Fat Loss Myth 1 - Only fatty food makes you fat   I agree fatty food is bad for you (if its the wrong type of fat!) But the answer isn't replacing it with every other type of food. A calorie is a calorie and if your body doesn't need it then guess what, it gets stored, if it can't get stored as sugar it gets stored as fat! To bust this myth we need to understand how our body stores energy and where it can get it from. The body's preferred source of energy is carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are essentially sugars made up of atoms comprising of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. The structure of these atoms generally dictates what type of carbohydrate it is.  Carbohydrates can range from simple to more complex sugars. The simpler the sugar the more immediately the body can utilise it. Simple sugars include glucose and fructose. When one is measuring blood sugar levels, it is glucose levels specifically which are being measured. Glucose comes naturally from food or via digestion of more complex carbohydrates. Glucose will be used immediately as an energy source, stored in the liver and muscle as glycogen or converted to fat for later use as energy. The more complex carbohydrates are starch or fibre based. Starch based foods can be broken down by the body at a slower rate, whereas fibre can resist this breakdown by the human body. As already mentioned glucose can be stored in the liver or muscle as a substance called glycogen. It has been suggested by Felig and Warren (1975) that the average 80kg male person can store enough energy in this form to power a high intensity 20 mile run. In fact in some circumstances the body may be capable of storing more than this. When the body has reached its maximum storage capacity for carbohydrates guess what it does…that’s right it will convert this excess sugar to fat to store for a later date. So if you were reading this and you’re on a low fat diet but eating more sugar (yes even if it is so called good sugar from brown rice and fibre rich fruit) you can still store fat. Especially if your not exercising! Also have you thought that your insulin reponse to certain foods may be affecting your weight gain? Popular fizzy beverages do not contain much fat, however they do contain a lot of simple sugars. This raises insulin levels which can limit your fat burning potential. Why would your body burn fat, when it has all this sugar to use! That doesn’t mean you should cut out the carbs, just consider more complex carbohydrates (low glycemic index for example), eating protein with meals and making sure you keep exercising in the right way! You need to turn your body into a fat burning machine and some forms of exercise are better than others for this! If you are already thinking about turning fat into muscle you need to read this article! Also, if you are not making much progress in your fat loss regime perhaps you should rethink your weight loss strategy. References: Felig P, Wahren J. Fuel Homeostasis in Exercise. N Engl JMed. 1975; 293:1078 Site design by Steve Bridgeman Sitemap - Fitness Articles - Tewkesbury Boxing - Circuit Training - Fitness Shop