Thomas DeLauer Recap: Why He Says Sugar Stored in Fat Cells May Feed Insulin Resistance

The latest full video on Thomas DeLauer's official YouTube channel, "The New Driver of Insulin Resistance Starts in Your Fat Cells (new research)", was posted on November 7, 2026 and runs about 11 minutes. DeLauer, a fitness and nutrition content creator, talks solo about research showing that fat cells can store glycogen (the body's stored form of carbohydrate), not just fat, and why he thinks that matters for insulin resistance, scale-weight swings and fat loss. He credits researcher Dr. Bill Campbell with pointing him to the topic. The studies he links are older papers in mice, cells and small groups of people, so read this as his interpretation, not settled medical fact.

This is an independent summary written by GNOUP. It is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by Thomas DeLauer, his channel, website or any sponsor. The views and claims described below belong to the speaker, not to GNOUP. This is general information only and is not medical advice. Insulin resistance, prediabetes and diabetes need real medical care; do not start, stop or change any medication without talking to your prescriber. Please talk with a doctor or other qualified healthcare professional before changing your diet, eating schedule or exercise routine. This matters especially if you have a medical condition, take any medication, are pregnant or breastfeeding, are under 18, or have a history of an eating disorder. GNOUP has no connection to any product, supplement, brand or paid offer mentioned in or around the video and does not promote any of them.

Key health tips and takeaways

These are ideas DeLauer shared in the video, not instructions. We do not include amounts, stacks or schedules.

• Fat cells keep a little sugar on hand. DeLauer explains that fat cells normally store only a small amount of glycogen, partly because there is little room and glycogen holds water. In his telling, glycogen acts like a short-term holding area while a fat cell turns incoming sugar into fat.
• Why the scale can jump after a big meal. He says that after a stretch of eating less and then eating a lot again, glycogen refills in muscle, liver and fat, and glycogen holds water. That can raise scale weight quickly without meaning you regained fat. His tip: judge progress week to week rather than day to day, since water, salt, glycogen and digestion can all move the number.
• The "whoosh" effect, with a caveat. He agrees that sudden drops after a plateau show up in weight-loss data, but says the popular idea that fat cells fill with water and then release it all at once has not been proven. His best guess is mostly water shifts, including from stress hormones easing up.
• A possible loop with insulin resistance. He describes a cycle where low oxygen in growing fat tissue pushes fat cells to store more glycogen, that glycogen triggers inflammatory signals, those signals worsen insulin resistance, and more glucose then flows to the struggling fat tissue. He is clear that researchers do not yet know whether the glycogen drives insulin resistance or is a sign of it.
• Ask about fasting insulin. He encourages people who carry weight around the middle to get their fasting insulin checked rather than relying only on glucose or body weight, and mentions HbA1c as another useful marker. That is a conversation to have with a doctor, who can decide which tests make sense.
• Training may help fat respond to insulin. He points to a small human study where endurance-trained men's fat tissue responded better to insulin than sedentary men's. His general suggestions are resistance training and interval training, and spreading carbohydrates across fewer meals instead of constant snacking. He also mentions briefly waiting after hard workouts before eating carbs; we are not repeating his timing as a recommendation, so check with a professional before changing how or when you eat.

Newsworthy insights

These are claims and opinions from the video, set next to the studies it links. GNOUP checked the bibliographic records of the three linked studies but did not review the full papers. None is a large human trial, so none can prove that glycogen in fat causes insulin resistance in people.

• Human fat tissue and inflammation. DeLauer's main source is "Adipose tissue glycogen accumulation is associated with obesity-linked inflammation in humans" (Ceperuelo-Mallafré and colleagues, Molecular Metabolism, 2016, PMID 26844203). He says it found more stored glycogen in the fat of more insulin-resistant people, that low-oxygen conditions made human fat cells take up more glucose and store more glycogen, and that forcing extra glycogen into fat cells triggered inflammatory signals. As the title says, this is an association plus lab experiments.
• Mice with glycogen-heavy fat. He cites "Enhanced glycogen metabolism in adipose tissue decreases triglyceride mobilization" (Markan and colleagues, American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2010, PMID 20424138). He says engineered mice stored far more glycogen in fat and released less fat, and that fat glycogen spiked when mice ate again after a fast. He notes this has not been shown in humans.
• Training and fat-tissue insulin response. His third link is "Effect of training on insulin sensitivity of glucose uptake and lipolysis in human adipose tissue" (Stallknecht and colleagues, American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2000, DOI 10.1152/ajpendo.2000.279.2.E376). He describes it as comparing eight trained and eight sedentary people. A small comparison like this shows a difference between groups, not that a specific program will change any one person's results.
• A teaser for another video. He closes by pointing to an earlier video of his on an isometric exercise, which he says a large British Journal of Sports Medicine analysis found especially effective for blood pressure. That analysis is not linked in this video, so we did not check it here.

Watch the video

The New Driver of Insulin Resistance Starts in Your Fat Cells (new research) on YouTube (official channel "Thomas DeLauer," @ThomasDeLauerOfficial, published November 7, 2026, about 11 minutes)

Episode guide

These chapters come from the video's own description (titles lightly reworded). Each link opens the video at that point.

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:10 A sponsor segment (not summarized here)
• 2:21 Why fat cells normally store little glycogen
• 3:08 Fat glycogen spikes after a fast and refeed
• 3:54 Why the scale jumps after a big meal
• 4:20 The "whoosh" effect: real or myth?
• 5:43 Glycogen-heavy fat cells release less fat
• 6:37 The insulin resistance loop
• 8:14 Testing fasting insulin
• 8:43 Training fat to respond to insulin
• 9:30 His plan: training and carb timing

About this summary

This recap was prepared from the video's title, description and chapter list, and a transcript of the video. We checked the bibliographic records of the three studies the video links to (PMID 26844203, PMID 20424138 and DOI 10.1152/ajpendo.2000.279.2.E376), but we did not review the full papers. We left out a paid sponsor segment for a colostrum-style supplement, along with its brand, claims and offer, and we did not repeat carb-timing windows as advice. The title's "new research" framing is the host's; the linked papers were published between 2000 and 2016. Transcripts can contain errors, so for the exact words and context, watch the video. This article is general information, not medical advice, and is not a substitute for guidance from a qualified healthcare professional.