•Dyanne Williams •Los Angeles Personal Trainer •Dyanne Williams •Los Angeles Personal Trainer •Dyanne Williams •Los Angeles Personal Trainer •

Dyanne Williams

Los Angeles Personal Trainer

In-Home Personal Training on the West Side of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.

	Home	Training	Articles	Q&A	Books	Links	Contact

•Dyanne Williams •Los Angeles Personal Trainer •Dyanne Williams •Los Angeles Personal Trainer •Dyanne Williams •Los Angeles Personal Trainer •

How Does Your Body Use Carbohydrates, Protein, and Fat?

Return to Article List

If you create a calorie deficit, you will lose weight. So why is it important what kind of food you consume?

One reason is because a diet of chocolate covered doughnuts would leave you short of your daily requirements of micronutrients like vitamins and minerals. But also we need to take a look at the natural breakdown of food and how it helps your body function.

Food calories come from one of three sources: carbohydrates, protein, or fat. These are called macronutrients. Let's look at what each of these does for the body and what happens if your diet has too much or not enough. You can find out how much of each macronutrient you need in Calorie Use and Breakdown.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates mostly function as our energy source. They provide energy for not only sustained aerobic exercise, but also for high-intensity exercise like weightlifting. Thus, they provide necessary energy to exercise and build muscle. They are also metabolic primers necessary for the burning of fat.

If you do not eat enough carbohydrates, you will lose energy and endurance (up to 50%). You will also not be able to breakdown fat completely, which cannot only mess up your metabolism, but can also trigger health problems such as diabetes. Also, if your body doesn't have enough carbohydrates, it has a backup system: it breaks down muscle and protein into glucose to use for energy, thus deteriorating muscle. The symptoms can be: dizziness, fatigue, weakness, fainting, and possibly even coma or death.

If you eat too many carbs, your body stores them as fat. This is what people mean when they say that carbs are fattening. But remember, carbohydrates are not fattening if you eat the proper amount. Even though they should be the bulk of your diet, it is easy to eat too many.

Protein

Protein is responsible for the building and repair of muscle. It is only used as an energy source when there are not enough carbohydrates available for normal metabolic function.

If you do not eat enough protein, your body doesn't have enough amino acids to create muscle and your muscles could atrophy.

Too much protein, like all calories, will be stored as fat.

Fat

Fat is necessary to the diet because it is used as a backup energy source for the body and protects vital organs.

If you do not eat enough fat, your body will try to store what it presently has (in case of emergency!) Too little fat has also been shown to cause heart problems and kidney stones.

I think we all know what eating too much fat will do. But why? It takes 20% more energy to convert carbs and protein than it does dietary fat to body fat. In other words, fat is too efficiently stored. A diet too high in fat can cause sluggishness and limit endurance. It is also easy to eat too much fat because it weighs in at 9 calories per gram as compared to 4 calories in carbs and protein.