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Fat cells don't go away when you lose weight?
Replies
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I actually find the idea of persistent lipocytes odd from a biological perspective. Cells are continuously dying and being replaced. Do lipocytes have a particularly long life? Are they always replaced regardless of storage needs? I can't remember ever reading anything on lipocyte permanence but I've heard the adage that they never go away for a long time.3
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One question I have(coming from someone trying to lose a large amount of body fat: around 80lbs) is, other than the obvious loose skin, is there a visible difference caused by the increase of fat cells? Or is it does it go unnoticeable as far as the eyes go. This isn't something I worry about to stop me from wanting to lose weight but I am curious if it's something I should expect.
The lose skin thing is different for each person. I have lose skin after losing 85 pounds. Once you get to your goal, learn to maintain for a year and let the skin adjust, lift weights to fill in with muscle tissue, and then go see a skin specialist doctor to find out your options for skin issues. It is very common to have lose skin after losing a lot of weight, and the older we are the less elastic our skin. Stay hydrated on the inside with water, keep the skin hydrated with good lotion.1 -
wellthenwhat wrote: »A person was arguing with me, saying that liposuction was a good idea because fat cells will only get smaller, and it's easier to grow the fat back if you don't get them removed. Is this total Bs, or legitimate?
We keep our fat cells and we have a nearly unlimited ability to keep creating more of them. liposuction can get rid of some and your body can make even more. Not a good reason for liposuction at all.1 -
I actually find the idea of persistent lipocytes odd from a biological perspective. Cells are continuously dying and being replaced. Do lipocytes have a particularly long life? Are they always replaced regardless of storage needs? I can't remember ever reading anything on lipocyte permanence but I've heard the adage that they never go away for a long time.
It's discussed somewhat in this study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4371661/Adipocyte turnover: a tightly controlled balance
Because the number of adipocytes was observed to be relatively stable in normal, healthy adults, it was long thought that the adipocytes produced by puberty represented the population of cells that persisted throughout life. Tracer studies have discounted this notion by revealing that new adipocytes are being produced and mature adipocytes are being cleared with some regularity (22,23). A wide demographic study of Swedish adults observed that the turnover rate for adipocytes is approximately 8–10% per year. The generation of new adipocytes involves two distinct steps: (i) the proliferation of preadipocytes and (ii) the differentiation of preadipocytes into functioning adipocytes, capable of storing and releasing energy. The clearance of mature adipocytes is less understood, but is known to involve the recruitment of macrophages. The crown-like structures that are observed in adipose tissues represent adipocytes targeted for clearance, surrounded by the recruited macrophages (24). While the regulatory mechanisms for the generation and clearance of adipocytes are very different, they must be tightly linked to some global regulatory system that keeps them balanced, otherwise adipocyte number would be much less stable. The development of obesity is accompanied by a higher absolute amount of turnover, which is reflected in their greater fat mass and higher number of total adipocytes in their depots (16). The generation of new cells and clearance of mature cells remains, in general, balanced at a higher level in the obese. When adjusted for the difference in fat mass, the actual rate of cell turnover per unit fat mass is similar. At present, we do not know how adipocyte turnover is affected with weight loss or during the process of weight regain. However, if hyperplasia does occur, there must be some transient imbalance between new cell generation and mature cell clearance to account for the difference in cell number. Our ongoing studies will likely clarify how and when this balance is altered to elicit the hyperplasia we observed in our rodent paradigm of weight regain.6 -
I actually find the idea of persistent lipocytes odd from a biological perspective. Cells are continuously dying and being replaced. Do lipocytes have a particularly long life? Are they always replaced regardless of storage needs? I can't remember ever reading anything on lipocyte permanence but I've heard the adage that they never go away for a long time.
It's discussed somewhat in this study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4371661/Adipocyte turnover: a tightly controlled balance
Because the number of adipocytes was observed to be relatively stable in normal, healthy adults, it was long thought that the adipocytes produced by puberty represented the population of cells that persisted throughout life. Tracer studies have discounted this notion by revealing that new adipocytes are being produced and mature adipocytes are being cleared with some regularity (22,23). A wide demographic study of Swedish adults observed that the turnover rate for adipocytes is approximately 8–10% per year. The generation of new adipocytes involves two distinct steps: (i) the proliferation of preadipocytes and (ii) the differentiation of preadipocytes into functioning adipocytes, capable of storing and releasing energy. The clearance of mature adipocytes is less understood, but is known to involve the recruitment of macrophages. The crown-like structures that are observed in adipose tissues represent adipocytes targeted for clearance, surrounded by the recruited macrophages (24). While the regulatory mechanisms for the generation and clearance of adipocytes are very different, they must be tightly linked to some global regulatory system that keeps them balanced, otherwise adipocyte number would be much less stable. The development of obesity is accompanied by a higher absolute amount of turnover, which is reflected in their greater fat mass and higher number of total adipocytes in their depots (16). The generation of new cells and clearance of mature cells remains, in general, balanced at a higher level in the obese. When adjusted for the difference in fat mass, the actual rate of cell turnover per unit fat mass is similar. At present, we do not know how adipocyte turnover is affected with weight loss or during the process of weight regain. However, if hyperplasia does occur, there must be some transient imbalance between new cell generation and mature cell clearance to account for the difference in cell number. Our ongoing studies will likely clarify how and when this balance is altered to elicit the hyperplasia we observed in our rodent paradigm of weight regain.
So basically, like most things worth learning (beyond basics), the current answer is mostly "hell if we know". Bah.3 -
Gallowmere1984 wrote: »I actually find the idea of persistent lipocytes odd from a biological perspective. Cells are continuously dying and being replaced. Do lipocytes have a particularly long life? Are they always replaced regardless of storage needs? I can't remember ever reading anything on lipocyte permanence but I've heard the adage that they never go away for a long time.
It's discussed somewhat in this study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4371661/Adipocyte turnover: a tightly controlled balance
Because the number of adipocytes was observed to be relatively stable in normal, healthy adults, it was long thought that the adipocytes produced by puberty represented the population of cells that persisted throughout life. Tracer studies have discounted this notion by revealing that new adipocytes are being produced and mature adipocytes are being cleared with some regularity (22,23). A wide demographic study of Swedish adults observed that the turnover rate for adipocytes is approximately 8–10% per year. The generation of new adipocytes involves two distinct steps: (i) the proliferation of preadipocytes and (ii) the differentiation of preadipocytes into functioning adipocytes, capable of storing and releasing energy. The clearance of mature adipocytes is less understood, but is known to involve the recruitment of macrophages. The crown-like structures that are observed in adipose tissues represent adipocytes targeted for clearance, surrounded by the recruited macrophages (24). While the regulatory mechanisms for the generation and clearance of adipocytes are very different, they must be tightly linked to some global regulatory system that keeps them balanced, otherwise adipocyte number would be much less stable. The development of obesity is accompanied by a higher absolute amount of turnover, which is reflected in their greater fat mass and higher number of total adipocytes in their depots (16). The generation of new cells and clearance of mature cells remains, in general, balanced at a higher level in the obese. When adjusted for the difference in fat mass, the actual rate of cell turnover per unit fat mass is similar. At present, we do not know how adipocyte turnover is affected with weight loss or during the process of weight regain. However, if hyperplasia does occur, there must be some transient imbalance between new cell generation and mature cell clearance to account for the difference in cell number. Our ongoing studies will likely clarify how and when this balance is altered to elicit the hyperplasia we observed in our rodent paradigm of weight regain.
So basically, like most things worth learning (beyond basics), the current answer is mostly "hell if we know". Bah.
Yeah I read that after my post (@AnvilHead) but it led to more questions regarding long - term turnover. Other studies were quite short - term. I imagine it would be a pretty good topic for research though!0 -
Maybe I'm wrong, but my understanding is that adults only increase the size of fat cells with either de novo lipogenesis (from glucose) or re-esterization (from free fatty acids). In adults, these processes will increase storage/size of existing adipose tissue. This is the reason why the re-esterization process requires triglycerides to be broken down first into free fatty acids... because triglycerides are unable to pass through adipose tissue cell walls.1
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Lipo is only good for problem areas and those whom have developed good enough eating habits not to fill the remaining stores back up. After lipo the appearance is still uneven. It takes several weeks or months for your body to smooth back out. Good for a very small percentage of people only.1
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I once had a former girlfriend ask me what I wanted for my birthday.
I told her: Liposuction
she said, you don't need liposuction
I replied, I wasn't talking about me.
.... did I mention that she was a former girlfriend?5
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