Many of us would go to great lengths to find the answer to maintaining a healthy weight. With all of the benefits surrounding omega-3 fatty acids, many people wonder if they’re a possible route to weight loss.
Unfortunately, omega-3 is no miracle solution to weight loss — after all, there isn’t one. However, including more omega-3s in your diet is a great way to support a healthy and active lifestyle, which is the most important step toward reaching your weight loss goals.
What Is Omega-3?
Omega-3s are essential fats that serve crucial roles in our bodies. These vital nutrients help build our cells and support the healthy function of bodily systems.
There are three main types of omega-3 fatty acids that work in our bodies, which are:
- Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an omega-3 precursor
- Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)
- Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)
Out of these main types of omega-3 fatty acids, the most important are DHA and EPA. ALA is abundant in a standard diet as it is found in nuts, seeds, and vegetable oils, whereas DHA and EPA are only found in marine foods, like fish and algae.
To experience the most possible health benefits, it’s important to be mindful of incorporating DHA and EPA into your diet on a regular basis, either through foods or supplements.
What Are the Benefits of Omega-3s?
Weight loss is a process and should be surrounded by a commitment to holistic health. Before considering how omega-3s can support your weight loss goals, it is important to consider how they can support your overall health and wellness.
A healthy intake of omega-3s can help with the following:
- Support a healthy heart
- Help support a healthy blood pressure
- Help maintain cholesterol levels already within the healthy range
- Support healthy joint function
- Support emotional wellness
- Maintain healthy skin and hair
How Does Weight Loss Work?
As frustrating and mystifying as weight loss can be, there is a science to it, and understanding this science is a crucial component to better results. Your body consumes energy through food and uses this energy to support bodily functions, from physical activity to managing your internal systems. This energy is called calories.
Ideally, you would eat the same amount of calories as you use each day, but that would be nearly impossible to perfect. Therefore, your body has a management system. When you eat more calories than you burn each day — called a calorie surplus — your body saves them for later, storing them as fat. If you burn more than you eat — called a calorie deficit — your body pulls from the fat stores for energy.
Therefore, when you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight — when you burn more than you consume, you lose weight. In itself, the process seems rather simple. However, there are a variety of factors that can affect your weight loss success, including genetics, how your body uses energy, and other medical conditions.
With so much variability, maintaining a healthy weight can be a challenge. Fortunately, with some persistence, an effective routine, and a positive mindset, you can set yourself on a path to success! There are several ways that omega-3s can help to support you as you work to build a healthy lifestyle and maintain a healthy weight.
Can Omega-3 Help Support Your Weight Loss Goals?
Omega-3 has a wide range of benefits for your health and wellness, but the effects on weight loss are less direct. Still, there are multiple ways that including these fatty acids in your diet can contribute to helping you maintain a healthy weight.
Some of the most pronounced benefits of consuming omega-3s include the following.
Omega-3 May Support a Healthy Appetite
Omega-3s may have an impact on your daily appetite, which directly relates to your weight loss goals by supporting a healthy calorie intake. One study showed that omega-3s may work to support proper feelings of fullness in athletes.
However, these results have been mixed. In another study with healthy adults, results showed the opposite, as participants consuming fish oil reported feeling less full compared to those who took the placebo.
Regardless, with the varied results, more research is needed to make strong conclusions about omega-3s’ effects on appetite.
Omega-3s May Support a More Active Lifestyle
Although the potential for omega-3s to directly impact your appetite and weight gain may not be as clear, the fatty acids are still excellent for promoting your overall health, which can give you the ability to support your weight loss goals. By supporting multiple body systems, omega-3s can make it easier to live a healthier lifestyle in general. In most cases, a healthier lifestyle equals a healthy weight.
Losing weight means that you must burn more calories than you consume. Of course, one way to do this is to decrease your calorie intake — the other way is to increase the calories you use. By increasing your activity and expanding your exercise routine, you can burn more calories to support a healthy weight.
However, maintaining an active lifestyle can be a challenge as you get older. Consuming omega-3s may help support healthy joints, which can help you be more willing to increase your activity levels.
Omega-3s May Enhance the Effects of Your Workout
If you are planning on hitting the gym to further your weight loss goals, omega-3 can be even more beneficial. Omega-3 fatty acids help to support proper muscle protein synthesis and muscle protein breakdown, which helps you build healthy muscle.
Building muscle serves two important functions. First, when you exercise to build muscle during a caloric deficit, your body can use energy from your fat stores to help support the energy needed to build muscle during activity. This process is known as body recomposition.
Secondly, building muscle can create a cycle of positive reinforcement. More muscle makes activity easier, which is a great incentive to continue your workouts and continue your progress toward losing weight.
This positive reinforcement is only furthered by omega-3’s potential to support optimized muscle recovery after a workout. When you feel less sore, you can get back in the gym faster and achieve your weight loss goals sooner.
Promoting Healthy Metabolic Function
Your metabolism plays one of the most significant roles in the weight loss process as it regulates how energy is stored. The metabolism decides whether to burn calories for immediate energy or store them as fat. A higher metabolism can burn more calories and lead to better energy usage.
Studies have shown that omega-3 supplementation over a period of several weeks can help support a healthy metabolic rate. A higher metabolic rate means burning more calories when you are at rest. By burning more calories, you increase your chances of a calorie deficit and support weight loss.
How Can You Get More Omega-3s?
Since omega-3s are so beneficial, you must be conscious of how you will include them in your diet. Health experts recommend getting anywhere from 200-500 mg of EPA and DHA each day.
The most popular source of DHA and EPA omega-3s is eating fatty, oily fish, like salmon, trout, mackerel, and sardines. Eating two servings of fatty fish a week is enough to make up for your daily needs.
However, for those who may not have time to cook, fish oil and krill oil supplements provide easier alternatives. Still, not everyone can consume fish. Factors like seafood allergies, a plant-based lifestyle, and a general distaste for fish can all prevent people from reaping the benefits.
Fortunately, algae provides a unique plant-based form of DHA and EPA omega-3s, making it perfect for any lifestyle. Not only is algae an effective alternative for eating fish, but it may also be a better one. When you consume algae, your body absorbs the omega-3s up to 1.7 times better than those from fish or krill. This higher absorption rate means your body puts the omega-3s to use more quickly. To see the benefits of algae, you can try iwi life’s incredible omega-3 supplement.
Remember that it is important to prioritize DHA and EPA omega-3s since they are far less abundant in a standard diet.
When you turn to iwi life’s algae-based omega-3 supplement, you know you are getting valuable DHA and EPA fatty acids with a long list of potential benefits, and there is no second-guessing involved.
Achieve Your Goals with iwi life
Omega-3s provide many health benefits, which can help you support your weight loss goals. From promoting a healthy metabolism to maintaining healthy joints, omega-3s can help give you the tools you need for better results. By supporting your overall health and wellness, you work toward maintaining a healthy weight along the way.
At iwi life, we are passionate about helping you achieve your health goals, whatever they may be. Whether you are focused on weight loss or maintaining a healthy heart, we are here to support you with our collection of omega-3 supplements. Just one algae-based soft gel a day can help push you a step closer to your goals. Explore our family of omega-3 supplements for yourself!
Sources:
Impact of Varying Dosages of Fish Oil on Recovery and Soreness Following Eccentric Exercise | PMC
