Learn about the macronutrient FAT: A moment on the lips….

READING TIME 4 MINS

The macronutrient fat

Learn how quickly the macronutrient fat can turn into body fat. You may be as surprised as I was and immediately put away that bag of crisps (like I did!). FYI, the word macronutrient is referring to the group of nutrients we need in larger (macro) quantities to provide us with energy – fats, carbs and protein. With nutrient meaning a substance that provides nourishment essential for life and growth.

Why I made the discovery

Last Saturday I went to a Hen do.  I can’t even remember the last time I went to one.  To be fair, the bride-to-be was having two hen do’s. One for her friends and another for the mums, aunts and cousins, i.e. PG rated.  Anyway, despite the PG rating, I planned to wear a tight fitting dress. The dress which was packed in my holdall as I took the train up north on the Friday evening.  The journey wasn’t especially long but I thought it would be a great idea to have a snack so I bought a bag of crisps – the sharing bag size.  (Cue awkward laugh) ….of course I wasn’t planning on eating the whole lot, maybe just a third of the bag. As soon as the train pulled out of the station I started munching away. 

After satisfying my initial crisp urge, I thought about the fitted dress in the bag on the rack above me.  “It’ll be fine, the fat from these crisps won’t hit my waistline for a few days, maybe a week.  Hmmm… I wonder how long it actually takes?”.  So I googled it. And read something that stopped me from eating crisps, not just for the journey, but for the whole weekend. 

It takes just…..

It doesn’t take a few days or a week.. it takes just four hours. That’s how long it takes for the calories from the fat you’ve consumed to get stored on your body ready to be used as an energy source.  Yes my friends, you read that correctly – four hours!!!  So the unhealthy saturated fats from those crisps I was scoffing, when not even hungry, would be on my waistline by the end of the night.  You probably appreciate I’m dumbing this down slightly. It doesn’t necessarily go onto the waist, in my case it would probably be my backside and thighs.  (By the way, carbs and protein calories take around eight hours as they have to be processed by the liver.)  

About the macronutrient fat

Back to the macronutrient fat. I’ve mentioned this in the peanut v cashew nut debate, and it’s worth repeating – eating fat is necessary for good health. Mono and polyunsaturated fats are vital sources of energy essential for muscle movement and healthy skin, plus our cell membranes need them.  Our hormones have to have fat to function and vitamins A, D and E can only be absorbed with the help of fats.  So we can’t exclude them from our diet but junk food with saturated fat?  Yeah, I’m certainly thinking twice on this now, especially just before a tight dress-wearing event.  

And another little known fact…

There is also a second fat fact which I stumbled upon in my nutrition training that I’ve never heard mentioned before.  Once we’ve reached final adulthood, around age 21, we have the right amount of fat cells needed to take us through life.  If we gain excessive weight (the amount will vary from person to person but approximately 15 pounds or 7 kilos), or have a rapid weight gain (again approximately a pound or half a kilo a week for several weeks) our fat cells can only grow so large after which point they will then start multiplying.  And once you’ve gained those extra fat cells, you cannot get rid of them, dieting will only shrink their size.  

For the majority of people, maintaining the same weight within seven kilos from the age of 21 is not a reality.  And then there’s the whole pregnancy weight gain (I gained 3.5 stone / 22kg in both of mine, which is excessive by all accounts, but I swear I didn’t look overweight, just very pregnant). The fat gained during pregnancy is needed as storage for postnatal breastfeeding, and from what I’ve read, doesn’t lead to increased fat cells.

Making better eating choices

I’ll be honest I’m not entirely sure what the point of this post is other than what I found to be two interesting pieces of information that will help me make better decisions when tempted to eat junk food full of saturated fat.  Which I hope, in turn, will also be helpful to you.

If eating sugar is your thing, please read my post about being hypnotised for my sugar addiction.  

Main image photo by loleia on Freeimages.com