What are fat cells?

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bonniejo
bonniejo Posts: 787 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
What are fat cells? Is it true that they never go away? I've always been confused on this, and in the months I've been here, I haven't seen any information on them.

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  • bonniejo
    bonniejo Posts: 787 Member
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    What are fat cells? Is it true that they never go away? I've always been confused on this, and in the months I've been here, I haven't seen any information on them.
  • tig3rang3l
    tig3rang3l Posts: 270 Member
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    They are cells that store fat. No, you don't lose or gain them after you hit adolescence (you can only gain them if you gain quite a lot of weight after adolescence), they just expand and shrink.
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
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    Actually, fat cells DO undergo cell death. They are cells that store triglycerides (body fats). They have organelles just like any other cell (nucleus, endoplasmic reticulum, etc). They also secrete hormones. When they get too big, they may cause an inflammatory response that is a cause of insulin resistance. They can be found right under the skin or surrounding the organs. The ones that surround your organs are of greatest risk to your health. Under a microscope, they look just like the curds of cottage cheese without the liquidy whey part. Yuk.:tongue:
  • bonniejo
    bonniejo Posts: 787 Member
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    Do they have an elasticity point? I've heard that if I weighed 150 pounds at one point, but my friend never weighed more than 120, and if we're both 115, it's easier for me to gain up to 130 than my friend, not because of metabolism but what I weighed previously. I don't know if that made any sense at all, but if it did, is it true?
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
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    Do they have an elasticity point? I've heard that if I weighed 150 pounds at one point, but my friend never weighed more than 120, and if we're both 115, it's easier for me to gain up to 130 than my friend, not because of metabolism but what I weighed previously. I don't know if that made any sense at all, but if it did, is it true?

    They will increase in size to a certain point. The size of your fat cells is dependant on genetics. It's actually better to have smaller fat cells even if your total fat is the same as someone with larger fat cells because it causes less of a stress response in the cell. Whether your cells divide or hypertrophy more is pretty much based on hormones.

    Oh, and I haven't seen anything scientific behind the predisposition to fat gain. Maybe if you maintained some insulin resistance or something, but probably not just from adipose cell #.
  • bonniejo
    bonniejo Posts: 787 Member
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    Thanks. I think I understand better now.

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