Fat, or should I say losing fat, seems to be all the rage nowadays. After reading countless magazines and ads claiming to know the best way to “burn” fat, it left me wondering: where exactly does the fat go? Does it disappear under the treadmill after a 20 minute run? Does it vanish into the mysterious world of Fatlandia? Luckily, I have found the answer to this highly important scientific inquiry.
Most people know that the basic principle of weight loss is that, in order to lose weight, you have to use more energy than the amount you consume.
Fat cells are specialized cells that store fat in the form of triglycerides, and they do so in order to have a stored form of energy. Conversely, these cells shrink when you lose more energy than you consume.
Interestingly, you can’t actually lose fat cells.
Like ever.
However, you can gain fat cells. Regular overeating over a long period of time can increase the number of fat cells in your body. Most humans carry about 10 billion to 30 billion fat cells. People who are obese can have more than 100 billion fat cells. Therefore, the size of the fat cells can shrink or expand, but they will always remain in your body.
Having said that, there is a way to lose fat cells; the big L word. As some of you may know already, liposuction is a surgical procedure that involves removing fat cells from the body. There is no natural method to remove fat cells. However, even with liposuction there will still be a lot of fat cells remaining, and these can always get bigger or smaller. Liposuction is in no way a guarantee to keep the excess fat away. The best way to keep the fat off– and yes you’ve heard this before – is to eat with a balanced diet and to exercise regularly.
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