Just a few days ago in our Singapore personal training center, a client came in and said with a worried look…”I am leaner, and have a lot more energy, and I’m not eating a low calorie diet”
“Is there something wrong with me?”
I had given her some mocha flavored protein shakes to try out and she was worried that these had some kind of illegal stimulant in them that was giving her the great energy levels.
I assured her that there is no stimulant, but that she was not able to handle carbohydrates well so when she used a lower carb diet, her body now had better energy.
It is very common to have high body fat and low energy at the same time. In fact, it is likely!
The underlying problem is called “insulin resistance”.
This means that your “non-fat” cells like those in your muscles and liver, do not listen to the signaling hormone insulin.
If you have a starchy, high carbohydrate meal (and your body is overweight or genetically not able to handle such food) there will be a jump in your blood sugar.
Your body wants to lower your blood sugar now because high blood sugar is toxic and damaging. Thus, it releases the storage hormone called insulin.
This has the effect of stopping fat burning (because you need to burn off these newly released carbohydrates). But, if you are insulin resistant, your cells don’t listen to insulin and blood sugar remains elevated.
The current state is that you have stopped using fat for energy, and you also are not able to use carbs for energy either because of your insulin resistance!
That means your cells are starving. Just take note, that fat that you were able to use for fuel is not available. This means that your other lean tissue which is not good at using carbs as fuel, is out of gas!
Out of gas – you are tired Low on fuel – you are hungry
And even worse, your blood sugar is still high so your body releases even more insulin and stores the high blood sugar the only way it knows how – in fat cells – you get fat!
That is a triple whammy.
Too many carbs make you tired, hungry and overweight all at once!
The solution is that if you are the naturally “fat” kind of person, a lower carbohydrate diet will be an excellent choice for you energy levels, weight loss, and health.
Coach Jonathan Wong, is a sought after Singapore personal trainer and performance expert who has helped hundreds of clients in Singapore achieve their fitness, fat loss and sports performance goals. He is also a fitness author, fitness bootcamp owner and a member of Singapore Men’s Health Advisory Panel. Visit his website and blog for a free 1500 page e-book and constant updates. http://www.coachjon.com
