Becoming Fat Adapted for Marathon Runners
What happens when a 57-year-old marathon runner switches from a traditional carbohydrate-fuelled diet to a very low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet? Can you really teach your body to rely more heavily on its enormous stores of body fat, and if you can, does that make you a better marathon runner?
I spent six weeks finding out. I wanted to see how becoming fat adapted affected my running, recovery, weight, appetite and overall wellbeing. Most importantly, I wanted to discover whether the potential advantages of having access to a much larger energy reserve could outweigh the benefits of being fuelled by carbohydrate when running at marathon pace.
This is what happened.