Biomass Muscle

Insulin: Fat loss killer or misunderstood hormone.
When you hear the word insulin, most people associate it with diabetes, and fat gain. Although
this can be true, insulin is a hormone that is responsible for the uptake and portioning of glucose. Insulin
is produced in the pancreas whenever you eat something such as carbohydrates or even proteins.
Releasing from the pancreas, insulin enters the blood stream where it can deposit glucose into muscle
cells or it can be deposited into fat cells. As you know, you typically think of insulin as the almighty fat
storage hormone because it takes glucose (sugar) from your bloodstream and stores it. As a bodybuilder
fat storage is the last thing you would want to happen, preparing for a contest. I believe when thinking in
terms of fat loss, this is one of most misunderstood concepts. People including bodybuilders typically eat
some low carb or low glycemic food such as rice and avoid any types of sugar at all because of the fear of
fat gain from insulin, as insulin blunts fat burning.
In terms of carbohydrates and sugar, they will either fall into two categories. They will either be
considered a High glycemic, or low glycemic. High glycemic foods consist of dextrose, sugary cereals, and
table sugar to name a few, while low glycemic foods might consist of oatmeal, brown rice, and some
fruits. The glycemic index is just a scale to determine what kinds of foods will enter the blood stream
faster. So if you have something high GI, it will enter the blood stream faster than that of a low GI food.
For fat loss to occur, you have to release it into the blood stream (lipolysis). However, if you don’t
actually use it, it can go back into storage (lipogenesis). Yes, fat burning is blunted by insulin, but it’s not
completely shut down. Fat burning (oxidation) is a 24 hour process. All of these processes are going on
all at the same time. So if you are in a calorie surplus, the rate at which it’s being stored is faster than the
rate in which it’s being burned. If you are in a deficit, the rate at which it’s being released and burned is
greater than that in which it’s being stored.
Depending on total calorie intake, it depends on the concentration. Assuming calories are equal,
if you have high amounts of insulin in one meal of the day by eating something sugary you will, make up
for it by having lower insulin responses the rest of the day because it’s a 24 hour process. So wither it be