Same here, I’ve been doing low-carb for ten weeks now, and I’ve lost what I call “head hunger” (the craving to eat something, usually sweet). I also don’t feel the need to binge on one particular food (“finishing all the cookies” syndrome). I only get “stomach hunger”, and all that my body requires me to do when I’m hungry is to refuel. Furthermore, I don’t get the 3.30pm crushing fatigue that I used to get every day. Everything points to the insulin.
Incidentally, I’ve lost 20lb and haven’t felt better for years. After a few weeks I even started exercising and enjoying it. :eek:
Glycogen is stored in the muscles and the liver, yes. From what I can glean from my skimming of this Biochemistry textbook in front of me, glycogen is a great big branching molecule similar in structure to amylopectin, a water-insoluble polymer of glucose residues. Basically, whenever the muscles (or the general blood supply) need more glucose, they can just whack a glycogen molecule with a phosphorylase enzyme, which breaks off glucose molecules from one of the glycogen molecule’s side-branches.
The way Cecil phrased it, though, it sounded like these glycogen stores were completely bypassed. It sounded like he was saying that blood glucose was used directly for about the first 20 minutes of aerobic exercise, and then fat was used, with no mention of glycogen anywhere. I seem to recall hearing elsewhere that without exercise, it can take up to 4 days of starvation dieting for the body’s glycogen stores to be depleted and for fat burning to commence.
What if you only eat once every 2 days or so? I usually go without for a couple of days, then eat a decent sized greasy meal (usaully a big burger, or a large pizza. I win big on all you can eats.) Probably not very good for me, but I don’t do any excircise, and I’m quite skinny. I just don’t seem to get very hungry. Maybe I should try a high carb diet to make me get hungry…
Remind me about this comment when you see someone telling everyone that they just CAN’T lose the weight no matter how hard they try. :rolleyes:
Incidentally, my comments were based on common knowledge, at least among the people I deal with. Trying to figure out the actual raw statistics would be a waste of time and would most likely be inapplicable anyway due to the variation among people’s specific metabolisms and the like.
Again, just putting in my two cents.
By the way, I’m down 9 pounds (as in sustained body weight) since I wrote that last post. I’d like to think I know of what I speak. But probably not.
