Glycogen Levels And The Secret Reason Why You Are Fat

Glycogen is the name for carbohydrates that are stored in your muscles. An easy way to understand glycogen is to picture it as a storage tank for sugar, the form of carbohydrate your body uses for fuel. So just as you have fat stores, you also have sugar stores. However, unlike your fat stores, which are able to expand (read: you can get fatter and fatter), your glycogen levels have a limited capacity to store sugar. For instance, think of your car: If you own a mid size, you probably have about a 14~gallon fuel tank. Try to fill it with 20 gallons, though, and the other 6 would spill out onto the pavement. It's the same way with sugar and your glycogen levels.

And therein lies the problem: At full glycogen levels, your body tank signals your body to use incoming carbohydrates for energy instead of your stored fat. Otherwise, your glycogen levels will overflow. As a result, your body not only stops burning fat, it starts conserving it-just in case of starvation. This is one of the main reasons for America's growing obesity problem. Because most people's diets are excessively high in carbohydrates, their glycogen levels are always at peak capacity. In turn, their bodies won't allow them to use their stored fat for energy.

What's more, there are also serious health ramifications to perpetually high glycogen levels. When excess carbohydrates from your diet can't be stored as sugar in your glycogen levels or tank overflow, causes sugar to build up in your bloodstream. The result: chronically high blood sugar, which can damage the large blood vessels of your heart and brain, and the small vessels of your kidneys and eyes. As a consequence, your body starts shuttling the overflow of sugar to your liver, where it's then converted to a blood fat known as triglycerides. If you've ever had blood work done, you might recognize triglycerides as one of the measurements that your doctor ordered. And for good reason: Elevated triglycerides are a risk factor for heart disease and an early predictor of future diabetes. To make matters even worse, once sugar becomes triglycerides, or fat, it can be stored as fat. Ever been told carbs can't make you fat? Think again.

So why does this now seem to be the norm, despite the fact that most Americans are more health conscious than ever? The simple answer is that the way you've been taught to eat and exercise is nearly the exact opposite of what science actually shows to be most effective-for both losing fat and building muscle. And this really shouldn't be surprising. The majority of health and nutrition experts.. yes, even those you see on television, promote methods that aren't supported by scientific research, or even by the most basic laws of human metabolism and physiology. But to fully understand the reason is why we need an introduction to glycogen levels.

Now, there are probably lots of reasons why people have gotten so far off track with glycogen levels, the misinterpretation of data from nutrition and exercise studies, valid scientific research that's been ignored or dismissed, the influence of politics and special interest groups, and, in some cases, just good intentions gone bad. But the key to getting back on course is understanding exactly why much of what you've been told about diet and exercise is wrong. Your re-education starts now.

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