Your body uses either carbohydrates or fat for energy. Some diet plans, known as ketogenic diets, drastically reduce your carbohydrate intake to cause your body to begin using fat as its primary energy source. When your body goes into ketosis, you lose weight as your fat stores become fuel for your daily activities. A high-fat diet for weight loss includes energy-rich foods such as butter, cheese and meat and avoids most dietary starches.
Facts
To lose weight, you have to consume fewer calories than you burn each day. According to the Stanford Medical Center, a diet low in carbohydrates and high in fat can lead to faster weight loss than a high-carb diet over a one-year period. A similar though longer-term study from Harvard School of Public Health found weight loss to be equal over two years no matter what amounts of carbs, fat and protein were in the diet, as long as calories were reduced. Substituting dietary fat for carbohydrates could yield faster weight-loss results at first but then lead you to regain some of the weight. Participants in the Harvard study who kept off the most weight attended more counseling sessions than the average participant. This finding led the researchers to conclude that ongoing support made a bigger difference in long-term weight-loss results than the ratio of fat, carbs and protein in the diet.
Time Frame
The Atkins Diet, which is a high-fat ketogenic diet, advertises a first-month weight loss of 10 to 30 pounds for most people, according to Vanderbilt University. Other high-fat weight-loss diets yield differing results, depending mainly on the caloric deficit of the diet. With a deficit of 750 calories per day, the Harvard School of Public Health study reported that participants lost an average of 13 pounds after the first six months. These participants also exercised and consumed healthy unsaturated fat rather than saturated fat.
Heart Health
The type of fat you eat won't affect your weight loss, as long as you eat fewer calories than you need for energy throughout the day. A long-term, high-fat weight-loss diet heavy in saturated fats such as those found in red meat raises your risk of heart disease and stroke, according to the American Heart Association. They recommend instead replacing the saturated fat in your diet with unsaturated fat from plant sources and fish.
Exercise
To speed up the process of burning off your stores of body fat, perform cardiovascular exercises such as running, swimming or biking. Your body uses oxygen from the air you breathe during exercise to burn carbohydrates and fat for energy. Consume enough calories to account for the additional energy expenditure from the exercise, or you could actually lower your body's metabolism by losing muscle tissue.
References
- McKinley Health Center: Macronutrients: The Importance of Carbohydrate, Protein and Fat
- Vanderbilt University: The Atkins Diet
- U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health: Comparison of the Atkins, Zone, Ornish, and LEARN Diets for Change in Weight and Related Risk Factors among Overweight Premenopausal Women
- Harvard School of Public Health: Diets That Reduce Calories Lead to Weight Loss, Regardless of Carbohydrate, Protein or Fat Content
- American Heart Association: Saturated Fats
- Harvard Health Publications: Glossary of Exercise Terms
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