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Can Eating a Lot of Olive Oil Prevent Weight Loss?

Olive oil is one of the healthiest vegetable oils available, both for its taste and its nutritional benefits. However, like all vegetable oils, olive oil is very high in calories and fat. This can lead to issues when you're trying to lose weight, as eating too much olive oil really boosts your daily caloric intake. In contrast, using small amounts of olive oil in place of other, less-healthful fats can actually help you to lose weight.

  1. Weight Loss and Calories

    • Eating fewer calories than your body burns will eventually lead to weight loss. You can lose 1 pound per week by burning 500 calories more than you eat each day, as each pound of fat has 3,500 calories. Each tablespoon of olive oil contains 13.5 grams of total fat. As there are about 9 calories in a gram of fat, this results in 119 calories per tablespoon of olive oil. Because of this high caloric content, eating a lot of olive oil can make it difficult for you to lose weight.

    Fat Profile

    • Olive oil's health benefits come primarily from its high concentrations of monounsaturated fats. These fats contribute to healthy blood cholesterol levels and can reduce your risk of heart disease. They also play a role in regulating your blood sugar and insulin levels, both of which play a role in weight gain and diabetes. As olive oil contains 9.9 grams of monounsaturated fats in 1 tablespoon, small amounts of it can contribute to your attempts to lose or maintain weight. However, you should use olive oil only in place of other fats to avoid adding too many calories to your diet.

    High Olive Oil Intake

    • A 2010 international review from the journal "Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases" on olive oil intake indicated that it has little effect on weight gain when eaten in moderation. Countries that consume more olive oil tend to have lower obesity rates. Similarly, people who consume more olive oil are not at a higher risk of obesity and may have lower levels of abdominal fat. In fact, calorie-restricted diets that incorporate olive oil actually contribute to greater weight loss in people with obesity, the study showed. More importantly for people considering these olive oil-rich diets, they tend to have higher-than-normal compliance levels and taste better than other low-calorie diets.

    Feeling Full

    • The same 2010 review provides a good reason for olive oil's effect on weight loss: It helps your body to release oleoylethanolamide, a chemical that contributes to feeling full. Olive oil also helps increase levels of serotonin in your bloodstream, which is another important chemical messenger for feeling full. Research from the Technical University of Munich indicates that even smelling olive oil can boost serotonin levels and help you to feel full while eating less. As such, olive oil can play an important part in weight loss, but not if you eat too much of it.

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