Eating for training
Fat: What It Does, And How Much
What it is for, and the range most people land in
General information about training and eating, not personal advice. It is not medical or dietary advice and it cannot account for your circumstances. If you are pregnant, have a medical condition, take medication, or have a history of disordered eating, talk to a GP or a registered dietitian before changing how you eat or train.
Dietary fat carries the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, and it supplies the essential fatty acids the body cannot make for itself. That is what it is for, which is why diets are normally built with a fat range in them rather than around removing it.
A common general floor is around 0.6–1g per kilogram of bodyweight a day — for an 84kg lifter, roughly 50–84g. Below that, people tend to report feeling flat and hungry, and very low-fat diets are hard to stick to, which is usually what actually ends them.
Sources matter less than people think, but variety is sensible: olive oil, nuts, seeds, oily fish, eggs, dairy. Fat is the most energy-dense nutrient, so it is also the easiest one to accidentally eat a lot of — which is a reason to be aware of it, not a reason to fear it.
If food is becoming something to control rather than something to eat, Beat runs free helplines and online support at beateatingdisorders.org.uk, and a GP is a reasonable first conversation.