Can someone Please help me understand this ?

[SLIM QUEST]

Hello Everyone, end of my second week back on Atkins and have lost 12 lbs... feel better than I have since I did this for the first 100 lbs loss... thanks for your help.

I was curious if our bodies actually use the dietary fat we eat for fuel first or does it use our body fat for fuel? or does it use the protien that is processed by the liver or is it the Ketones that we produce??? how does that work exactly? Is there a step by step process or does it all work together at the same time? Can someone explain how we get our energy? I know it works, I just doen't quite understand how it works SLIMQUEST

[chinadoll]

Do you have the book? There is actually a very good explanation in the 2002 DANDR about the order in which our bodies obtain fuel.

[chinadoll]

I couldn't find it in my DANDR but here is an explanation from the web. I will try to say it more simply at the end, too. This is from Anne Collins' website on weight loss.

How the Body Uses Food Energy

The Body Follows an Order of Priority in Fuel-Burning

Our food fuel comprises the protein, carbohydrate, fat and alcohol we eat. But the exact mixture our body uses typically varies according to circumstances (eg. our physical activity, our last meal etc.). There is an "order of priority" that dictates which fuels are burned first. Alcohol calories are burned first. This is because we cannot store alcohol energy. Next, we burn protein, then carbohydrates, then fat. In practice, however, we typically burn a "mixture" of carbs and fat, with the ratio being dependent on meals. Just after meals we burn mainly carbohydrate, while between meals we burn more fat.

Fat-Burning Efficiency Effects Weight
According to experts, if we cannot burn all the fat we consume, the remainder is stored as fat tissue. This fat-burning ability is determined by the amount of insulin in our bloodstream. [Note: a major factor in insulin release is the glycemic index (GI) value of the carb-foods or meal consumed.] When insulin levels are low, we burn mainly fat. When they are high, we burn mainly carbs. But a problem arises when insulin levels remain constantly high, as in the case of individuals suffering from insulin insensitivity. In such cases, the constant need to burn carbs reduces our fat-burning ability. Result? More fat is stored as fatty (adipose) tissue.


Now for me. Dr A basically said that we use simple consumed sugars and alcohols first. Then simple starches, proteins are broken down for use. Complex carbs take longer to digest into a fuel for the body--that's why they affect your blood sugar less than simple sugars.

Your body stores needed energy from carbs in glycogen. Excess carbs are converted by Insulin to fat. Your body fat is easier for your body to convert back into energy than dietary fat. This WOE lowers the carbs sufficiently that you are constantly drawing on that body fat for energy since you don't have ready made fuel in the form of simple carbs. Your body will maintain its glycogen levels before storing excesses as fat but you tend to use more energy converting protein and complex carbs to glycogen than simple carbs. The metabolic advantage is partly because your body uses your body fat first and if you eat excess dietary fat you are also having to digest and convert that to fuel which uses extra energy in the conversion/storage process.

Hopefully this makes some sense. I know it gets kind of complicated to explain.