What about metabolic flexibility?

Posted In: Wellness December 3rd, 2017 divider No Comments »

One of the beautiful by-products of becoming a fat burning beast is the increased metabolic flexibility. For those who aren’t as familiar with the concept, it refers to the ability to burn carbs (most people) and/or fat for fuel.

With most people in North America being on the carb train, and a lot being insulin resistant, they are mostly inflexible. I remember being like that even in my Ironman days, where I couldn’t really go more than 2-4 hours without another feeding. It affected my mood tremendously and it took up a lot of my brain power trying to figure what and when I would eat again.

The switch wasn’t easy at first as it took a while to undo years and decades of work. Now that I’ve been mostly fat-fueled for the past 1.5 years, it’s nice to be able to go days without food and not only feel good, but feel better.

The flexibility also helps when I travel so I don’t have to eat crap when I’m in airports or on the road. Trust me, I still indulge from time to time but I don’t have the cravings I did before. And then I’m quite happy going on coffee and water for a day or two.

I look at my new lifestyle as a hybrid car. You have the option to use both carbs and fats as sources of fuel, it depends how you fill up and how you want to use it. Having the flexibility is also cleaner and more efficient in the long term.

Having been on the carb treadmill for a long time, it’s not easy to get off since it’s the predominant option out there but it can be done. And especially now with tons of resources and research available

I just wish all this stuff would have come out in the mainstream when I started my endurance journey almost 2 decades ago…