Insulin Resistance: The Hidden Cause of Stubborn Fat

By Keto Support
9 min read
Insulin Resistance: The Hidden Cause of Stubborn Fat

Insulin is your body’s sugar traffic controller, responsible for moving sugar (glucose) from your blood into your cells, where it’s used for energy. But when your cells stop responding to insulin properly—a condition called insulin resistance—sugar builds up in your blood. To manage this, your body releases more insulin, which signals your body to store the excess sugar as fat. Over time, this leads to stubborn fat, especially around the belly and liver, which is incredibly difficult to lose.

What Is Insulin?

When you eat, carbohydrates (like bread, pasta, or sugary drinks) break down into glucose, which enters your bloodstream. Insulin, a hormone made by your pancreas, acts like a key to unlock your cells so glucose can enter and be burned for energy.

Here’s how it works:

  1. You eat a meal, like a sandwich.
  2. Your blood sugar rises as carbs are broken down into glucose.
  3. Your pancreas releases insulin to move the sugar into your cells.
  4. Once the sugar is stored or used, your blood sugar levels return to normal.

What Happens in Insulin Resistance?

With insulin resistance, your cells stop responding to insulin. It’s like the key no longer fits the lock, so sugar stays in your bloodstream. To compensate, your pancreas produces more insulin. Over time, this causes two major problems:

  1. Excess Sugar Storage as Fat: The extra sugar in your blood gets converted into fat, especially in stubborn areas like the belly and liver.
  2. High Insulin Levels: Constantly high insulin keeps your body in fat-storage mode, blocking your ability to burn fat.

Why Does This Happen?

Insulin resistance develops over time due to:

  1. High-Carb Diets: Regularly eating carbohydrates, sugary or processed foods spikes blood sugar, forcing your pancreas to release more insulin.
  2. Chronic Stress: Stress hormones interfere with insulin, worsening resistance.
  3. Sedentary Lifestyle: Lack of movement reduces your body’s ability to respond to insulin.
  4. Weight Gain: Belly fat itself makes cells more resistant to insulin, creating a vicious cycle.
  5. Hormonal Changes: Conditions like menopause or PCOS can worsen insulin resistance.

Why It Causes Stubborn Fat

High insulin levels mean your body:

  1. Stores sugar as fat instead of burning it for energy.
  2. Locks fat in storage, making it nearly impossible to burn even with diet and exercise.
  3. Causes visceral fat to accumulate around organs, particularly in the belly and liver.

Example:
Someone with insulin resistance might cut calories and exercise but still struggle to lose weight because their body remains in fat-storage mode.

Everyday Examples of Insulin Resistance

  1. Feeling Hungry After Eating: If you eat a sugary breakfast (like cereal), your blood sugar spikes and then crashes, leaving you hungry again soon after.
  2. Why Belly Fat Won’t Budge: High insulin levels prevent your body from accessing stored fat for energy.
  3. Feeling Tired After Meals: Without sugar entering your cells, you feel fatigued even after eating.

Symptoms of Insulin Resistance

  • Stubborn belly fat.
  • Hunger or sugar cravings soon after meals.
  • Fatigue, especially after eating.
  • Dark skin patches or skin tags.
  • Brain fog or difficulty concentrating.
  • High triglycerides or low HDL cholesterol.

How Keto Fixes Insulin Resistance

The keto diet reverses insulin resistance by drastically reducing carbohydrate intake. Here’s how it helps:

  1. Lowers Blood Sugar: With fewer carbs, your blood sugar levels stabilise, reducing the need for insulin.
  2. Reduces Fat Storage: Lower insulin levels allow your body to release stored fat and burn it for energy.
  3. Improves Insulin Sensitivity: Healthy fats, protein, and reduced inflammation help your cells respond to insulin again.

How Long It Takes to See Results

Days 1-7: Resetting Blood Sugar and Insulin Levels

  • Carbohydrate Reduction: By cutting carbs, your body has less sugar entering the bloodstream, which immediately reduces blood sugar levels.
  • Insulin Drops: With less sugar to process, your pancreas produces less insulin. Lower insulin levels mean your body starts switching out of “fat-storage mode.”
  • Water Weight Loss: Glycogen (your body’s stored form of carbohydrates) holds water. As glycogen stores are depleted, you lose water weight, often 1-3 kg in the first week.
  • Cravings Begin to Subside: High insulin can cause sugar cravings. As insulin levels drop, these cravings gradually reduce.

Visible Changes: Slight weight loss (mostly water weight), reduced bloating, and a feeling of lightness.

Weeks 2-4: Entering Fat-Burning Mode (Ketosis)

  • Ketosis Begins: With carbs restricted, your body starts breaking down fat into molecules called ketones, which become your primary energy source instead of glucose.
  • Fat Mobilisation: Insulin’s job is to store fat. Lower insulin levels unlock fat cells, allowing stored fat to be released and burned for energy.
  • Increased Energy: As your body adapts to using ketones, you’ll experience more consistent energy and fewer blood sugar crashes.
  • Improved Insulin Sensitivity: Your cells begin responding to insulin again, helping stabilise blood sugar levels even further.

Visible Changes: A noticeable reduction in stubborn fat, particularly around the belly. Energy levels improve, and cravings diminish further.

Weeks 5-8: Accelerated Fat Loss and Cellular Changes

  • Deeper Ketosis: Your body becomes more efficient at burning fat, both from your diet and stored fat reserves.
  • Reduction in Visceral Fat: Visceral fat (the fat around your organs) is highly insulin-sensitive, so it’s often the first to be burned. This leads to improved metabolic health and reduced belly fat.
  • Lower Inflammation: Chronically high insulin contributes to inflammation. As insulin stabilises, markers of inflammation (like CRP) start to decline, further improving fat-burning and overall health.
  • Hormonal Improvements: For women, hormonal imbalances tied to insulin resistance (e.g., PCOS or menopause) begin to correct, leading to easier fat loss and reduced symptoms like bloating and fatigue.

Visible Changes: Belly fat visibly reduces, clothes fit better, and you feel lighter and more energised. Fatigue after meals becomes a thing of the past.

Weeks 9-12: Improved Insulin Sensitivity and Sustained Fat Loss

  • Insulin Sensitivity Fully Restored: By now, your cells respond much better to insulin. Blood sugar levels remain stable after meals, and your pancreas produces significantly less insulin.
  • Fat Burning Becomes Default: With consistently low insulin, your body primarily uses fat for fuel. This includes stubborn areas like the belly, hips, and thighs.
  • Improved Hormone Regulation: Lower insulin improves the balance of other hormones like cortisol, leptin (hunger hormone), and ghrelin (satiety hormone), making it easier to maintain a calorie deficit naturally.
  • Metabolic Health Boost: Triglycerides decrease, HDL (“good cholesterol”) rises, and markers of metabolic syndrome (like high blood sugar and waist circumference) significantly improve.

Visible Changes: Significant fat loss in stubborn areas, better muscle tone, and more energy for physical activity. You’ll likely notice a 5-10% reduction in body weight (varies by individual).

Months 3-6: Long-Term Fat Burning and Full Reversal of Insulin Resistance

  • Decreased Liver Fat: The fat stored in your liver (linked to fatty liver disease) decreases, improving your body’s ability to regulate blood sugar.
  • Muscle Preservation: With a ketogenic diet, muscle loss is minimised because ketones and dietary protein protect muscle tissue, even during fat loss.
  • Improved Gut Health: Lower insulin and reduced inflammation positively impact gut health, which plays a key role in weight management and overall health.
  • Full Reversal of Insulin Resistance: For most people, 3-6 months of consistent low-carb eating fully restores insulin sensitivity, allowing the body to handle occasional carbs without reverting to insulin resistance.

Visible Changes: Dramatic transformation in stubborn fat areas, improved skin elasticity, and a leaner, healthier appearance.

Summary: Why This Process Works

By cutting carbs, you directly address the root cause of stubborn fat—chronically high insulin. Over time, your body shifts from a sugar-burning, fat-storing machine to a fat-burning, insulin-sensitive state. These improvements aren’t just about weight loss—they’re about long-term metabolic health and making your body more efficient at using fuel.

This 90-day timeline shows that with consistency and patience, cutting carbs can lead to profound changes in your body, reversing insulin resistance and finally burning that stubborn fat.

Example:
A person with Type 2 Diabetes who adopts keto may see improved blood sugar levels within weeks and significant fat loss over a few months, reducing or eliminating the need for medication.

 

Adding Intermittent Fasting to Keto: A Powerful Fat-Burning Combination

Combining a ketogenic diet with intermittent fasting (IF) supercharges your results by accelerating fat-burning, improving insulin sensitivity, and restoring metabolic health even faster. Let’s break down how this works, how to do it, and what to expect over 90 days.

What Is Intermittent Fasting (IF)?

Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern where you alternate between periods of eating and fasting. During fasting windows, your body stops focusing on digesting food and starts burning stored fat for energy.

Common IF Methods:

  1. 16:8 Method: Fast for 16 hours and eat all your meals within an 8-hour window (e.g., 12 pm to 8 pm).
  2. 20:4 Method (OMAD): Fast for 20 hours and eat one large meal in a 4-hour window.
  3. 5:2 Method: Eat normally for 5 days a week and limit calories to 500-600 on the other 2 days.

When combined with keto, IF helps you reach and stay in ketosis more efficiently.

How Intermittent Fasting Enhances Keto

  1. Speeds Up Ketosis:

    • During fasting, your glycogen stores deplete faster, forcing your body to produce ketones and burn fat for energy sooner.

  2. Lowers Insulin Levels Further:

    • Fasting gives your pancreas a break, allowing insulin levels to stay low for longer periods. This further encourages fat-burning and reduces insulin resistance.

  3. Increases Fat Mobilisation:

    • With low insulin and extended fasting periods, your body taps into stubborn fat stores more effectively.

  4. Enhances Autophagy:

    • Fasting triggers autophagy, a cellular repair process that helps remove damaged cells and improve metabolic health.

  5. Reduces Appetite Naturally:

    • Keto already curbs hunger by stabilising blood sugar. Fasting takes this further by regulating hunger hormones like ghrelin, making it easier to eat less.

How to Combine Keto and IF Over 90 Days

Days 1-7: Easing Into Fasting

  • Stick to 16:8 fasting to start. For example, eat your first meal at 12 pm and your last meal at 8 pm.
  • Focus on keto-friendly meals high in healthy fats (avocado, nuts, olive oil) and moderate protein to sustain you during fasting.
  • Expect some hunger during fasting windows as your body adapts. Drinking water, black coffee, or herbal tea can help.

Weeks 2-4: Achieving Deeper Ketosis

  • Your body enters ketosis faster due to fasting. Ketones become your main energy source.
  • Increase fasting duration gradually if comfortable, such as moving to 18:6 (18 hours of fasting, 6-hour eating window).
  • Cravings reduce significantly as blood sugar and insulin stabilise.
  • Add Light Exercise: Fasted walking or yoga can accelerate fat-burning.

Weeks 5-8: Accelerated Fat Loss and Hormonal Balancing

  • Adopt Alternate-Day Fasting or OMAD: For faster results, try eating one large keto meal per day a few times per week.
  • Target Stubborn Fat: Longer fasting periods (18-24 hours) enhance the release of visceral fat, particularly around the belly and liver.
  • Hormonal improvements become noticeable:
    • Lower insulin improves fat mobilisation.
    • Balanced cortisol reduces stress-related fat storage.
  • Energy levels soar as your body adapts fully to fat-burning.

Weeks 9-12: Optimising Long-Term Fat-Burning

  • Stick to 20:4 fasting (OMAD) once or twice a week if it suits your lifestyle.
  • By now, your body efficiently burns fat during fasting windows and builds lean muscle during eating windows.
  • Exercise During Fasting Windows: Your body will tap directly into fat stores for fuel, boosting results.
  • Blood sugar, insulin levels, and inflammation markers show significant improvement.

What to Eat During Eating Windows (Keto-Friendly Foods)

  1. Healthy Fats: Avocado, olive oil, nuts, seeds, and fatty fish.
  2. Moderate Protein: Grass-fed beef, chicken, salmon, eggs, or tofu.
  3. Low-Carb Veggies: Spinach, broccoli, zucchini, and cauliflower.
  4. Hydration: Electrolyte-rich drinks like water with salt or magnesium to avoid dehydration during fasting.

Expected 90-Day Results With Keto + IF

  1. First 2 Weeks:

    • Faster transition into ketosis.
    • Rapid water weight loss (1-3 kg).
    • Reduced cravings and appetite.

  2. Weeks 3-6:

    • Visible fat loss, particularly in the belly area.
    • Increased energy and mental clarity due to sustained ketosis.
    • Improved insulin sensitivity.

  3. Weeks 7-12:

    • Significant reduction in stubborn fat stores.
    • Noticeable muscle tone and improved metabolic health.
    • Hormonal balance and reduced inflammation.

  4. Beyond 90 Days:

    • Sustained fat-burning and easier maintenance of a healthy weight.
    • Reversed insulin resistance, improved blood sugar control, and long-term metabolic health.

Why Keto + IF Works So Well

By combining keto with intermittent fasting, you:

  • Attack Fat From Two Angles: Low-carb eating lowers insulin, and fasting maximises fat mobilisation.
  • Heal Metabolism Faster: Fasting extends periods of low insulin, giving your body more time to repair insulin sensitivity.
  • Simplify Eating: Fewer meals mean less meal prep and more focus on nutrient-dense, satisfying foods.

Together, keto and IF not only help you lose fat quickly but also transform your body’s ability to manage blood sugar, hormones, and long-term health.

 

Takeaway

Insulin resistance is a silent driver of weight struggles and stubborn fat. It keeps your body in fat-storage mode, even if you diet or exercise. By addressing the root cause with a low-carb diet like keto, you can stabilise insulin levels, burn fat, and restore your body’s natural ability to lose weight. Whether or not you have diabetes, tackling insulin resistance is key to better health and sustainable fat loss.

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