Fat Cells......

....without the biology Degree!
 

Fat & fat cells are incredibly important to our bodies; some fat based facts!

• over half of our brains are made of fat
• fatty acids contribute to nerve function & development
• fat helps to develop hormones that are the signals between tissues
• it cushions our internal organs
• it insulates us in the dermis area (skin) from the cold
   

So what about the fat cells - clever fellas really!

• a fat cell can grow up to four times its size when storing lipids (the bit that stores the energy) 
• fat is a convenient way to store energy - about 9 calories per gram. Carbs are about 4 cals/gram
• fat cells produce a hormone called Leptin. When the fat cell is happily nice & plump, it produces this & signals our brains that we can stop eating; as the cell gets smaller, it produces less and that calls on the brain to eat more, to maintain that plumpness (& happiness) of the fat cell. 
   

Where do we store this fat?

• Adipose tissue is commonly known as bodyfat.  It is found all over the body and can be found under the skin (subcutaneous fat), visceral fat around the internal organs, between the muscles, in breast tissue and within bone marrow.

Plumping up those pesky fat cells!

• Our primary energy source is a chemical called Glycogen.  This is a chain of sugars our bodies get from the food we eat. One of the major things the liver does, is to store glycogen for later use - so, when we're eating in the day, we're refilling our glycogen stores ready for them to be used (remember back to when we were cave people; the body adapted, with ready stores of energy to run from a sabre-toothed tiger or something)!
• Now, modern life doesn't have us running from mad, wild animals but we haven't yet adapted to that....so, when our liver is totally full of glycogen & we're still scoffing away, the rest will eventually be turned into fat, ready for the day when we haven't found food & we call on those energy reserves to give us the ability to 'run for our lives'.....though luckily I haven't seen a tiger in the wild, in the Chilterns, ever. 

What happens when we engage in activity?

We've established what the fat cell does, so how do we lose weight?

• When we exercise, we use energy. Our bodies use the chemicals from the food we eat
• As its easiest to use energy from carbs, the body naturally goes for that 1st
• We would have normally consumed all those carbs after 20-45 minutes of exercise (that's why you hear sports people talk of 'carb-loading')

Now, when do we use the fat?

• after we've consumed our carbs, the body moves on to the fat
• we've seen above that fat cells hold 9cals per gram, that's a great energy store 
• it burns through the lipids from our adipose tissue
• by using these lipids, we then lose the weight
• its important not to replace this with more fat so a balanced, healthy diet is really needed

So, there we have it.  A very brief guide on fat cells, their functions and how we can reduce them; Diet, exercise & 3d Lipo to eliminate that stubborn fat or skin sagging.

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