Is fat loss simply repurposing existing body fat or do we actually burn it?
Dear Peter Attia and Team, I’m not a science major but I’ve done a bit of research in the process of losing weight and correcting some metabolic syndrome blood markers and body fat concerns. So here goes... Does losing fat actually mean that our body is repurposing substances to create the required energy (ATP) to fuel our brain and working muscles and also for the repair/rebuild processes while we sleep (fasted state)? Food is not just fuel but it is information and instructions for our body to release, express, transcript, translate, suppress, secrete, regulate, inhibit, stimulate, just to name a few. So an absence of food is also a set of info and instructions. Safe to say in a fed state we get our energy needs from the food we ate and in a fasted state we get our ATP needs from digested food already stored in the body? (like my belly and lower back fat) So fasted, to maintain blood glucose levels we have several systems/processes that make glucose and we start oxidating fatty acids thanks to elevated glucagon = gluco-neogenesis/genolysis. Also fasted during sleep we are highly metabolic rebuilding and repairing the various structural proteins and gateways, transport and membrane assemblies, neurotransmitter and synaptic repairs. For all these anabolic and restorative processes, are we using, along with other substances, stored fat? When I lift weights, then eat lunch, then cut the grass, have a snack, go for a long walk, then have dinner there is no fat burning. But when I’m fasted then go to sleep without any competing digestion going on (no wine and chips coursing through my digestive tract while I try to fall asleep) the rest and repair night time circadian processes begin and all this needs a ton of energy which we get from ATP utilizing/mobilizing fat and other substrates? So does fat loss happen at night while we sleep? Sorry for the long windedness of this, I appreciate your time.
Electrolyte supplements
After your interview with Rick Johnson, have you changed the way you look at sodium (or electrolyte) supplementation? Considering that a “high” dose of sodium all at once will increase your serum osmolality and cause all of the downstream effects that he talks about, I’m wondering if some electrolyte supplements are doing more harm than good at their recommended doses.