Whether you are on a diet to lose weight or gain weight, you hear the same advice being thrown around all the time. Fats are bad, bad, bad. This is simply not true. Although some types of fats can be categorized as harmful, other fats when used correctly can be very beneficial. Fats have been given a bad reputation due to the fact that high intakes of fat are associated with heart disease and cancer
What is not taken into account, however, are the many essential physiological functions that are accomplished through the ingestion of fats, and you will find it’s an impressive food for healthy weight gain. Dietary fats are important for metabolic processes such as energy production. Fat has twice as many calories as protein and carbohydrate, providing 9 calories per gram, so it’s the most concentrated source of energy you can get. Higher fat diets also help with the synthesis of vitamin D, cholesterol, and increase testosterone levels.
Without consuming fat, you will more then likely find it difficult consuming the required calories necessary to gain weight. This is of particular concern for hardgainers, who struggle hard enough as it is to eat a lot. You should try and get 30% of your total calories from fat sources.
All fats are not created equal, however. There are bad fats which you will want to avoid, and there are good fats.
Types of Fat
You better know the difference between good fats and bad fats, because without good fats, you cannot gain weight fast whilst it not adversely effecting your health. Also, your body requires fat in the diet. My scrawny frame used to only weight 112lb. With the addition of good fats in my diet I was able to easily add more calories to meet my weight gain caloric intake requirements.
Polyunsaturated fats come from vegetable oils and nut oils and are the best fats. There is a special types of these polyunsaturated fats which are referred to as Essential fatty acids (EFAs). They are called essential because they must be consumed, the body cannot make them. More about EFAs a bit later in the article.
Monounsaturated fats are also considered good fats. These are still vegetable oils and provide many health benefits.
Saturated fats come from animal sources, and these are the bad boys and gals. Go easy on the Saturated fats. These are the ones that gives us trouble, these are the ones you need to stay away from as much as possible if you don’t want to have an early death.
Trans fatty acids are even worse than saturated fats, stay even further away from these.
The two main groups of EFAs are omega-3 (alpha-linolenic acid) and omega-6 (linoleic acid), and omega-9 (oleic acid). Omega-9 is considered essential to the body, but unlike omega-3 and omega-6, it does not require supplementation on it’s own because the body can produce sufficient amounts from vegetable sources and meats. The most important EFA to bodybuilders are the omega-3’s due to their function in building muscle tissue.
If you are a person who is wanting to gain weight fast, then you will need a way to conveniently consume EFAs. This is where supplementation can help. EFA supplements come in the form of cold pressed oils and softgel tablets. Softgel tablets are more expensive and don’t provide the same amount of EFAs so I would stick with the EFA oils like Udo’s Choice Oil Blend. Flaxseed oils is an excellent supplement which can be easily put into weight gain shakes.
I suggest you learn about these fats, it is very simple. Again you need the basics so when you hear all kinds reports or opinion by the media or so-called experts, you can be able to know what’s scientifically sensible, and what’s total rubbish. You will begin to learn that the most underestimated supplement for muscle building is in fact good fats which are derived from EFA oils.
 |
Are you a skinny guy? Can't put on weight? Click here to get the complete guide for gaining weight and building muscle without supplements. |
Related Posts |
Have a weight gain question? If it relates to this article you can leave a comment below, otherwise please ask in the Weight Gain Forum |
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I myself am a very hard gainer. I have been eating a salad every day with a TON of caesar dressing, which is 160 calories per table spoon, but 150 calories from fat. Is this a bad type of fat to be eating? It seems to good to be true to be able to eat a salad drowned in caesar dressing, and literally get more than half of my daily calories from it.