintains the optimal health of your cells, such as hair cells and skin cells
- Provides essential fatty acids that are needed for vital functions in the body
- Regulates immunity and inflammation
- Stored around vital organs to protect them from sudden movements or impacts.
How Much Fat Should I Eat on Keto?
The main concept of the keto diet is to let your body start to burn fats as fuel instead of carbohydrates. So in order to make this happen, you must drastically lower carbs in your diet and eat fats in replacement. That way, your body will be forced to burn fats instead of carbs for fuel.
Related reading: What are the Basic Rules of Keto Diet?
But how much fat should I eat on keto, you may ask. According to an article on Dr. Axe’s website:
“On a traditional keto diet, about 75 percent of total calories should come from fat with approximately 5 percent from carbs and 20 percent from protein.”
Compared to other low-carb diets, the keto diet is generally higher in fat. While following the diet 70 – 80 percent of your calories should come from fats, while for some low carb diets, only 50 – 65 percent come from fats.
Amount of fat can vary
But, it’s worth noting that the amount of fats that one should eat on a keto diet would vary greatly depending on a number of things, such as the carbs and protein intake, your current weight, and the goals you’re trying to achieve.
Do you want to lose or gain weight? Or perhaps, you just turned to keto to treat a certain condition and you just want to maintain your current weight.
The best way to determine the amount of fat you should eat on a keto diet is to first figure out your protein and carb needs. Then, fill in the rest of your remaining energy needs with healthy fats.
There are also some people who follow a modified keto diet plan, which is much easier for them to adhere to. On this modified keto diet, only 40 – 60 percent of the calories would come from fat, while 20 – 30 percent comes from proteins and the remaining 15 – 25 percent are carbs.
Is It Possible To Eat Lots of Fats on Keto?
You probably have heard from some people that the more fats you eat on a keto diet, the more you will lose. But this is definitely not true.
Although the keto diet requires you to increase your fat intake, it’s not good to overdo it. If you’re going to eat more fat than you need to stay satisfied, you could slow down your weight loss or not lose any weight at all.
It’s because your body won’t be able to burn its own fat if there are excess dietary fats coming in.
In addition, fats have more calories than carbs or protein. Eating more fats than you’re supposed to could increase your risk of gaining weight. Also, if you eat more fats, you could end up consuming less fiber and protein. These are two important nutrients that our body needs in order to function well.
Remember that the main principle behind the keto diet is to eat high amounts of healthy fat and not an excessive amount.
So back to the question “how much fat should I eat on keto every day?” You should eat about 20 – 40 grams of fats in every meal when following the keto diet. Going beyond 40 grams is considered excessive.
See below to find out what 20 – 40 grams of fat looks like.
What Are the Most Recommended Fats To Eat on Keto?
Knowing the best fats to eat on keto is as important as knowing how much fat to eat on the diet. It’s highly recommended that you get your healthy fats from minimally processed food sources.
Healthy fat sources include monounsaturated fats (MUFAs), saturated fats, and polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs). Sticking to foods that have these types of fats is the best way to get good results in your ketogenic diet.
Some of the best examples of good fats for keto are grass-fed butter, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, avocado, wild caught salmon, MCT oil, and ghee.
What does 20 – 40 grams of fat look like?
Don’t forget that you won’t necessarily absorb this amount of fat. For example, because of the structure of the nut cell membranes which seems to lock in the fat it is not all absorbed from your digestive tract. The same applies to pistachio nuts.
- 1/2 cup almonds = 24.1 g fat
- 3 tbsp almond butter = 27g fat
- 2 tbs Extra-Virgin Olive Oil = 21 g fat
- 7 oz.grass-fed beef mince = 31g fat
- 4 pieces streaky bacon = 14 g fat
- 8 oz wild caught salmon = 30g fat
- 1 large avocados = 16g fat
- 1 tbsp MCT oil = 14 gms fat
So you see it’s not very difficult to get 20 – 40 grams of fat into your keto diet at all. In fact it can be quite easy to eat more than you actually need.
There are many ways to incorporate these foods into your diet. Try to drizzle olive oil and other healthy fats on your salads and roasted veggies. Add some MCT oil, butter or coconut oil to your morning keto coffee.
Eat grass-fed meat and wild caught fish to get a better ratio of fatty acids and essential nutrients.
Conclusion
The answer to the question of how much fat should I eat on keto would vary depending on certain factors. It can be challenging to determine the exact amount of fats for every individual person and may require a bit of experimentation at the start.
Generally, you should try to eat 20 – 40 grams of fats in your every meal. Once you reach your weight goals, you can try adding a few more fats to your meals while continuing to eat the same amount of proteins and carbs.
More importantly, try to stick to healthy fats and steer clear of trans fats that come from processed foods.
