When you don’t meet your fat goals, it’s not a big deal at all. As long as you are restricting carbs and eating enough protein, missing your fat goals will typically only lead to more fat loss.
However, problems can arise when your fat consumption is consistently too low. For example, if you aren’t even close to meeting your fat needs regularly, you’ll be putting yourself in such a large calorie deficit that your body will have to adapt by decreasing its energy expenditure and increasing your hunger and cravings. This can cause you to lose less weight while simultaneously making it more difficult for you to stay on the keto diet.
For these reasons, it is best to keep your calorie deficit below 30%. This will allow you to lose weight in a way that won’t slow your metabolism, decrease your calorie burning capacity, and impair your weight loss results in the long term. To find out exactly how many grams of fat and calories you should be eating to keep this from happening, plug your info into our keto calculator.
If you are struggling to eat enough fat to maintain a 30% calorie deficit, then try adding butter, olive oil, avocado oil, MCT oil, heavy cream, high fat nuts (like macadamias), and high-fat cheeses (e.g., mascarpone cheese, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, parmesan, and brie) to your meals. My favorite strategy is to add a couple of extra tablespoons of oil to my sauces, dressings, soups, and curries when I know I need to fit some extra fats in.