At some point, you might’ve heard that eating fruits leads to weight gain, or that the natural sugar in fruits gets stored as extra body fat.

It’s time to debunk the fruit-weight gain myth right now.

So I’ll just jump right into it and answer the question you’re most curious about.  

Will fruits make you fat?

They absolutely, 110%, without a doubt will…

NOT.  

Saying that fruit can make you fat is absolutely ridiculous but I’ll say it a little louder for the people in the back 🗣️

You won’t all of a sudden just gain weight eating fruit.

Nor does fruit have some inherent property that’ll lead to you storing extra body fat.

Can you honestly imagine anyone having this conversation with their doctor? ⇩⇩⇩

“Well, doc, I think all of those grapes and bananas are why I’ve put on 10 pounds since my last visit.”

That just sounds silly.

The reality is that fruits are some of the best lower-calorie, nutrient-dense foods you can eat if your goal is weight loss.

Whew, isn’t that a sigh of relief?

Breeeeeathe in, breeeeeathe out.

Are we good now? 

Now that you know you won’t just automatically gain weight eating fruit, let’s break down why that is.

 

Does the sugar in fruit make you fat?

To reiterate what I said just 5 seconds ago…

Saying that fruit makes you fat is an infinite level of absurdity. 

Over 40% of people in the United States today are considered obese and we really want to say that, in part, it’s because of fruit?! 

What are we really talking about here? 🤦🏽

This is fruit, you know it’s good for you.

People told you your whole life growing up–the doctor, your parents, maybe even the babysitter….

“Make sure you eat your fruits and veggies.”

They weren’t lying to you, or trying to trick you into eating something that could damage your health.

There could be plenty of reasons why you’re not losing weight but I promise you, eating too much fruit isn’t one of them. 

 

Where does the “sugar in fruit makes you fat” myth come from?

The main argument as to why people think fruit makes them fat is because of the sugar.

That sugar is called fructose, and there’s misinformation out there that it causes your body to store extra body fat, which is absurdity at the very highest level.

For one, a lot of foods have sugar in them.

You’ll find added sugar in various pastries, treats, and other desserts.

You’ll also find sugar (of the natural variety) in fruits. 

The difference is that ultra-processed foods tend to be loaded with sugar (which means they’re higher in calories) while fruits are not.

Fruits are low in calories and nutrient-dense, which makes them an ideal food for weight loss.

But to further drop-kick the myth that fruit makes you fat right in the throat, here’s another thing to consider…

I want to give Eric Roberts Fitness credit for this thought because he made a great point about this on his blog.

If the sugar in fruit truly is what makes you fat, let’s just say you were to only eat one piece of fruit per day for the next month.

We’ll just use apples for our example.

So, one apple a day for 30 straight days.

That’s it, that’s all you’re eating.

Would you expect to get fat or lose weight?

You’d obviously expect to lose weight. 

Not only would you lose A TON of weight but you’d be ravenously hungry. 

And that’s because, well, you’re only eating one piece of fruit per day. 

You might be thinking to yourself, “No kidding, Sherlock, you’d have to eat more fruit in order to gain weight.” 

And that would prove my point….

Think about it.

If eating sugar were to just automatically lead to weight gain, then having just one apple (which contains sugar) would cause your body to store more fat. 

But from our example above, you can see that’s not how things work. 

The overall amount of the food you’re eating is what matters, not whether or not a food has sugar. 

People don’t get fat from eating fruit.

They put on weight by eating too many calories in general. 

HOW MUCH you eat will always trump WHAT you eat.

If you’ve seen a spike in weight recently, the sugar in fruit isn’t what’s causing that.

It just means you’re consuming too many calories overall. 

Being in a calorie deficit (consuming fewer calories than you burn) is the golden rule of weight loss.

No calorie deficit? 

Those 20 pounds you’ve been wanting to lose for a while now won’t be going anywhere.

 

Is there such a thing as too much fruit?

If your goal is fat loss, then you just need to be in a calorie deficit, as I mentioned above.

How long you should stay in a calorie deficit will depend on a variety of factors but eating too much fruit while you’re in it?

That’s not a thing at all. 

Don’t just take my word for it though.

Check these two studies out:

In this first one, 17 people consumed a whopping 20 servings of fruit per day over the course of a few months. 

Participants didn’t gain any weight and there were no changes in blood pressure or anything like that. 

Then, there’s this study. 

10 participants again consumed 20 servings of fruit per day for 2 weeks and didn’t experience any weight gain. 

This goes back to a point I made earlier.

20 servings of fruit? Think about how much fructose that is. 

It would surely lead to weight gain if sugar is what makes you fat. 

But you know that gaining weight isn’t driven by whether or not something contains sugar.

Putting on pounds is dictated by the number of calories you’re eating. 

Based on these two studies, you can conclude that the number of overall calories each person consumed wasn’t enough to make them gain any weight.  

In your own life, if you want to make sure you’re actually in a calorie deficit and not leave things up to chance, start counting calories. 

 

Are certain fruits better for fat loss than others?

Certain fruits do contain more calories than others.

For example, bananas, mangos, pears, and avocados (yes, they’re a fruit) are on the higher-calorie side as far as fruits are concerned.

But they’re still nutrient-dense and you can eat them without getting fat. 

I could repeat this a million times and it still wouldn’t be enough…

Remember, fat loss comes down to being in a calorie deficit.

But if, for whatever reason, you want to save some calories on your fruits, watermelon and berries (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries) are great options.

You get to eat a lot for a little.

You’ll find fruits like I’ve just mentioned above on this weight loss grocery list I created, which you can take with you on your next trip to the store.

I think the real benefit of eating fruit for weight loss comes from the fact that when you eat fruit, that means you’re subbing a food out that may be higher in calories.

Take watermelon vs. the best cookie out there (oatmeal raisin from Subway) as an example.

Who doesn’t love oatmeal raisin cookies from Subway?

Anyway, one serving of watermelon has about 45 calories.

And there are roughly 200 calories in one oatmeal raisin cookie from Subway.

If you were to swap out just one of those oatmeal raisin cookies per day with a serving of watermelon, that’d save you a little under 42,000 calories in a year.

That’s about 12 lbs of potential weight loss from just one simple food swap 🤯

Life is all about balance so don’t think I’m saying to never eat an oatmeal raisin cookie or any sweets of your choice.

I’d be a total hypocrite, because just before typing this, I had a Pop-Tart. 

 

Wrap up: Do fruits make you gain weight?

I know how it is.

Sometimes, you skip to the end of an article hoping the conclusion summarizes all the main points.

So, for one last time…

Will fruits make you fat?

No, they won’t.

So the next time someone asks you “Do fruits make you gain weight?” tell them they can have an apple, banana, or some watermelon guilt-free and it won’t automatically lead to weight gain. 

Fruits aren’t special.

They’re just like any other food.

It doesn’t matter if it’s fruit, chicken breast, pizza, or hamburgers.

If you eat too much, you’ll gain weight.

 

Can fruit make you fat FAQs

What fruits burn the most fat?

There is no such thing as “fat-burning” foods, let alone fruit.  

The only way to lose fat is by being in a calorie deficit and taking in fewer calories than you burn..

Certain foods, such as those high in protein or fiber, can make life easier in a calorie deficit (because they make you fuller) but there are no specific foods out there that have some supernatural, fat-burning effect. 

The closest thing out there to fat-burning foods are foods high in protein. 

Your body burns calories by digesting the food you eat

This process is known as the thermic effect of food.

Protein has the highest thermic effect, meaning it burns the most calories and increases your metabolism.  

 

Is fruit good for belly fat?

What’s good for belly fat is being in a calorie deficit. 

To the point about losing belly fat specifically, it’s impossible to control where on your body you’ll lose fat first.

So don’t buy into the myth you can spot reduce body fat. 

For a lot of people, abs are one of the last places they lose fat.

But as long as you’re in a calorie deficit, the fat will eventually come off and reveal that rock-solid core you have waiting underneath. 

 

Is eating a lot of fruit bad for fat loss?

The only thing bad for fat loss is eating too many calories in general, be that pizza, candy canes, fruit, salad, or ice cream. 

How many calories you consume is what matters, not the specific types of foods or whether or not they contain sugar.

 

What fruits should I avoid for weight loss?

Trick question…

Thought I might be able to get you with this one, so if you answered there are no fruits to avoid, then job well done (insert clapping emoji). 

Don’t look at your nutrition as having to “avoid” certain foods.

That’s a pretty negative way to think about weight loss (and any food can be incorporated within your diet, as long as you’re sensible about it). 

Losing weight and keeping it off long-term comes down to having balance and some flexibility within your diet to still enjoy some of your favorites like pizza, wings, fries, cookies, etc.

Eating that way is something you can sustain, and sustainability is what’ll lead to permanent results.

 

Does eating fruit at night make you gain fat?

Nope.

You can eat fruit at night, in the morning, mid-afternoon, it doesn’t matter.

You only gain weight from eating too many calories overall, regardless of the time you eat them.

Your body doesn’t just say, “Well you’ve only consumed 2,000 calories today but because you had a snack after 9 p.m. I’m bumping that up to 2,500 calories.”

 

Can you get fat on fruits and vegetables?

Sure you can, the same way you can get fat eating too much pizza, too many chips, too many sandwiches, too much chicken breast, turkey breast, or even sweet potatoes.

It’s not the specific foods or types of foods you eat that make you fat, it’s eating too many calories that causes weight gain.