A 5th grade explanation of carbs, glucose & glycogen.

When you eat carbs, it becomes glucose. your body works to maintain about 4 grams of glucose in your blood at any given time for immediate function needs. Then, your liver will pack the rest up into glycogen

Your liver sends some packed up to your muscles for their needs. Whatever your muscles don't get stored for in case of immediate needs (fast available fuel to run away from a bear) gets packed up in the liver. If youate more glucose than your muscles & liver can hold...

It then gets sent to your fat cells & gets stored in them with some water (how you gain bodyfat). Excess Body fat is just excess fuel in a secondary storage for later uses, in case you run out of muscle & liver glycogen....

When a person gets type 2 diabetes, this just means their blood glucose readily available gets higher. This is because your muscles, your liver AND your fat cells are so full there is NO room for more... It has nowhere else to go...

Now the interesting thing is...once your muscles are full, the only way to use that glycogen is to demand that energy. Moving, walking, dancing etc will use up that glycogen as your muscles need it. They then say 'hey liver, send me some more' & so it does....

On average a liver can carry enough stored glycogen for 8 to 10 hours of being given no new glycogen to store (by way of carbs) this means the most effective way for a person with excess stored glycogen in bodyfat, to utalize THAT fuel is to:
1. Lower carbohydrate intake

2. Use the glycogen in the muscles more
3. Empty the liver of stored glycogen in order to let the fat cells give the glycogen back to the system to be used for fuel.

When you exercise. You are not even using fat stores until the muscles demand more energy & the liver is empty.

Some of the ways to make this system work in your advantage for steady healthy fat loss is to move more while not in a fed state. Distance your meals farther apart & keep your carb intake lower so you don't keep your liver packed.

This is the basic math of fueling with your own bodyfat. It is how i have explained to children & the elderly how diabetes type 2 AND fat loss works. Of course the whole system is much more complex & very nuanced because we are not cars. But if you don't understand this basic...

Walkthrough of how it goes. You will continue futile attempts at accessing your fat cell stored fuel.

Thanks for coming to my elementary ted talk.