One thing that has confused me is the concept of metabolic efficiency which was mentioned in herein. On episode #29 of Baker's podcast somewhere around the 16min mark, Santana discusses this concept and defines it in a way that is completely counterintuitive to me. Ie. an old man is more metabolically efficient because things slow down and don't function as they used to so the body gets more efficient (at burning what? fat?) as opposed to a younger kid who may have to eat double the amount of carbs to move less weight.
A Google search of "metabolically efficient" yields
this definition.
"
Metabolic efficiency refers to the body’s ability to utilize its on-board (non-supplemental) stores of carbohydrate (glycogen) and fat more efficiently during rest and across different intensities of exercise. It’s essentially the ability to preserve glycogen and burn fat as fuel."
So the old guy who's training doesn't need to eat as many carbs because, due to his increased metabolic efficiency over his younger counterparts, he can satisfy a portion of the energy demand by drawings from his fat supplies? Whereas a younger kid would just burn all his carbs off (implying the increased need for them) because he's "metabolically more inefficient"?
Looks like I just answered my question above but wouldn't this equate to more lean older men and fatter kids? From observation the opposite is the case.
Can someone help me understand this please?