When we need energy, can’t the body just burn the stored fat? Isn’t that the whole point of stored fat? Why will we feel hungry, weak, lightheaded, etc. at all? I understand if the body doesn’t have enough fat (if you’re super skinny), it would make sense to feel hungry, but I don’t understand why would that be the case if there’s enough fat to go around.
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Answer: your body really doesn’t want to burn fat. There are 3 energy stores in your body: carbs, fat, muscle. You burn carbs first because they are the easiest things your body knows what to do with (look up simple vs complex carbs). Once you run out of carbs to burn, your body switches to fat. This is called ketosis and is what people on no carb diets are trying to achieve. Ketosis is absolutely a survival response related to starvation and temperature regulation and can come with some nasty side effects (look up keto flu).
Those sensations: hunger, weakness, headaches, etc. are all your body’s signals telling you that things are out of whack. Through the processes I described above, it will try to maintain homeostasis but that can only go on so long so you still gotta eat.
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