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I'm mainly concerned about my diet as it relates to strength building.

I'm not concerned about other factors because I have a fast metabolism and don't seem to gain weight and am active enough that I feel that other concerns do not apply to me.

Something I have been eating a lot of recently is chicekn strips from the supermarket. They are a good price and I like them. Each strip has 3g of protein, 5g of fat and 6 g of carbs.

If I eat say 15, that is 45g of protein which can be used towards my strength building. Will the 75g of fat negate that? Especially since I don't seem to gain weight at all?

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Protein provides two benefits to the body: calories and amino acids, and eating fat does not negate either of these uses.

Calories from fat and calories from protein both provide fuel for movement; assuming complete digestion, the total energy available to your body is the sum of the fat calories and the protein calories.

Amino acids from protein may -- when needed -- be used for building and repairing muscle and other tissue, and consuming fat does not prevent or hinder this.

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However, those chicken strips are mostly not protein so are more likely to be converted to fat somewhere in your body. – Sarge Feb 27 '12 at 5:38
@Sarge, I don't seem to gain fat at all, so I'm not worried about that. – Matt Bronson Feb 27 '12 at 6:54
@MattBronson Just because you don't see fat around your belly doesn't mean you're not gaining visceral fat around your organs. It also doesn't mean you won't find yourself gaining fat when you get older. – Sarge Feb 27 '12 at 13:46
@Sarge how would I tell? I mean for 10 years I don't seem to have gained any fat that is visible at least. Is there a way to test my internal fat level? – Matt Bronson Feb 28 '12 at 0:52
Without doing an MRI you probably wouldn't. A body fat composition test (done with the water method not calipers or scales) might tell you. A cholesterol/lipid test might also be interesting. My key point is not to assume you can eat fat without any penalty merely because you have no belly fat. – Sarge Feb 28 '12 at 1:31

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