How do we get fat?
If you take in more food (energy) than you use (physical activity), then the excess is stored in the body as fat. You probably already knew that right?
The amount of fat you have in your body reflects the number of fat cells you have in your body as well as the size of these cells.
When we are children or going through puberty, the number of fat cells we have increases, but then usually this new cell growth stops.
However, when you eat more than you need, your fat cells increase in size. These cells can only grow so big, so guess what happens when our consumption of food continues to exceed our output?
You start to grow new cells again!
What about when I start to lose weight?
With fat loss, whilst the size of your fat cells reduces, the number of fat cells does not. You’re stuck with them!
The reason for this is because your body keeps them for “just in case” you start the cycle that made you overweight in the first place.
It is for this reason that those people who have more fat cells tend to put weight on easier than someone with significantly less fat cells.
In other words, obese people have more fat cells than people who are a healthy weight.
So what do I do?
All is not lost. You can still lose weight if you have more fat cells – it just means that you probably have to be a little stricter with yourself compared to someone who has significantly less fat cells.
I suppose this too is a good incentive to knuckle down and do whatever possible to prevent the production of new fat cells – the more you have, the harder it will be!
If you really want to lose weight and you have found the perfect program to get you there, then go for it! Once you have achieved a healthy weight, you will never look back because you will then realise just how much you have been missing out on all this time!
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