What is the number one source of fuel for your body during weight loss?
Protein?
Healthy fats?
Complex carbohydrates?
Nope. It’s none of those.
The most important thing that should be fueling your body when trying to lose weight is your own body fat. I know–it’s so not glamorous.
We actually have plenty of meals stored on our bodies. Even when we are at our natural healthy weight, we have fat stores on our body. Our bodies are designed to store extra fuel. This is your body working as it was supposed to! When we are above our natural healthy weight, we have excess fuel stored on our bodies in the form of fat.
This extra storage is what prevented us from dying when food was scarce and we lived in caves. Our bodies developed the ability to store extra fuel for when times were lean.
Today in middle-class America however, there is really never a food shortage. We always have the ability to go the fridge, pantry or restaurant down the street. Our bodies now just store extra fuel when we take in extra energy. This is a sign that your body is functioning just how it should! It should totally store extra energy for a time when there isn’t food coming in. But that time just doesn’t ever come. So we are left with extra fuel stored–extra fat.
And that extra fuel, stored in the form of fat, is exactly what you should be “eating” when you are trying to get rid of it!
How is that done?
The way we access those stored meals on our bodies is to reduce the hormone insulin. In a nutshell, when insulin is high, you are storing fat. When high insulin is present in the bloodstream, it is moving glucose out of the blood and into fat storage. When insulin is low, you can access the fat in storage and use it for fuel. Whenever insulin is elevated, the body cannot use fat as fuel.
So the way to get out bodies to use our own body fat as a fuel source is to manage our insulin levels.
How do we get insulin to go down?
- Eat less often.
- Reduce foods that cause unnatural insulin spikes (like refined sugar and flour).
These are the two best ways. Eating less often looks like taking breaks between meals, and extending your fast time over night. Instead of eating up until bedtime and then eating breakfast right when you wake up, try not eating after dinner and/or waiting until a little later in the morning to eat breakfast. Don’t snack between meals. Eat until comfortable and then wait until you are physically hungry again at the next meal time. Constant grazing prevents insulin from getting low and makes it difficult to use those fat stores.
Foods that cause unnatural insulin spikes are the refined and processed sugars and flours specifically. Reducing these foods will reduce the insulin response, making it much easier for insulin to go down after eating and for you to get back into fat burning mode. Can you lose weight while still eating these foods? Yes of course you can, as long as you are not taking in too much energy. Will reducing these foods make weight loss easier? Yes. For sure. Because you won’t be constantly dealing with the insulin ups and downs. You’ll be able to naturally balance your hunger hormones. I can also teach you the secret to reducing (or eliminating) these foods and using that to eliminate your cravings for them as well!
Need a clear plan on how to do this? Feel free to schedule a strategy session with me and I’ll help you! It’s free!
