An average person has just one heaped teaspoon of glucose in their bloodstream. The body breaks down or converts most carbohydrates into glucose. Excess glucose gets stored in your liver and muscles as a substance called glycogen. Your liver and muscles are essentially a "battery" for your body (glycogen is easily broken down into glucose). Stored glycogen can provides around 1700 calories or 500 grams of glycogen, which is enough for an hour of exercise.
- If you perform hard exercise when there is no sugary foods or drinks in your digestive system, your bodies glycogen storage starts to deplete.
- When you stop exercising, DON'T GET A SUGAR HIT.
- Your body will start to "burn" fatty acids and fats as an energy source when glycogen is depleted. This is a process called Lipolysis where fat cells separate into free fatty acids and glycerol. Glycerol is easily converted into glucose for energy and glycogen for storage.
This is a very efficient process when you are in a fasted state (during intermittent fasting). Your body will burn fat after exercising stops. It does this because it must replenish your glycogen stores. The only thing that will stop this is eating sugars and simple carbohydrates constantly.