How to Reduce Body Fat Through Nutrition

Nutrition and exercise both play a very important role in the amount of fat stored in your body. The type, amount and timing of the food you eat greatly influences your body fat percentage. Through proper nutrition you can lower your body fat, which will ultimately make you healthier and help you look your best.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. The calories we eat are made of fat, carbs and protein. They have different functions in the body and we need to eat all of them to properly function and stay healthy. Going on diets that limit one of these nutrients isn't a good idea. Generally, 30% of your calories should come from fat, 50-60% from carbohydrates and the remaining from protein. Don't avoid fat as eating it doesn't necessarily make you fat.
2. Stick to foods that contain high amounts of fiber, complex carbohydrates, unsaturated fat and lean protein. These foods will keep you full and help you eat less. Stay away from foods that are high in simple carbs like sugars since these are digested quickly and will leave you hungry in no time.
3. For reducing body fat, the amount you eat is more important than the types of food. First, use the Daily Calorie Needs Calculator to figure out how many calories your body burns per day. To lose body fat you need to eat less calories than you burn. Your body will use fat stores to make up the difference.
4. Whenever you eat a meal, any calories that are not burned up are stored for later use. If you eat a large meal with 800 calories, you may only use 300 of those. Because of this, the timing of your meals matter. Split up the total calories you eat in a day between 6 small meals. If you eat 2000 calories in a day, (2000 divided by 6 meals per day) each meal should be around 330 calories. Eating smaller meals more often will help the body use energy more efficiently without needing to store any as fat.
5. You can get more help by reading and posting to the diet and exercise forums that are linked below.