Fat cells don't empty one at a time but in clusters. Fat cells overflowing create more. Fat cells fairly empty fill with water before being reabsorbed. So it's, indeed, better to have 11 billion fat cells rather empty than 10 billion full to overflowing.

Dear Zuleikaa, thanks for such an interesting topic. I believe that fat cells must die, just the nature of the beast, don't all cells die at some point? However, I found it interesting that lyposuction also removes stem cells. Boy, I would love to have lypo but I am terrified of it since I saw it done on tv. Perhaps if I hadn't seem it I would do it. Would be great to clean out a few of those fat cells,eh?

I have read many times and places that empty fat cells fill with water and that is where the whoosh comes from. It's as good a theory as any.

Wish there was a way to kill the stem cells besides lypo

Update post.

hi, i was wondering how long does this whoosh process take? a month ? a week?

Great info , awesome post to read when the scale wont budge

O.K. you all sound like experts here and I admit whole heartedly that I did not read one of the links given. I only wanted to add my own 2 cents here and that is this. When I was in Anatomy and Physiology we studied all kinds of tissues including adipose (fat cells). My one observation is even with the naked eye you could practically see the individual fat cells and at only a magnification of 10x the cells were in perfect clarity. Most other cells we studied in the human body needed much high magnification and even oil drops to see them. Think of it like this, there is no way to see a blood cell with the naked eye or even small magnification, that means these cells are huge relatively speaking in the human body! This makes sense because the whole purpose of the cells are to be an energy storage facility. Now, if these cells shrink in size, and become more similar to smaller, less dense cells in the bodies system, what is the big deal about whether they are absorbed by the body and "amount of cells shrink" or wether their storage capacity shrinks. I just look at it like this, I ate too much and hurt my bodies system. In order to accomodate my excess fat I was stretching my cells and pushing their storage limit, to a point my body needed to create more adipose cells at one time (this could be debated depending on your circumstances). Now, I am healthy and treating my body kindly, reducing the stress of energy storage. My cells will decrease in size and shrink down to a more normal cell size. Now that am treating my body like a machine and feeding it properly it should start to preform at a higher level and be less likely to break down. I believe that those people who are focused on adipose cell death are looking for the "magic bullet" if the cells indeed can be killed then science can find the cure for my fat. If you are not wanting a quick fix or a medical miracle, just look at the people in the sucess gallerey and know that the body is an amazing machine and CAN loose and adapt to less fat storage without the help scientific communities or magic cures. Check all the posts asking for the magic Whoosh formula if you don't believe in the fact people are looking for an easier solution to their problems.

I liked this post whether or not cells actually "die". I thought the point (or maybe that was just how I was seeing it, because I was looking for it) was more that the body wants to hold onto the actual fat (whether within the cells or the entire cells themselves) and that's why you can plateau, and that if you wait it out, they will empty (a little or a lot) eventually.

This post was really heartening. It gave a great visual and it struck home for me.

Great Post! Makes alot of sense!!

Thank you Zule!!

Bumping It.

you are so smart, I was not losing any weight but my tummy was shriking why oh why did I not pay attention to that! Now I gotta back track!

This should be made a sticky so the new comers to the diet can know whats going on in there bodys...

Update post.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...6&dopt=Abstract
Clin Sci (Lond). 1997 Jan;92(1):3-11. Related Articles, Links


Regulation of adipose cell number in man.

Prins JB, O'Rahilly S.

1. Adipose tissue mass is dependent on both the average volume and the number of its constituent adipocytes. Significant alteration in body mass involves alteration in both adipocyte volume and number. 2. Increases in adipocyte number occur via replication and differentiation of preadipocytes, a process which occurs throughout life. Decreases in adipocyte number occur via preadipocyte and adipocyte apoptosis, and possibly adipocyte dedifferentiation. 3. Overall regulation of adipose mass involves endocrine, paracrine and possibly autocrine systems. Hypothalamic centres appear to control appetite, metabolic rate and activity levels in a co-ordinated manner. Within the hypothalamus, known weight regulatory molecules include glucagon-like peptide-1, neuropeptide Y and leptin. Leptin is a major afferent signal from adipose tissue to the hypothalamus, providing information on overall adipose tissue mass. However, the precise means by which the hypothalamus signals to adipose tissue is less well understood. 4. In adipose tissue, known molecular regulators of adipose cell number include insulin, ligands for the peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-gamma, retinoids, corticosteroids and tumour necrosis factor-alpha. The net effect of these and other regulators is to effect a concerted alteration in adipocyte volume and number. This review largely focuses on the control of fat cell acquisition and loss and the influence of these processes on adipose tissue mass and regional distribution. [This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/...s/s1317822.htm]


Fighting fat cell by cell
Judy Skatssoon
ABC Science Online


Wednesday, 9 March 2005


Targeting fat cells with drugs that stop them multiplying could help fight obesity (Image: iStockphoto)
A newly discovered protein that causes fat cells to multiply may be a future target for controlling obesity, say Australian researchers who have just started animal trials to block its action.

Professor John Prins of the University of Queensland says this protein, called fibroblast growth factor 1 or FGF-1, is also instrumental in causing cancer cells to proliferate, plays a role in skin and bone growth, and wound healing.

Prins' group has progressed since it reported the discovery of FGF-1 recently in the journal Diabetes.

Laboratory experiments have shown drugs that interfere with FGF-1 stop human fat cells multiplying. And the group is now trialling several drugs to block FGF-1 action in animal studies.

Some drugs that showed potential in the test tube are currently used to treat cancer, he says, because they stop the growth of new blood vessels that feed tumours.

Fat cells divide and conquer

Prins' story began 10 years ago with the discovery that fat cells, like other cells in human tissue, were capable of programmed cell death, or apoptosis, and regeneration.

He says it was possible to isolate immature cells, or fibroblasts known as pre-adipocytes from adipose tissue, or fat.

In a test tube, those immature fat cells could be encouraged to differentiate, or grow into mature fat cells capable of doing what fat cells are supposed to do, store fat.

He also found it was possible to manipulate the pre-adipocytes to either accelerate or inhibit their growth.

The finding contradicted the existing belief that human adults have a finite number of fat cells that either expand as they store excess fat or shrink as fat reserves are depleted.

"Changes in fat mass couldn't just be explained by changes in the size of cells, but by their recruitment and loss," Prins says.

In other words, the belief that a person was doomed to be butterball or a greyhound by virtue of the actual number of fat cells they were stuck with no longer held water.

Fighting fat

Dr Tim Gill, executive officer of the Australasian Society for the Study of Obesity, says the discovery that fat cells can differentiate has opened up new avenues for anti-obesity therapeutics.

But he says many factors contribute to obesity and controlling it is unlikely to be as easy as manipulating a single pathway.

Parents who feel guilty about predisposing their child to a life of being fat could take heart from the finding, he says.

Update post.

it's encouraging to read this thread 'cause i posted in atkins forum something like this and i KNOW i've lost but it was like the scale is laughing in my face lol...it's like 'all the salads weren't WORTH it lol...

thanks again for the thread.

Update post.