Fat doesn't make you fat?

Fat can be used by the body as energy, so as long as you are active then you should be burning the calories that the fat gives you. As far as the nutritional properties of fat, it isn't that great for you, beware thought because unsaturated fats are less of a concern than saturated fats.

Fats will be stored by the body as energy reserves when you over do your calorie intake, so just watch how much you eat. If your goal is to cut fat, then cut down on fat intake. If you want to build muscle, then fats actually help break down proteins to build muscle. I'm not saying eat as much as you like though. ;-)

I'm no expert but this is what i gather from journals I've read.

No...

Here's why fat alone doesn't make you fat. In order to get into the fat cell, you need the pancreas to secrete insulin. Insulin is the "key" to open the fat cell. Insulin is produced when we eat carbs (please note that carbs are sugar, breads, pasta, wine, beer etc). Thus if you eat fats and carbs together, e.g. pizza, the carbs make the pancreas secrete insulin. Insulin then opens the fat cell. Any fat can now go IN the fat cell and get stored. If you were eating just fats without the carbs, there is no insulin released and thus the fat cell doesn't get opened. Your body just sluffs the fat off. Conversely, if you eat carbs without the fat, the carbs may cause the body to release insulin but there is no fat to get stored in the fat cell. Your insulin level stabilizes and the "door" to the fat cell gets closed once the insulin level returns to a resting level. That is very simplistic but the key is to separate carbs and fats. Of course, you can't do this all the time so there are days when you have to splurge and combine the carbs and fats. But after a day like that, have a low carb/no carb (except veggies) day, to get rid of the excess carbs and fats you consumed the day before. Easier said than done but it works.

Here's why fat alone doesn't make you fat. In order to get into the fat cell, you need the pancreas to secrete insulin. Insulin is the "key" to open the fat cell. Insulin is produced when we eat carbs (please note that carbs are sugar, breads, pasta, wine, beer etc). Thus if you eat fats and carbs together, e.g. pizza, the carbs make the pancreas secrete insulin. Insulin then opens the fat cell. Any fat can now go IN the fat cell and get stored. If you were eating just fats without the carbs, there is no insulin released and thus the fat cell doesn't get opened. Your body just sluffs the fat off. Conversely, if you eat carbs without the fat, the carbs may cause the body to release insulin but there is no fat to get stored in the fat cell. Your insulin level stabilizes and the "door" to the fat cell gets closed once the insulin level returns to a resting level. That is very simplistic but the key is to separate carbs and fats. Of course, you can't do this all the time so there are days when you have to splurge and combine the carbs and fats. But after a day like that, have a low carb/no carb (except veggies) day, to get rid of the excess carbs and fats you consumed the day before. Easier said than done but it works.

^Wrong! Just. Stop. Now.

Dietary fat can and is stored as fat without insulin release (ASP). In a caloric surplus, it is in fact excess dietary fat that the body preferentially (and most efficiently) stores. Your "simplistic" explanation is wrong on so many levels. Also, protein is almost as potent a stimulator to insulin release as carbs (which is a hugh misconception on the MFP site). Your "simplistic" explanation clearly lacks any understanding of how the human body oxidizes and stores energy, and isn't "real world" possible.