emptied back into the bloodstream—it stays
there, to provide fuel for your muscles.
(Which is good, because your muscles can do
a lot of hard work!)
GLYCOGEN STORES
Your body’s storage tanks for
carbohydrates (the liver and
muscles) are kind of like the gas
tank in your car. When your gas
tank is full, it’s full. It can’t get
any bigger, and you can’t make it
any fuller. Your body’s
carbohydrate fuel tank, however,
isn’t very big—you can store only
enough glycogen to maintain
hard, continuous activity for
about 90 minutes. And because
carbohydrate is fuel for intense
activity, you don’t tap into your
glycogen stores in any