Do you know coconut oil helps with weight loss?
Till some years ago, all saturated fat-rich oils and food items were outright condemned as bad for health by the ‘health gurus.” One of them was coconut oil.
Coconut oil also got a bad rap due to a smear campaign led by the palm oil and vegetable oil lobbying industries.
Many recent studies have proven that all saturated fats are not bad and do not cause obesity or cardiovascular diseases. Now, many prefer it over canola oil, sunflower oil, olive oil, or butter for cooking.
Many people consume coconut oil and coconuts daily in certain regions of India, the Philippines, and the Pacific Islands. Interestingly, those people mostly do not suffer from obesity or heart disease.
This oil is good for your health because its unique mix of fatty acids is good for your metabolism.
Let us dive into how “coconut oil helps weight loss” as a dietary supplement.
How Does Coconut Oil Help You Lose Weight?
Indeed, most types of fats from different oils are not good for health.
However, coconut oil differs from other fats in other cooking oils and dietary fat.
The composition of fatty acids determines all health differences.
Most fat-rich foods contain a long-chain fatty acid that is not healthy. Saturated fat with a medium-chain fatty acid is beneficial to the body.
Coconut oil contains medium-chain fatty acids (medium-chain triglycerides).
Medium-chain fatty acids (MCT) are extremely metabolically friendly, unlike long-chain fatty acids.
The long-chain fatty acid is not fully metabolized, and the unused fat becomes fat deposits and bad cholesterol. On the other hand, MCT is quickly broken down in the digestive system and sent to the liver, where it is turned into ready-to-use energy or ketone bodies.
Unlike long-chain fatty acids, our body is less efficient at storing medium-chain fatty acids. At least, this has been proven in some animal studies on rats.
Coconut oil can help you lose weight because it has MCT, which speeds up your metabolism and gives your body the energy it needs.
The person who consumes coconut oil will not gain weight because the body hardly stores the fat contained in this oil. The fat-burning effects of coconut oil on weight loss are real.
Suppresses Appetite
Eating more calories than the body requires is the cause of most obesity issues.
It is easy to lose weight by making your body burn more calories than you consume.
Today, our eating habits have changed a lot with advanced food processing techniques and a greater variety of tasty dishes sourced globally that are easily available to us. Food addiction is also becoming a serious health concern for many.
It is difficult to keep track of the number of calories consumed because we eat various foods daily.
Thus, the best way to limit daily calorie intake is to consume natural foods that suppress the appetite.
Because medium-chain fatty acid-rich foods quickly make the person feel full and satiated.
Comparative studies on different types of fats have shown that those containing MCT oil suppress the appetite faster than the rest.
The calories from long-chain fatty acids are less filling. They unconsciously prompt the person to consume more calories each time.
Another reason for faster satiation or appetite suppression is the liver’s faster metabolizing and conversion of MCT oil into instant energy and ketone bodies’ reserves. A sudden increase in ketone bodies acts as a signal to the brain to immediately suppress the appetite.
Study results have shown how eating more MCT-rich fats significantly reduces calorie intake each time.
The effects of coconut oil may lead to weight loss, as it boosts fat burning and suppresses the appetite.
Boosts Metabolism And Faster Burning Of Calories
All foods are not equal when it comes to metabolism. Some foods and nutrients are more easily metabolized than others.
The ways that different foods absorb nutrients and calories also depend on how their metabolic pathways work.
Interestingly, many calories need to be burned just to digest some food. No wonder we feel so sleepy after having certain kinds of foods.
Coconut oil rich in MCTs increases energy expenditure. The comparative studies among various fats showed that coconut oil consumption results in a much higher metabolic rate than the rest.
Several studies on fat consumption were compared, and it was found that eating about 30 grams of MCT per day increased energy expenditure by 5%, which means you burn about 120 more calories daily.
It just means that calories obtained from coconut oil do not add up to the fat storage in the body, but they are burned off very quickly.
Fat from coconut oil has a much higher calorie-burning effect than the calories from other commonly used healthy fat sources like olive oil and butter.
Promotes Faster Belly Fat Reduction
Visceral fat accumulation is the unhealthiest fat storage within the body. Large amounts of belly fat are a visible indicator of a person’s health.
Some studies have shown that including two tablespoons of coconut oil in the daily diet can significantly reduce belly fat in 8–14 weeks.
Coconut oil for losing weight is effective as it boosts metabolism and suppresses the appetite. Of course, the results are brief, but weight loss happens within a couple of months, provided you restrict the intake of bad fats and high-carb foods.
One of the studies included 40 women who were given 30 grams of soybean or coconut oil for a month.
The result of this study indicated that those in the coconut oil group reduced belly fat, whereas the others on soybean oil did increase their waist circumference. The coconut oil group increased HDL cholesterol and reduced LDL cholesterol, but the soybean oil group produced the opposite.
Another study on obese men found that taking 30 grams of coconut oil for four weeks reduced waist circumference by 2.86 cm (1.1 inches).
Many studies on fats indicate the efficiency of TCM-rich foods like coconut oil in reducing weight, boosting metabolism, and reducing belly fat storage.
However, the studies also indicated average weight loss results from coconut oil, which is excellent for reducing belly fat.
Coconut oil’s ability to get rid of belly fat is a big health benefit since having too much belly fat can lead to inflammation, heart disease, and diabetes.
Coconut oil’s weight loss effects are great as it will not contribute to the addition of harmful fat deposits in the body.
Using coconut oil as your preferred oil for cooking, food seasoning, recipe ingredients, or even direct daily consumption of one or two tablespoons of this oil is a good idea.
If this oil is combined with other weight-loss diets and physical workouts, you can be free of unhealthy body fat.
Even the small effects that healthy foods like coconut oil have on reducing hunger and speeding up the metabolism will greatly impact the overall weight loss benefits.
The effects of coconut oil may help to lose body fat, so it’s good to include this oil in your diet.
Low Calories In Coconut Oil
All fats are usually high in calories, and all edible oils are rich in fat. A gram of fat has about nine calories in it.
Therefore, 30 grams of coconut oil per day will add up to 270 calories of intake. If you are on a calorie-restricted diet, you need to reduce the calories in other diets.
If you already have more than the required amount of calories from other diets and, on top of it, you decide to add 30 grams of coconut oil to your daily diet, then you are not going to achieve any weight loss results with this diet.
So the best solution for managing your body weight is to avoid other cooking oils with bad fats. Adopt coconut oil for cooking, as it boosts metabolism and suppresses appetite.
Remember that every gram of coconut oil has about nine calories in it. Even though coconut oil is good, its consumption will certainly add a lot of calories to your diet.
For the best weight loss and good health, you should fix your daily coconut oil consumption at 20 to 30 grams daily. According to the results of some studies, two tablespoons of coconut oil per day are ideal.
Again, it is important to note that this oil gives maximum health and weight loss benefits when combined with other healthy whole foods from plant and animal sources.
How To Use Coconut Oil For Weight Loss?
You have two options for using coconut oil to lose weight in your diet.
First, replace the other cooking oils you use with coconut oil. Good cooking oils are scarce, as most contain a high concentration of long-chain fatty acids.
The other method is to drink one tablespoon of coconut oil about 20 minutes before the meal, preferably before lunch and dinner.
Normally, coconut oil stays in its solidified form at temperatures below 76 °F. If it is hardened, warm it up to liquefy the grease.
There is no issue if you can eat the solidified oil lumps; they will quickly get melted in the stomach.
It is better to limit the consumption of this oil to about 30 grams per day (270 calories), as you need to limit the total calorie intake per day to maintain a healthy body weight ratio.
Coconut oil tastes pleasant, but those not used to direct oil consumption may experience discomfort until they get used to it.
Always use 100% extra virgin coconut oil for the best health rewards.
For more info on the multiple benefits of coconut oil, you may also read the other blog posts on coconut oil for hair growth and skin and the benefits of using coconut oil for cooking.