Is Gelato Healthy? (5 Tips For Weight Loss)

Gelato is probably one of the most eaten Italian desserts available. If you love eating Gelato but aren’t sure if it is healthy and fits into your lifestyle, this article is for you. Find out what goes into making this popular Italian dessert, and how to stay in shape while eating Gelato. 

Gelato originated in Italy but became popular in the 1600s among the Parisians, thanks to Italian chef Francesco Procopio Dei Coltelli, who opened a cafe in Paris, and even served the royals, such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Marie Antoinette, and King Louis XIV himself. 

Gelato is different from American-style ice cream or frozen yogurt, as its consistency reminds more of a custard. It is also creamier and contains less fat than regular ice cream. Gelato is simple, budget-friendly, yet delicious, and doesn’t take much time, or many ingredients to make Gelato at home, you don’t even need a Gelato maker. We’ll discuss what goes into making Gelato further in this article. 

Although Gelato is delicious, is it healthy?

Since Gelato is a dessert, it is not necessarily considered healthy and should be consumed in moderation or rarely. As it is relatively high in calories, fat, and sugar. 

Here are five steps that explain the ingredients that go into making Gelato the traditional way, the calorie amount in one scoop of Gelato, how many calories you need in a day, how to make a healthier version of Gelato at home, and how to stay in shape while eating this delicious Italian dessert. 

1. What Goes Into Making Gelato?

2. How Many Calories Are in One Scoop of Gelato?

3. How to Make a Healthier Version of Gelato at Home

4. Understand How Many Calories You Need to Consume in a Day 

5. Make Sure To Consistently Workout, Build Muscle & Increase Your Activity Level

Now that we know our five steps, let’s get into the details that will help you stay in shape while enjoying some delicious Gelato.

Tip 1. What Goes Into Making Gelato?

Traditionally, Gelato is made with egg yolks, whole milk, heavy cream, sugar, and fresh vanilla or vanilla extract. You can also add some lemon zest, and create different flavors, by adding, nuts - such as hazelnuts or pistachio, coffee, chocolate chips, and fruits. If you own an ice cream maker, your preparation time will be much less, than without a machine but still doable. First, you whip the sugar with the egg yolks until creamy, meanwhile cook the milk but don’t boil it. In a saucepan heat up the egg yolks and sugar, and slowly add the cooked milk under, as well as the lemon zest or vanilla, and keep stirring. Cook for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the cold heavy cream and mix it well, now you can transfer the ingredients to the ice cream maker. After 40 minutes your Gelato is ready. 

If you don’t own an ice cream maker, the process is the same. Except you would use a chilled deep loaf dish and pour the mix in and freeze it for about 5 hours. However, you have to check it every 30 minutes, break the frozen layer, and whisk it for 30 seconds. Since Gelato contains fresh ingredients, it is recommended to consume it within two days

Gelato is also versatile and easy to be customized to your liking. Which we will further discuss in this article. You can use different ingredients to make this dessert lower in fat but still flavorful. 

Since Gelato is a classic Italian dessert, it should be available in most authentic Italian restaurants across the nation.

Now that we know what Gelato is, let’s take a look at the nutrition facts and see how many calories go inside one scoop of Gelato.

Tip 2. How Many Calories Are in One Scoop of Gelato?

Weight loss is really the concept of calories in vs. calories out.

Let’s take a look at the nutrition facts. As you can see, one scoop of Vanilla Gelato has 220 calories with a macronutrient ratio of 21 grams of carbs, 21 grams of protein, and 14 grams of fat. 

The carbs are not all too bad in this dessert, however, keep in mind the fat amount is high, and so is the sugar with 20 grams per scoop. 

If you burn more calories than you consume, then you will find yourself in a “caloric deficit” which is the only way fat loss can occur. 

Staying healthy and fit is all about calorie or energy balance, which means that you can still eat your fats and carbs, and stay in shape.

A good rule of thumb for dieting is keeping a nice balance of macronutrients. A great ratio is sticking to 30% carbs, 40% protein, and 30% fats. 

Although the calories are relatively high in this dish, they can easily be incorporated into your daily calorie intake, as long as you are not over-eating and are working out. 

However, this is why we recommend you try to make this dessert at home and substitute certain ingredients to make an even healthier version of Gelato.

Now that we know a little bit more about the nutrition facts of traditional Gelato, let’s take a look at how you can make a healthier version of Gelato when you prepare it at home.

Tip 3. How to Make a Healthier Version of Gelato at Home

Homemade Gelato is easy to make, is budget-friendly, and doesn’t require many ingredients.

Although traditional Gelato has lower butterfat - at least 3.5% butterfat from the milk and heavy cream - than American-style ice cream, it is still high in calories, fat, and sugar. 

Here we show you, how to make a healthier version of Gelato.

Instead of whole milk you can use low-fat milk, however, keep in mind that your Gelato won’t be as creamy as it would be with whole milk. Therefore, it is actually better to use plant-based milk, such as soy or oat, or nut milk - such as hazelnut, or cashew, as well as hazelnut or pistachio paste. Coconut milk works as well. You can also use banana and avocado to create a creamy consistency. Last but not least, skip the sugar and the eggs, and use maple- or agave syrup as a sweetener.  

Now that we know how to make a healthier version of Gelato, let’s take a look at how you can eat Gelato, stay in shape, and lose weight.

Tip 4. Understand How Many Calories You Need to Consume in a Day 

Whether you have a sedentary lifestyle or an active lifestyle, it’s important to understand how many calories you’re allowed to consume in a day to lose weight, stay in shape, and make sure not to overeat on your total calories for the day. 

You can easily over-eat unhealthy, processed foods that are high in fats and carbs, especially when something is as delicious as Gelato. Overeating is usually the quickest way to get out of shape. 

As we have mentioned in section two of this article, it’s important to understand how many calories you need to eat in order to lose weight and stay in shape. 

To stay healthy and in shape, we need to first go over your daily caloric needs, figure out how many calories you need in a day, and figure out how much of each macronutrient you should be consuming.

There are a few factors that determine your daily calorie intake. Such as weight management, weight loss, or weight gain. Other factors that play a big role, are your gender and your height. 

So, how do you know how many calories you should be eating in a day?

The answer is through trial and error and finding a calorie range that allows you to lose 1-2 pounds of fat per week. 

However, a good place to start is to multiply your body weight by 12 or to use an online TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) calculator.

Your TDEE relies heavily on how active you are and how much movement you see in your day.

Within your TDEE lies a subsection, which is called TEPA (Thermic Effect of Physical Activity) which accounts for 15-30% of your entire day’s worth of calories.

This means, you are in control of 15-30% of how much you can eat, which is a huge portion of calories.

If you’re someone who loves to eat a lot while staying fit, then the activity is the key to a balanced lifestyle that allows you to eat whatever you like, such as Gelato, and stay in shape. 

Once you know your calorie intake based on your weight and height, you can then decide how much you want to decrease it. If you want to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week, we suggest you start with 100 calories less than what you are currently consuming and see if you notice a difference within a week. 

It is suggested, however, to not decrease the calorie intake below 1,200 per day for women, or below 1,500 calories per day for men.

If you don’t see any changes in your weight, decrease your calorie intake by another 100 calories and see how that works. 

Most likely, you don't have to drop your calorie intake too low, as long as you stick to only one scoop of Gelato.

So, how do you stay in shape or even lose weight eating Gelato?

Simple. 

The key here is to find foods that keep you full longer and still deliver a balanced amount of macronutrients. 

You don’t want all of your calories simply coming from carbs or fats, you want there to be a balance coming from carbs, protein, and fats. So make sure that the remaining calories are utilized for protein-rich foods and vegetables. 

So, just calculate whatever calorie range you find, and split up your calories by following those macro guidelines. 

Now that we know how many calories you should consume daily, let’s take a look at how you can stay in shape and lose weight while eating Gelato.  

Tip 5. Make Sure To Consistently Workout, Build Muscle & Increase Your Activity Level

After you’ve figured out how many calories you need to consume daily, you need to make sure that you exercise regularly and build muscle throughout every week. 

Building muscle allows you to burn calories at rest, which means you can eat more and still lose fat.

This is really the goal of working out and is what keeps you healthy as your metabolism increases.

So if you love eating more than one scoop of Gelato, you have to make sure your activity level is higher than usual, especially if you want to lose weight. 

We talked about the importance of understanding how many calories you need to eat in a day but now it’s time to shift the focus on why calories and building muscle go hand in hand. 

If you live a sedentary lifestyle, then it’ll be much more difficult to lose weight and you’ll start to see that the number of calories you need to eat daily in order to shed fat is very low.

That’s why it’s important to increase your activity level at least 3 - 4 times a week if your goal is to get lean. 

The other factor that you can control is how much muscle you currently carry.

Building muscle allows us to burn calories at rest which means we can burn more calories by just living life.

Although working out and building muscle takes priority, having a consistent cardio schedule can help with expediting the fat loss process as it raises the energy expended throughout your week.

The fastest and most efficient way to build muscle is to learn how to do some resistance training.

There are two types of cardio that you can do in your week that will speed up the fat loss results. Those two types come from LISS (Low-Intensity Steady State) cardio and HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) cardio.

What you want to aim for is to burning around 1,000 kcals of cardio every week through means of either LISS or HIIT.

LISS is cardio that comes from walking or a brisk walk, you should be able to have a conversation while still building up a sweat.

HIIT cardio is intervals of a very high-intensity movement, such as sprints, battle ropes, or kickboxing movements aiming to quickly raise the heart rate.

The benefit of HIIT is allowing yourself to burn calories in a shorter amount of time. 

We recommend having 80% of cardio coming from LISS while 20% comes from HIIT for optimal fat loss throughout the week. 

LISS is a much more reliable source of consistent movement and does not require rest as it does not shock the Central Nervous System the way HIIT can.

The fastest and most efficient way to build muscle is to learn how to do some resistance training.

You can also do a combination of resistance training and LISS- or HIIT cardio, to improve your heart health and maximize fat burn. 

You need to use weights and build muscle by doing a variety of workouts that target each muscle group specifically.

You need to use weights and build muscle by doing a variety of workouts that target each muscle group specifically. 

Although it can be intimidating to get in shape, as it will be hard to learn and might be discouraging at the beginning, it’s definitely worth it in the long run for both your health and fitness. 

All you really need are some dumbbells, a workout bench, and gym flooring. You can start small by using your body weight, as well as dumbbells that are up to 8 lbs, however, a good start is 2 lbs to 3 lbs dumbbells. Make sure you don’t add too much weight too soon because that could result in injury if you are unfamiliar with the correct body position. It is better to start small and then increase the weight level. 

Here is a workout plan we’ve created for men and women if you are new to resistance training. 

MEN:

Day One: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, Abs (Push Day) : 

• Cable Crunches: 4 sets 15 reps 

• Triceps Rope Push Down: 3 sets 15 reps

• Lateral Raises: 3 sets 15 reps

• Shoulder Press: 3 sets 10 reps

• Dumbbell Press: 4 sets 12 reps

• Bench Press: 3 sets 10 reps

Day Two (Legs & Abs):

• Weighted Toe Touches: 4 sets 25 reps

• Weighted Sit-Ups: 4 sets 25 reps

• Jumping Squats With Resistance Bands: 5 sets 20 reps

• Glute Bridges With Weight: 4 sets 20 reps

• Stiff Leg Deadlift (Romanian Deadlift): 4 sets 15 reps

• Weighted Walking Lunges: 2 sets 20 steps

• Goblet Squats: 4 sets 20 reps

Day Three: Back & Biceps (Pull Day):

• Hammer Curls: 3 sets 10 reps

• Bicep Curls: 3 sets 10 reps

• Seated Cable Rows: 4 sets 15 reps

• Dumbbell Rows: 4 sets 10 reps (Each Side)

• Lat Pulldowns: 4 sets 12 reps

• Assisted Pull-Ups: 3 sets 10 reps

WOMEN

Day One (Full Upper):

• Weighted Crunches: 3x35 

• Lateral Raises: 4x15

• Lat Pulldowns: 4x12

• Knee Push-Ups: 4x20

• Seated Shoulder Press: 4x20 

• Dumbbell Row: 3x10

• Dumbbell Fly: 3x10

Day Two (Back/Hamstrings/Biceps):

• Hammer Curls: 3x10

• Bicep Curls: 3x10

• Hamstring Curl: 4x15

• Stiff Leg Deadlift: 4x15

• Cable Row: 4x15

• Lat Pulldowns: 4x12

• Assisted Pull-Ups: 3x10

Day Three (Legs/Butt/Abs): 

• Leg Lifts: 3x35

• Weighted Crunches: 3x35 

• Jump Squats: 4x20

• Glute Kickbacks: 4x20 each leg

• Glute Bridge: 4x20

• Goblet Squats: 4x20

• Squats: 5x5

We recommend working out at least three times per week in the beginning, since the resting days in between are important to build muscle. 

Calories are direct sources of energy that fuel your everyday life, so you need to make sure that you utilize them efficiently throughout your day. 

The best way to do this is to build muscle and to also move more throughout your day. 

60-75% of energy expenditure comes from your basal metabolic rate (BMR) which is how much your body burns if it did nothing all day. (NASM)

10% of energy expenditure comes from the thermic effect of feeding (TEF) the calories you burn from digesting different foods. (NASM)

15-30% of energy expenditure comes from the Thermic Effect of Activity (TEA) which is movement such as working out and aerobics. Source (NASM) 

To sum it up, up to 30% of our energy expenditure can come from movement and activity so this is a huge portion of our weight loss journey that you can actively control.

The more movement the better and, to utilize and burn those calories, you should be moving all you can.

If you put calorie tracking, muscle building, and actively moving more together, desserts - such as Gelato - won’t get you off track because the formula provides so much leniency for you to shed some fat and build muscle at the same time. 

The important aspect is patience and dedication. Fitness, unfortunately, isn’t something that occurs overnight and is an investment that you put into yourself that pays off over time. 

Some may be genetically gifted to stay slim and skinny while others may not.

It’s all a process of dedication and holding on for many years. 

So, don’t be discouraged if in a month you don’t see results right away. It’s a long process and, if you just try it out for a year, you’ll see what you can accomplish and how great you can feel. 

Working out allows you to be more flexible in your diet and lifestyle, which is so important if you want to sustain a lean body and stay healthy while eating Gelato. 

If you are new to working out, building muscle will happen relatively fast, so this is great news for anyone looking to get in shape.

Regardless of your workout routine, a scoop - or more - of Gelato should be eaten in moderation or even rarely, as there is little to no benefit to your health.

THERE IT IS!

Our five tips will help you stay fit while eating some Gelato. 

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