Your pancreas produces insulin to convert blood sugar - glucose - into either immediate energy useage, glycogen (which is a form of sugar stored in cells, ready for short bursts of strength), or fat; and it will do it in that order. Each of your cells has receptors, which insulin (when present) will bind to. This signals your cells to take in sugars and do one of those 3 things with them.
In our modern society of carb overload, your cells lose many of those receptors in an attempt to keep the excess sugar out. This happens slowly over the course of many years and is called insulin resistance. However, it's very dangerous for you blood glucose (bg) to get too high, so your pancreas, in an attempt to keep bg levels in an acceptable range, produces even more insulin to force your cells to 'listen.'
Your liver cells are the first to become resistant. Then your muscle cells follow, and finally your fat cells. What this means is that as you progress towards greater insulin resistance, your fat cells still readily uptake that glucose and store as fat, while your liver and muscles tend to absorb much less of the load. Suddenly putting on a considerable amt of fat over the course of a few months to a year is a sure sign that you are progressing through deeper stages of insulin resistance. Ultimately your weight will stabilize (much higher) as your fat cells also become insulin resistant, but the next step is diabetes - exhaustion of the pancreas from years of overworking.
Additionally, it seems the liver produces glucose from protein in the absence of dietary carbs, and apparently it will overproduce as a result of insulin resistance.
Pretty much everyone in America is at differing levels of insulin resistance, even many of us who are RP and low carb. It takes years to do, and it can take years to undo. It is a glandular issue, and if there's one good over-arching rule about your endocrine system, it's that each sub-system, each gland, is highly inter-related with each other. Decades of poor dietary choices wreak havoc on the system as a whole - be it carbs and excess insulin, caffeine and excess adrenaline, steroids and excess testosterone, etc. And to be sure, toxins from cooked meats play quite a role as well. Healing and restoration of proper function can take a long time, and I'm convinced can't be done without plenty of raw animal foods.
It is no surprise that it may take awhile to shed some of that more stubborn fat - it may very well be indicative of a still damaged endocrine system. Repair and restoration of tissues can take time, and I would guess, progresses in stages as the years go by.
Some things you can do to speed the process: exercise exercise exercise. It is a fact that strength/resistance training will increase the insulin senstivity of your muscle and liver cells. It is okay to eat some carbs after a strenuous workout. What many people trying to lose fat make the mistake of doing is going for a long walk or light bike ride or something like that, thinking it will induce fat loss. I mean, it will (slowly) in the sense that you are burning a few extra calories, but you have to get in an anaerobic state to get the insulin sensitivity response.
This doesn't mean you have to go bench press 300 lbs or workout every day, but it does mean you need to get near muscle failure (where you can't do any more reps) multiple times for your large muscle groups over the course of 20-60 mins. You can also combine with some cardio for the benefit of both worlds. If you are new to training, ease in to it, once a week for the first few weeks, working your way up to 3 days a week of anaerobic exercise. Be sure to take care of your joints, and go for higher reps, lighter weights, especially when starting off.
Additionally, that kind of exercise tends to enhance metabolism and prime your body for growth. While I have not read anything that directly states this, it would make sense that this kind of response would put your body into a state that promotes regeneration in general - much how some people will gain upper body muscle, even if they only work their lower body. The body is in a chemical state overall that promotes healing, cell division, and strengthening.
I'm fairly convinced that fat tends to store in certain areas for some people more than others, and can be difficult to get rid of. Although this is usually related to the insulin/glucagon and other hormonal responses related to insulin resistance. So even if on a low carb diet, you may still be recovering insulin sensitivity (along w/ other glandular functions), and may still have some stubborn fat. A person on a low carb diet who has mostly healed their insulin resistance probably will not experience this much or at all.
lol, so Wodgina, I guess I both agree and disagree.
