TRIGLYCERIDES
Remember those fatty acids we talked about? Guess what happens when they are not used up for energy? Well, what happens is they head back into the fat cells, where they “hook up” with two other fatty acids and a glycerol molecule, to form what is known as a triglyceride (triglyceride = 3 fatty acids +1 glycerol molecule).
And this is not a good thing…
Triglycerides are problematic because they are much larger than a fatty acid. In fact, they are so large that they cannot leave the fat cells like those “free flowing” fatty acids could. Because of this, they remain stuck inside the fat cells and become the stubborn, stored body fat that we want to get rid of.
Triglycerides cannot be burned for energy until they are broken down back into those smaller “free flowing” fatty acids and released back into the bloodstream. This is why so many people have so many problems with stubborn body fat. They can reduce their calorie intake all they want but as long as they are consuming carbohydrates, those triglycerides are going to remain intact!
So…the question becomes, “how do we break these triglycerides apart, so that that they can be used for energy?”
The answer is simple: significant carbohydrate restriction
I know it probably sounds like I’m beating a dead horse here, but it is imperative that you understand this: carbohydrates cause insulin to be secreted into the bloodstream. Insulin causes your body to store excess calories as fat AND prevents fat from being released from your fat cells to be burned for energy. To put is simply, carbohydrates = excess body weight and fat storage.
Remember, nothing causes us to burn fat faster than starvation. But…starvation has negative con-sequences on our lean body mass. So, ideally, we want the body to “think” we are starving so that it is breaking down triglycerides and burning that fat for our energy needs.
Since the body relies primarily on carbohydrates for its energy, when we remove those carbohydrates, the body will be forced to get its fuel elsewhere. Now, in the case of starvation, the body would normally begin to break down lean body mass for glucose (energy) via a process known as glucogenesis. However, since we are “sneaking” small amounts of protein to the body, we end up getting all the “benefits” of starvation without the loss of our precious lean body mass.
Now, glucogenesis will be completed by using the protein we are getting from our diet which spares our lean body mass. And, consuming less carbohydrates increases glucogenic activity. The presence of glucogenic activity means we cannot store fat because that glucogenic activity needs all the fat it can get to be able to fuel the glucogenic process. In other words, glucogenesis requires a lot of energy…and it will burn even more fat to supply that energy.
This results in the ability to turn our bodies into a 24/7 fat burning machine. And needless to say, maximizing the hours in a day that you body is burning fat is the ultimate key to a sexy, lean body. Again, your body NEEDS energy on a 24/7 basis. Without carbohydrates, your body is forced to turn to an alternate fuel source to keep you running all day long.
So, let’s get now get our bodies revved up to burn body fat on a 24/7 basis.