How Many Fat Cells Do I Have?

Written by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites

Fat Cell Information & Why It's Vital to Weight Loss & Optimum Health

The healthy adult body that is at a 'normal weight' has approximately 20 to 27 billion (yes billion) fat cells.

The overweight adult body's fat cell count depends on how overweight the individual is and can range from 75 billion to over 300 billion.

The more fat cells, the harder it can be to lose weight, so that's a very good reason to begin now instead of producing additional fat cells which will only serve to make future weight loss efforts even more difficult.

How Big Are Fat Cells?

The size of a typical fat cell in an adult at 'healthy weight' is about 0.6 micrograms, but they can range from 0.2 micrograms to 0.9 micrograms.

Overweight individuals take a double hit in the 'fat cell climax' because not only do they have more fat cells, their fat cells are about 1/3 bigger than people with healthy weights.

Take note that the more fat cells a person collects, the harder it can be to lose weight, so that's a very good reason to begin now instead of producing additional fat cells which will only serve to make future weight loss efforts even more difficult.

What Are Fat Cells?

Fat cells are used by the body to store excess calories (energy) for future use - sometimes for several months at a time! The energy that you use to run today's race may be coming from that cheeseburger your ate 2 months ago.

Every excess calorie that your body does not utilize for energy is stored in the fat cells - even the calories from celery or carrots.

How Can I Fet Rid of My Fat Cells?

- By incorporating a healthy diet and exercise into your daily routine, you can reduce the size of your fat cells, but not the number of fat cells within your body.

- Liposuction can indeed remove the number of fat cells within the body, but unless diet and exercise are incorporated into the patient's daily routine after the surgery, odds are that the fat cells will return in force.

- When we gain weight, we gain more fat cells.

What Happens to My Fat Cells Once I Lose Weight?

Fat cells shrink but they don't disappear without 'surgical interference' and even in this event, there is no guarantee that they won't return. Without the combination of diet and exercise, ' they'll be back!'.

Because of the high number of fat cells (generally 3 times more) that are accumulated in the overweight individual, it will be more difficult to maintain that slimmer shape - but it's certainly doable!

The important thing is to know the facts so you can deal with problem moments when they strike unexpectedly.

If you know it's going to be a bit more difficult to maintain your thinner size, you'll know to boost your resisting powers when temptation lurks.