Medical Weight Loss Blog

This is part 2 of a calorie is not a calorie. Part 1 is here.

Carbohydrate is used as our body’s short term energy storage. For short term exercise (30 minutes or less) our bodies burn carbohydrate in the form of glycogen. Glycogen is stored mainly in our muscles. It makes sense to have the immediate energy where we need it most (already in the muscles).

When we eat carbohydrate, we replenish our used glycogen storage. Therefore, the more you exercise the more carbohydrate you can eat. When the carbohydrate stores are full and we eat more carbs, our body stores this extra energy as fat. Fat is a very efficient way for our bodies to store extra energy. As our body stores fat, we have hormonal mechanisms that entice us to eat more food (hunger) and then store even more energy and we become more overweight and so forth. It is a hard cycle to break.

This cycle accounts for much of the weight problem in the last 20-30 years in our society. The recommendation to eat low fat or no fat has made us eat more carbohydrate and therefore more fat storage. Fat has a good role in our diet. In the right portions, it helps to make us feel full. It is when we have too much fat that it becomes a health concern.