Your body is going to tend to use the most accessible source of energy it can get. So yes, if you carb load, you are going to use carbs, which is great because they are the most efficient fuel for any body task, but it isn’t great if you are trying to lose fat, because it will absolutely use circulating carbs before it will go into lipolysis and tap into fat stores. But you need, first and foremost, to rid your body of fat, and thus carbing up is not a great strategy. I have no idea what your body fat percentage is, and I don’t really care, but you have a lot of visceral fat, indicated both by pictures and your description of a hernia. That isn’t healthy, especially as we get older, so you, in my opinion, should work to lose fat preferentially. You shouldn’t lose a ton of muscle at your bf%, because your body would prefer to give up fat instead. Were I to advise you, I’d advise some sort of psmf diet, because you will lose fat mass fastest while retaining muscle, and yes, it will suck and your gym performance will suffer, but you’ll get to a healthy baseline from which to rebuild faster. Again, just my opinion.
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