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| Title: | Weight Loss and Maintenance |
| Notice: | **PLEASE** enter notes in mixed case (CAPS ARE SHOUTING)! |
| Moderator: | ASICS::LESLIE |
|
| Created: | Tue Jul 10 1990 |
| Last Modified: | Tue Jun 03 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 933 |
| Total number of notes: | 9931 |
737.0. "Fat Cells" by RANGER::PESENTI (Only messages can be dragged) Thu Apr 30 1992 16:45
In a reply to another note, I read something that I've heard before, that being
that "fat cells never go away, they get empty", and that "empty fat cells will
absorb fat readily", which helps to explain why a former fat person has a lower
caloric level for maintenance than a person who has never been fat.
I'd like to explore this a bit.
It seems to me that if muscle cells can be "consumed" by the body during
prolonged fasting, that fat cells should be consumable, too. But, none of the
literature I've read ever gets into the details.
Maybe I have the wrong understanding of how muscle cells work. My assumption
has always been that they are not simply the protien version of fat cells
(absorbing, storing, releasing protien), rather that building and losing muscle
mass is attributable to the gain and loss of cells.
Discussion?
-JP
| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 737.1 | | CNTROL::JENNISON | The Son reigns! | Fri May 01 1992 01:57 | 20 |
|
I don't have any of my books with me now, but I can elaborate
a bit on the cells.
The body can produce fat cells as it needs them. When your
existing cells are "full", new cells will be formed. As you
lose fat from your body, the cells get depleted of their contents
but never go away (sort of like having a bunch of empty balloons lying
around in your body ;-) )
Mike Z. probably knows the "technical" term for this ability to
generate more cells.
The body cannot produce additional muscle cells. Adding muscle
mass is done by filling the existing cells, but the limit will
be the number of cells that exist.
I am not sure if muscle cells can be destroyed.
Karen
|
| 737.2 | | MILKWY::ZARLENGA | don't eat the big white mint | Fri May 01 1992 06:42 | 19 |
| Fat cells in the blood (trigylcerides) are certainly consumed
entirely, so it makes sense that given enough time, you will lose
fat cells once they migrate to the blood.
I don't think the "fat is forever" message is 100% true. Maybe it's
time to write letters to the editors of a few magazines for an answer?
Hmm....
.1> The body cannot produce additional muscle cells. Adding muscle
.1> mass is done by filling the existing cells, but the limit will
.1> be the number of cells that exist.
That's news to me.
I'm not saying you're wrong, just that I've never heard this before.
I could swear that muscle cells are destroyed during exercise and
replaced during recovery. I'll try to remember to look this up
when I get to work (where my references are).
|