The issue of getting our bodies to tackle the fat layers under the skin is something I struggle with as well. – When I was on a weight lifting research program we were getting our body scans done at various stages of the program as part of the battery of tests to see how just a 30 minute program of strength training just once a week effected our bodies.
All the scans for me were clear of fat around the organs and all my fat is the type that is under the skin. There is just too much of it. Much too much of it still.
Healing insulin resistance depends on just how bad it is, I have been monitoring my status in ketosis using a breathalyser for ver a year. During that time I have seen some improvement in the length of time it takes me to get back into ketosis, and there has been some improvement in the number of carbs I can have in a day and stay in ketosis. But lets be clear on this. I have gone from having to stay under 20g of carbs a day to be in ketosis to being able to have up to 26g of carbs a day once in a while and stay in ketosis. I think the key for me on accepting this is looking back and realising that I have been suffering from health problems which were a clear sign of IR since my early 20’s that’s decades of damage to heal. But those decades of damage occurred because we didn’t understand the impact high levels of insulin has on our bodies until recently and we don’t have the research available to be able to set out a clear set of actions to reverse insulin resistance.
I heard a phrase last night that is rolling around in my brain on how apt it is for so many situations. We are all facing the same storm but each in our own boats. – Some of us will be younger, have been eating high carb for a shorter period, have a physically active job, and not a lot of weight to discard. Others of us will be of retirement age, been eating carbs since early childhood, have health problems which limit activity and are morbidly obese. But all of us can do things to help improve our situation.
I think there are a number of strands. Gut bacteria, metabolic flexibility, muscle cells, and time.
1. Gut bacteria. Our mix of bacteria changes in response to our diet. If we have been eating a high carb diet for a long period of time our mixture of gut bacteria will have a high population of sugar digesting bacteria. I think that means that there are lots of bacteria to rapidly digest any carbs in the meals, causing more of an insulin spike than someone who has a healthier gut bacteria mix. I think reducing carbs helps to improve the mix of gut bacteria. But its worth each person working to proactively improve the balance of their gut bacteria.
2. muscle cells. – The cellular structure of muscle cells which are adapted to burn fat for fuel is different to that fed on a diet of carbs. My guess is that staying long term in ketosis and building muscles is the solution to supporting our muscles to use fat as a fuel as the normal.
3. Metabolic flexibility. That’s about how easily your body switches back into ketosis after eating carbs. – mentally I picture it as being like something that has rusted and needs oiling and moving back and forth to get back to normal. I think it comes from a mixture of fixing 1 ans 2 and time.
4. It has taken time for us to damage our bodies, it will take time to heal. – Our cells have a lifespan and are developed according to the conditions present at the time they are created. So consistently following the plan will see a gradual improvement in our bodies structure.
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When it comes down to our waists, the thing to remember is that our bodies are designed to make it easy to carry surplus weight around our waists. – – Especially for women.
its really irritating that we discard weight from our necks, collar bones emerge, shoe size drops before we start to make inroads into waist size. But I count it as a positive, If I could get a the fat off specific areas I would probably stop wanting to get rid of fat when there was still areas of fat that I couldn’t see in a mirror.
