We know that a low-carb diet can keep you sensitive to insulin and thus help you avoid storing fat, but did you know that your body composition—whether lean and muscular or mostly fat with little muscle— affects insulin sensitivity, too?
Why is this important you ask?
Because when you have more muscle on your body, you have better glucose uptake, less circulating insulin and as a result less fat storage. It’s how to win the battle on obesity!
In a recent study, Loren Cordain and others wanted to understand the relationship between body composition and insulin resistance. The researchers noted that until about 50 years ago, proportions of muscle and fat on the modern body remained similar to ancestral ratios. They compared the physiques of pre-agricultural adults, based on skeletal remains, with modern elite athletes and determined that body compositions were similar – in both groups males had about 10 percent body fat and females had about 15. They then compared these statistics to average modern humans and found that males have greater than 25 percent body fat while females have more than 35 percent.
Even more important, this evolutionary change in body composition can affect insulin circulating in your blood, and thus your health and fat-burning ability. (Remember, high levels of insulin are not desirable, creating a condition known as insulin resistance and decreasing the ability of your cells to take up glucose.) The mechanism is this: Because fat cells and muscle cells compete for circulating insulin, relative to your proportion of muscle to fat, your body composition determines how insulin is distributed when it is released from the pancreas. And since insulin receptors on muscle cells are much more efficient at glucose uptake than those on adipose tissue, fitness level is a big predictor in glucose uptake. In other words, an individual in better condition with more muscle may induce 7 to 10 times more glucose uptake than someone with more adipose tissue.
The point is that a lean, fit, muscular person will have much greater insulin sensitivity than an out of shape, overly-fat and unfit person. Additionally, an imbalance of fatty tissue receptors relative to muscle cell receptors requires the pancreas to secrete extra insulin, which leads to insulin resistance. Bottom line, having more muscle on your body will improve insulin sensitivity, because muscle cells are more efficient at glucose uptake than fat cells.
Having more muscle on your body is a good reason to lift weights and gain muscle. But to build muscle and increase the VO2max of the muscle, which is necessary because high insulin sensitivity requires muscle fitness, perform metabolic resistance circuits, a hybrid of weight lifting and interval training.
If you do metabolic resistance circuits to build strength and conditioning, you improve your body composition, creating more muscle and less fat. But you also improve your glucose uptake and as a result have less circulating insulin, so you store less fat. It’s how to win the battle on obesity!
Anyone who tells you that exercise alone does not affect weight loss is clearly missing this point. It’s not about how many calories you burn in response to exercise; it’s about changing your body composition through strength training and improving the VO2max of the muscle. This is the link; it’s why exercise is so important in the obesity epidemic. It’s not just about diet.
Why is this important you ask?
Because when you have more muscle on your body, you have better glucose uptake, less circulating insulin and as a result less fat storage. It’s how to win the battle on obesity!
In a recent study, Loren Cordain and others wanted to understand the relationship between body composition and insulin resistance. The researchers noted that until about 50 years ago, proportions of muscle and fat on the modern body remained similar to ancestral ratios. They compared the physiques of pre-agricultural adults, based on skeletal remains, with modern elite athletes and determined that body compositions were similar – in both groups males had about 10 percent body fat and females had about 15. They then compared these statistics to average modern humans and found that males have greater than 25 percent body fat while females have more than 35 percent.
Even more important, this evolutionary change in body composition can affect insulin circulating in your blood, and thus your health and fat-burning ability. (Remember, high levels of insulin are not desirable, creating a condition known as insulin resistance and decreasing the ability of your cells to take up glucose.) The mechanism is this: Because fat cells and muscle cells compete for circulating insulin, relative to your proportion of muscle to fat, your body composition determines how insulin is distributed when it is released from the pancreas. And since insulin receptors on muscle cells are much more efficient at glucose uptake than those on adipose tissue, fitness level is a big predictor in glucose uptake. In other words, an individual in better condition with more muscle may induce 7 to 10 times more glucose uptake than someone with more adipose tissue.
The point is that a lean, fit, muscular person will have much greater insulin sensitivity than an out of shape, overly-fat and unfit person. Additionally, an imbalance of fatty tissue receptors relative to muscle cell receptors requires the pancreas to secrete extra insulin, which leads to insulin resistance. Bottom line, having more muscle on your body will improve insulin sensitivity, because muscle cells are more efficient at glucose uptake than fat cells.
Having more muscle on your body is a good reason to lift weights and gain muscle. But to build muscle and increase the VO2max of the muscle, which is necessary because high insulin sensitivity requires muscle fitness, perform metabolic resistance circuits, a hybrid of weight lifting and interval training.
If you do metabolic resistance circuits to build strength and conditioning, you improve your body composition, creating more muscle and less fat. But you also improve your glucose uptake and as a result have less circulating insulin, so you store less fat. It’s how to win the battle on obesity!
Anyone who tells you that exercise alone does not affect weight loss is clearly missing this point. It’s not about how many calories you burn in response to exercise; it’s about changing your body composition through strength training and improving the VO2max of the muscle. This is the link; it’s why exercise is so important in the obesity epidemic. It’s not just about diet.