Insulin Spikes Make You Lay Down Fat

Insulin inhibits the breakdown of fat in adipose (fat) tissue. When insulin levels are high, the body tends to store fat rather than burn it for energy, contributing to weight gain.

Because the sugar may spike almost immediately – but the insulin is still working, four to six hours later, as fat enters the bloodstream in large quantities.  That’s when your high insulin levels make the fat get caught up by adipose cells and layed down.

Insulin makes you fat. 

It also makes you muscular; it may be the most anabolic hormone in the human body.  Insulin isn't the enemy; it’s just one of the rules of the game. We have to figure out how to game it in order to achieve our goals.

People who use insulin, especially in type 1 diabetes, might experience hypoglycemia (low blood sugar levels). The treatment for hypoglycemia involves consuming fast-acting carbohydrates, which can contribute to overall calorie intake and weight gain.

Trying to figure out the right mix of macronutrients is a difficult matter. We’re used to having certain food groups demonized and others lauded to the skies, and it’s hard to rid ourselves of that way of thinking and see a more balanced picture.

That doesn’t mean your diet consists of 40% fat by weight! Figuring this out means knowing the amount of calories you need, juggling the macronutrients and taking account of thermogenic effects and of your requirements – are you trying to lose fat? Gain muscle? Both? Even in the hands of highly qualified experts this sifting of interrelated factors is not an exact science, and even if it was, the resulting diet, where everything had to be weighed to the gram and timed to the minute, would be so restrictive that almost no-one would follow it.

Think in terms of foods rather than nutrients and this mess becomes easier to disentangle. 

When I say fats that are naturally present in the food, I’m talking about the fat on a piece of bacon or a beefsteak, or the fat in nuts (nuts are usually about half fat). By comparison, the fats that you’ll find in processed foods are often there to give that food a certain appearance or texture. You’re actually eating packaging when you eat them, in that sense. And trans and hydrogenated fats and dense quantities of animal intra-abdominal fats aren't that good for your weight loss goals.

This doesn't mean you have to be hungry the whole time.

Imagine you ate half a pound of beef and a pound of potatoes for dinner. That’s a lot of food and a lot of nutrients. Everything there is good for you. You’re getting plenty of vitamin C, potassium, lots of protein and fat, plenty of various chain lengths of carbs – it’s hard to beat. But it’s not only clean calories: it’s hardly any calories. The meal I’ve just described would make most large men feel full all day. But it’s a thousand calories: A typical burger chain’s basic meal package tops that out, and without the nutritional benefits too. It also won’t make you feel full as long.

Prepare breakfast the night before so you only have to heat it, or get something mid-morning too (or both).  I know this goes against years of ‘no snacks!’ warnings, but if you crowd your calories together early in the day then you significantly reduce the amount of weight you gain.  So if you’re eating a slight caloric deficit you’ll lose weight much faster and feel fuller. The odd thing is, research shows you’ll feel fuller even at night if you eat the bulk of your calories in the morning.

Read More: The Ideal Ratio Of Carbs And Fat For Fat Loss

If hunger is a problem try eating two or three teaspoons of flavorless oil –vegetable oil works fine – a couple of times a day.  This seems to ‘reset’ your metabolism, resulting in less adipose deposit; that’s right – it’s a fat supplement for weight loss!  Don’t flavor the oil, though; then it makes you gain weight.

So there you have it: Dodge short chain carbs. Dodge added fats. Eat real food, eat more in the morning and less in the afternoon, and you should be well on the way to your weight loss goals!