Why you can't lose fat with Atkins or South Beach diets -- Your Personal Success Board

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Date Posted: 08:50:31 10/20/04 Wed
Author: J.R.Smith, c.f.t.,s.f.t., p.n.s. - ISSA, USSA, ISFN
Subject: Why you can't lose fat with Atkins or South Beach diets

If carbohydrates remain unavailable for several days the body attempts to conserve essential protein by producing an alternative fuel source known as ketones, from the partial burning of fatty acids. As the breakdown continues, these ketones build in the blood causing an abnormal condition called ketosis. Initial weight loss is NOT fat but water from the kidney�s attempting to rid the body of excess ketones. Ketogenic diets make the blood more acidic, upsetting the body�s chemical balance and causing potentially serious and unpleasant side effects like headaches, bad breath, dizziness, fatigue, and nausea.
In addition, fat can only be metabolized via Krebs cycle oxidation.

It is essential to recognize that a reduction in Krebs cycle intermediates due to low or no carbohydrate diets will result in a diminished rate of ATP production from fat metabolism. When carbohydrate stores are depleted in the body, the rate at which fat is metabolized is reduced. Therefore carbohydrates are essential in the ability to metabolize fat. It is only the free fatty acids that are metabolized via the Krebs cycle that are used in ATP production that go toward reducing body fat levels during exercise.

The process called lipolysis regulates fat metabolism. Our bodies store fat at adipocytes in the body in the form of triglycerides. Our bodies cannot use stored bodyfat for energy. These triglycerides must be broken down into one glycerol molecule and three free fatty acid molecules. It is the free fatty acids, which are metabolized via the Krebs cycle. This conversion cannot take place without the enzymes called lipases.

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