Why You Need Fat Cells

Summer is right around the corner and that means one thing: you probably wouldn’t mind shedding a little fat. Bringing down your weight for the summer can make the heat less intrusive and make you feel a lot better in a number of ways.

Fat loss is often misunderstood, and you’ve probably seen your weight-reduction efforts stifled in the past because of this. So I’m going to help you break through some frustrating barriers by showing you how fat loss truly works.

If you’ve watched your waist expand since your early 20s, you certainly aren’t alone. But did you know that you actually haven’t increased the number of fat cells you’re carrying? They’ve just grown. The amount of fat cells in your body is static, so gaining and losing fat is simply the fat cells in your body fluctuating in size. When you drop fat, you’re not actually “burning” it; you’re shrinking the cells.

The thing is, you need fat cells; they’re important to survival because they store energy and vitamins, contribute to nerve development and function, produce hormones, and provide cushioning for your organs. But they’re not all good. When fat cells become too big, especially in the upper body/gut region—which surrounds some vital organs—they can increase the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, so it’s important to keep them in check.

Simply put, fat cells grow when you consume more energy than you use. Conversely, when you use more energy, fat stores can shrink by providing the energy you need. However, certain foods, like refined carbohydrates (sugars) are more likely to be stored as fat. And here’s another thing to keep in mind: when you exercise, your body turns to carbs—in the form of glycogen—for fuel. Carbs are much easier to break down and are the body’s preferred source of energy. Unfortunately, this can stymie fat loss efforts, but there are a few ways to outsmart your body. After about 20 to 40 minutes of exercise, your body runs out of glycogen to supply energy to the muscles and turns to fat for fuel.

You can also adopt a low-carb diet to help use up fat stores. However, once your fat cells begin to shrink, you begin to produce less leptin, the hormone that tells you it’s time to stop eating. Your fat cells are working against you in order to restore themselves to full size, which is why you might have had a hard time keeping weight off.

So, in order to keep the fat off and maintain your goal weight, it’s essential to strike the right nutritional balance. This is done by eating a healthy diet that features unprocessed foods. Trying to get about 20% your calories from fat, 40% of calories from protein and 40% of calories from fibrous carbs is the best way to keep your body lean. And remember, you’ll need a caloric deficit (or at least consume enough calories to maintain weight) to stop fat cells from filling back up!

In Health,

Adrian Newman
Publisher