How can you tell if you are a fat burner or a sugar burner?

Most of us believe that we burn mostly fat when we are at rest, but it’s not that simple. In fact, some of us are burning way too much sugar at rest, which means we are not very good at burning fat. This explains why some of us struggle to lose weight even though we are dieting and exercising.

The human body burns a combination of fats (lipids) and sugars (carbohydrates) all of the time. However, your lifestyle, diet and stress levels affect the proportions of fats and sugars you burn at rest. This is referred to as your Metabolic Efficiency.

To give you an idea of your current status you can start by answering this short questionnaire.
Take your time and answer honestly.

1. Do you often wake up hungry?
2. Do you have to eat breakfast in order to function/exercise?
3. Do you need to snack frequently?
4. Do you feel hunger fairly soon after an aerobic (prolonged light to moderate) workout?
5. Do you ever crave carbs and/or sugar?
6. Are you very hungry come lunch time?
7. Do you experience an energy crash during the day?
8. Do you get sleepy after meals?

If you answered ‘Yes’ to more than three of these questions then you are more of a sugar burner than a fat burner and could do with improving your fat burning.

Why do I want to be a fat burner?
It improves endurance performance, making you faster and your workouts easier.
If you have a weight / fat loss goal, you will burn fat more easily and reach your goals more quickly.
Good fat burners store less fat so you will more easily maintain your body fat once you’ve reached your goal.
You will improve your insulin sensitivity resulting in less strain on your pancreas and reduced risk of developing insulin resistance and Metabolic Syndrome (Pre-Diabetes) or type 2 diabetes.