How the body stores fat?

We have already discussed that if we consume more calories than needed, the body puts on weight, while if we consume less than needed then we lose weight. We have also made clear that the key for changing our bodies is to know what exactly the weight we are gaining or losing is. The goal should be the following: when we gain it must be muscle, and when we lose it must be fat.

To achieve this goal, it is essential to learn the mechanisms with which the body develops muscle and stores fat. Today we will talk about the latter.

The fat stores of the body are mainly two: right under the skin (subcutaneous fat) and internally between the organs (visceral fat). Subcutaneous fat is the well-known fat that you can grab with your hands. On the contrary, visceral fat is internal. That’s why some men have big bellies, which are also hard.

At this point, let me repeat the following: everything that will be said below holds true only if we eat more calories than needed. Otherwise, fat storage is unlikely.

Let’s start with the excessive dietary fat. All of this will get stored, as you might expect. The reason is that the body doesn’t need to do any complicated conversion in order to store it. I repeat that we are talking about excessive dietary fat.

Let’s move to excessive carbohydrates. These can also get converted to fat and stored, but this is not as easy. The following is much more likely: when we consume excess carbs, our body learns to burn carbs for fuel. Thus the excess fat mentioned above will surely not be used for energy purposes, and will get stored.

The same holds true for protein, which is even more unlikely to get converted to fat.

In the case you are consuming zero dietary fat, but also excess carbs and protein, your body will again store fat, converting the carbs and protein. This conversion is difficult, but not impossible.

As a result, whatever you do, if you eat more than you need you will put on fat.

Following the reverse logic, in order to lose fat here is what you should do:
- burn more calories than the amount consumed, either by lowering your food intake, or by increasing your activity level (or both)
- cut the carbs drastically, to educate your body to burn fat for fuel
- eat only as much dietary fat as necessary (i.e. not much) and not more

Start now!