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Thread: Difference between fat consumed and fat stored used for energy

  1. #1
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    Default Difference between fat consumed and fat stored used for energy

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    Coach,

    I wanted to know if there is a difference in the body's use of the fat you eat in your diet and the fatty acids that are stored while on a strength program.

    I'm 5' 5" and 237 lbs. Per day, over 5 meals, I'm getting about 200 grams of protein, about 110-125 grams of carbs, and 50-60 grams of fat. I know my calorie intake is really low, and supposedly not enough for adequate recovery. But why?

    Can't the body make up the rest of the calorie deficit for recovery with its stored fatty acids?

    I know I'm technically not on your program since I replaced on back squat day with front squat, and I do barbell row instead of cleans since I joined an Olympic lifting program. I started a log:

    http://www.startingstrength.com/reso...ad.php?t=15495

    Thanks

  2. #2
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    There certainly is a difference between the way your body uses dietary fat vs. the accumulated fat stores in your body. I don't think it's terribly important that you worry about these differences, though. It sounds like you want to lose some body fat while increasing your strength, and you will probably be able to do so (for a while) by following SS and running a slight caloric deficit.

    If you're running a caloric deficit, you will not gain strength as fast. If you don't run a caloric deficit, it's unlikely you will lose a significant amount of body fat. Just track your progress (body weight, strength gains, caloric intake) and reassess your situation every 3-4 weeks. As you lose body fat, you might find that gaining more strength becomes a priority, and you can increase your caloric intake. Or vice versa.

    One thing for certain, lift consistently and with max effort, and you will be headed in the right direction.

  3. #3

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    As I understand it, it is much more inefficient for the body to convert stored fat into useful energy. So, the body resorts to using as much as it can from your intake, whether that's carbs, protein, or fat, prior to resorting to its own fat. This may be wrong, and is probably significantly simplified, but that's how I understand it.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by mstrofbass View Post
    As I understand it, it is much more inefficient for the body to convert stored fat into useful energy. So, the body resorts to using as much as it can from your intake, whether that's carbs, protein, or fat, prior to resorting to its own fat. This may be wrong, and is probably significantly simplified, but that's how I understand it.
    We wouldn't really be a successful organism if we spent our stored energy in preference over the fuel we are ingesting daily. The body resorts to fat stores only in a calorie deficit.

  5. #5
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    From the little I understand, the body prefers to use protein as energy as a last resort, as it's inefficient and creates nasty byproducts. I could be wrong though.

  6. #6
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    With a healthy, working liver and kidney, the nasty byproducts should be packed and shipped out of the body as urine.

  7. #7
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    Well yes, but the body's unlikely to use protein as a fuel source if there's plenty of fat and sugar around.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by tamiki View Post
    Coach,

    I wanted to know if there is a difference in the body's use of the fat you eat in your diet and the fatty acids that are stored while on a strength program.

    I'm 5' 5" and 237 lbs. Per day, over 5 meals, I'm getting about 200 grams of protein, about 110-125 grams of carbs, and 50-60 grams of fat. I know my calorie intake is really low, and supposedly not enough for adequate recovery. But why?

    Can't the body make up the rest of the calorie deficit for recovery with its stored fatty acids?

    I know I'm technically not on your program since I replaced on back squat day with front squat, and I do barbell row instead of cleans since I joined an Olympic lifting program. I started a log:

    http://www.startingstrength.com/reso...ad.php?t=15495

    Thanks
    If I were you, I would a) raise all your macro numbers. b) Get your protein to 300 grams per day, reverse the amount of carbs and fats. Keep your carb intake around 100, and get your E.F.A. intake to 200 or so.

    When you say you wanna lose bodyfat, are you talking a little bit, or are you talking getting to single digit numbers?

  9. #9
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    In short, make healthy fat the primary source of energy for your body, get all your carbs in for breakfast, and some preoworkout, and eat healthy fats with your proteins the rest of the day. Throw some cardio in there and you will drop bf pretty quickly.

  10. #10
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    starting strength coach development program
    Quote Originally Posted by BruteForce View Post
    If I were you, I would a) raise all your macro numbers. b) Get your protein to 300 grams per day, reverse the amount of carbs and fats. Keep your carb intake around 100, and get your E.F.A. intake to 200 or so.
    Woah, careful there:
    http://www.anthonycolpo.com/Can_Low_...You_Crazy.html

    Read the whole thing, but here are some highlights:

    However, weight loss was not the only outcome measured on this diet. The study also examined the effect of ketogenic versus non-ketogenic diets on cognitive function. The researchers found that, in the first week, ketogenic dieters performed far worse on the trail making task, a widely used test that measures a range of neuropsychological skills including letter and number recognition, visual scanning, motor speed and sequencing ability. After the first week, the ketogenic group began to improve their test results, but by the time the study concluded at 28 days, their results were still lagging behind the non-ketogenic dieters[Wing]...
    Although ketone concentrations were significantly higher in the zero carbohydrate group, there were no differences in fat loss between the two groups, further confirming the fallacy of the “ketosis = greater fat loss” theory. The zero-carbohydrate group did however experience something the non-ketogenic group didn't: namely, significantly poorer exercise performance[Bogardus]...
    So here we have the longest-running study so far, and it showed significantly worse psychological outcomes for the low-carbohydrate diet. Even though the low-carb group fared worse, the CSIRO researchers point out that mood state scores on average for both groups at baseline and throughout the study remained within the normal range for healthy adults. The low-carb group, it seems, was simply at the more angry, confused, and dejected end of the normal range
    A recent case report gives us an insight, and it isn’t pretty. The 2006 report, published in the journal Psychosomatics, described a woman with well-controlled panic disorder who developed a return of her panic symptoms after starting the Atkins diet. She had been diagnosed at the age of thirty-seven with panic disorder, which was successfully managed for the next ten years with daily usage of alprazolam and sertraline. During this time, she had only two full-blown panic attacks, rare limited-symptom attacks, and 'normal functioning'

    Point is: you have to be careful handing out blanket diet advice to people. The one-size-fits-all approach is usually not a good idea. And 100g of carbs a day is enough to induce ketosis in some.


    -Stacey

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