I didn't know where to put this so... GSD is a very serious genetic disease. I know I don't have it because I did 23 and me. Basically people with it are born without an enzyme that allows them to break down glycogen to use as energy. So glycogen just keeps getting stored in the liver. It is usually caught early because the liver swells up and kids get sick quickly.


There are apparently like 14 different types.. some more serious than other. Some adults do come down with it when they didn't have it before. Some symptoms include being over weight and wanting to eat sugar all the time because you're not getting enough energy - being tired all the time and lower blood sugar. You may but not necessarily have fatty liver or high liver enzymes.


But this got me thinking what if people who struggle to lose weight have a mild form of this. Say me, eats 1500 cals a day and my friend Sara eats the same. I eat more carbs than her and I put say 300 calories away in my liver... while she puts 200. I am slower to be able to convert that glycogen to energy. Sara burns all her glycogen off by 12 am each day and has 4 hours or so of fat loss at night. While I just have burned off my glycogen stores by the time I eat breakfast the next day so I never get to the fat. It doesn't change the calories in calories out situation... I still have the same calories.. I just can't access them as well due to enzymes.


Now if I change something.. like eat less carbs, do more exercise or eat less in general... I will be able to burn off more glycogen and thus get at least some time burning fat. But I still probably won't burn like Sara and I will have to eat a whole lot less than is expected for me to be able to lose weight. For instance my TDEE is 2000 calories but only seem to lose when I eat 1200 calories. By body is calling for the energy and just not getting it -- chronically.


But this seems like an alternate reason why low carbing, keto or fasting might work -- even if you are not insulin resistant, which I am not.

Ann, I like how you research such subjects.

Weight loss plans that state a certain number of calories, offer specific meal.plans, can fail for some because our bodies all work differently. Some could have slight GSD or other issues that cause their body to process food differently. We all see people who seem to eat endlessly and never gain. This is why there are disclaimers such as "Results not typical.". We all have to. make tweaks until we find what works for us. I believe some of these issues develop gradually when we are children, depending on how we are raised. Studies have been done of different regions of certain countries. Eating habits that are followed over the years have an effect on health and weight management in people who are otherwise genetically the same.
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Thank you. I am determined to find out the why of things. If indeed you were glycogen "slow" it could allow you to consider the diet from that perspective which presumably would involve eating less carbs and or eating the carbs in sufficient time for you to burn them off. People eat low carb now believing the mechanism for loss has to do with a lower release of insulin. But, I know that my insulin is just fine. So why then do carbs have a big effect on me? Well look to Glycogen.