So, you think if you run out of carbs your body runs on fat do ya? Sorry, but you’ve been confused…big time. That’s not exactly how it works. In fact, that’s not how it works at all…

 This is a commonly misunderstood topic by many people. So I wrote this post to help clear things up for you. Here’s how your body REALLY works….

 As you sit here reading this article, your primary source of fuel is fat. A significant majority of the calories you burn at rest (i.e. watching TV, reading, typing at the computer) are from fat, typically between 60-70% of calories you burn. Most of the remainder is from carbs with maybe a small percentage coming from protein. Common thinking would have you believe that first you use carbs for fuel; then when you run out of carbs, you use fat; then when you run out of fat you use protein. As you can see, this is not the case at all. At any given time your body is using more than one source of fuel for energy. It will be a combination of the 3 sources (carbs, fat and protein) depending on the intensity of the activity-- (i.e. sitting vs. exercising)

 Now here’s where people get things mixed up. Carbs are the easiest, fastest fuel source for your body to burn. (this tends to get confused with “order of use” as was stated above) Carbs are the top choice of your body during high intensity activities like running and weight lifting. During these activities you may burn up to 80-90%, even close to 100% carbs if the intensity is high enough. You’re using carbs for this high intensity activity because they burn quickly and easily---hard and fast (think lighting gasoline with a match)

Fat doesn’t burn easily and is a “slow-reacting” fuel source so it is used during low intensity activities as stated above (at rest). (think of trying to light a log on fire without any kindling---doesn’t work very good, right?) So if you don’t need a lot of quick energy (i.e. watching TV), you will use primarily fat.

 So here’s why you NEED to know all this if you want to lose weight:

 If you run out of carbs, your body doesn’t switch to burning fat. If it did, then low-carb diets would work like a charm and they don’t. (FYI people lose weight when they cut carbs because they first lose a ton of water---carbs hold A LOT of water (carbo-HYDRATE). Second, those people lose significant amounts of muscle from depleting carbs because of what is going to be spelled out for you below.

 1) your body sees carb depletion as a state of starvation so it begins to slow metabolism and increase your body's fat storage in preparation for a "famine"----by the way, if you don't eat every 3 hours, this is exactly what will happen...

 2) Muscle burns a ton of calories, so if you run out of carbs your body views muscle as a threat to survival. It will begin breaking down valuable calorie burning muscle to make you more efficient with your small amount of remaining calories/carbs, thus slowing your metabolism again AND making it really hard to lose weight and keep it off. This is why EVERYONE, yes EVERYONE, I have ever known who has done a low carb diet has gained back every single pound they lost. Same goes for those who try “starvation” diets.

 3) Your body will convert some of your valuable protein/muscle into carbs (again slowing the metabolism) so you have carbs in your system again---FYI your body has systems and if you try to mess with those systems, your body will win every time, hands down, so don’t mess with it---you will lose the battle...

There you go. Now you can see that carbs are not the enemy. You should be replenishing your system with carbs about every 3 hours, 5 to 6 times per day. This will keep your metabolism revved up and maintain valuable calorie burning, metabolism-boosting muscle. Carbs are very important in weight loss so don’t be afraid to eat them. It’s whether or not you are eating the right type of carbs, in the right portions, in the right combination with other foods that matters.

 If you’d like to know more about how your body works with nutrition, all personal training and boot camp members get a detailed nutrition program to follow and ongoing nutrition education and advice for the duration of their program. Contact me by clicking the link below if you would like to enroll in one of these awesome fat loss programs.