How And Why You Store Body Fat

If you're currently facing an issue with your body weight, one of the questions that you might be asking yourself is how you store body fat in the first place. What is it that got you to where you are now and how can you go about getting yourself out of this situation of being overweight?

Understanding how and why you store body fat can provide good indication that will let you look into the process of fat burning so you can uncover the precise steps that you need to be taking in order to move yourself forward.

Let's have a quick look at why you store body fat and how this process takes place.

The Issue Of Energy Imbalance

The very first thing that you need to understand is that the process of adding body fat to your frame very much is a function of how much energy is coming in versus how much energy is going out.

If you're consuming a high calorie diet that has you taking in more calories than you're burning off daily, this is going to cause you to begin to store excess body fat.

Since the body has more energy than it needs for its everyday purposes, it has to do something with that energy and the most logical thing to do is store it for later use.

This way, should you encounter a period of starvation, you'll have built up energy reserves to turn to. It takes you having an energy surplus of 3500 calories over time to accumulate one additional pound of body fat.

The Type Of Nutrients Consumed

Now, one thing that you do need to think about in terms of why and how you store body fat is the type of energy that you're eating.
 
Protein rich foods will be least likely to be converted to body fat stores because this nutrient takes a lot of energy just to break down. As your body is expending this energy breaking the protein down, this means less energy would be left over to store as body fat.

After proteins, if you overeat in carbohydrates, you may not necessarily store these as body fat either. If you've been following a lower carbohydrate diet for example and have just completed an intense workout session, the storage form of carbohydrates in your body – your muscle glycogen levels will be lowered or even depleted.

When this is the case, the carbohydrates you eat in excess will actually go towards that storage first, and only once it's filled up will you begin converting carbohydrates into body fat stores.

Then you have fats. Since fats take very little energy to break down and the storage place for them is in fact your fat stores, this is the nutrient that is most likely to get converted to body fat.

Note that this does not mean you should eat a fat devoid diet however – some dietary fat is necessary for proper health and functioning, but just remember that if your calorie intake is too high, then this dietary fat may turn into body fat.

If you maintain a proper calorie balance, then there won't be a problem. So there you have the main points to keep in mind about how and why you store body fat.  If you want to minimize fat storage, eat a lower calorie diet that's rich in proteins and contains moderate amounts of carbohydrates with small amounts of healthy fats sprinkled in.