The Science Of How We Burn Fat And Metabolism

Part 1

What Is Body Fat?

A more technical term for body fat is adipose tissue with individual cells being called adipocytes

‘Adipo’ = fat; ‘cytes’ = cell

In humans, the primary type of fat cell is called white adipose tissue or WAT and we do have BAT

What Is Body Fat?

In humans, fat cell can vary drastically:

1. Lean individuals may have anywhere from 41 to 65 billion fat cells

2. Obese individual can have upwards of 200 billion fat cells.

3. Fat cells can range in diameter from 70 to 120 micrometres. The size of cell can also affect its physiology.

What Is Body Fat

WAT in humans is composed (anywhere from 80-95%) of lipid

The remaining part of the fat cell is comprised of:

1. A little bit of water

2. Cellular machinery needed to produce the various enzymes, proteins, and products that fat cells need to do their duty.

3. As it’s turning out, fat cells produce quite a bit of stuff, some good, some bad, that affects your overall metabolism.

What Is Body Fat

For the record:

1g of fat provide 9 calories so 400g of fat contains about 3600 calories of stored energy.

Now that where the old axiom of 3500kcal to lose a pound of fat comes from.

What Is Body Fat

If you create a 3,500 cal/week deficit you should lose one

pound of fat, right? 

Question

Wrong

What’s It Used For?!

The main role is an energy storage dump!?

What’s It Used For?!

Fat Cells are truly exceptional in their capacity to store energy.

Putting everything into perspective:

Average male weighs 72kg with 15% body fat has 24lbs of body fat which is close to 84,000kcal or so of stored energy

Metabolic rate close to 2400kcal/per day

35 days without food assuming he was using 100% fat.

What’s It For?!

Extremely obese individuals may have upwards of 50lbs -100lbs of stored fat.

Which gives them 175,000 – 350,000kcal of stored energy.

7 months at least without emptying their fat stores.

What’s It For?!

CHO Stores in your muscles and your liver

500g at the maximum.

Each 1 gram of Carbs = 4Kcal

So that’s 2000Kcal or so of stored glycogen

Not enough to meet a single’s days caloric requirements

Other Major Energy Sources

The reason for the difference in energy storage capacity is water.

Carbs are stored as glycogen in the muscles and liver

Every 1g of stored glycogen you store 3-4g of water with it.

In contrast triglyceride only require about 1g of water for every g of fat stored. Fat is a very space efficient way to store energy .

Other Major Energy Sources

On top of that:

1g provide more useable energy than either a g of carbs or protein.

9Kcal/g = Fat4Kcal/g = Carbs/Protein

Being able to store more g of total FAT each of those g provides more useable energy to the body.

Body Fat = Ideal storage form of energy.

Other Major Energy Sources

As Human can we make new Fat Cell?

Yes / No

Can we actually get rid of fat cell completely forever?

Yes / No

But Wait There’s More

When a fat cell reach a certain size: that is they are full as they physically can be.

Stretching of the fat cell stimulates the release of factors such as Angiotensin II, prostacylin and others

Tells the body to make new fat cell from something called preadipocytes

Preadipocytes mature into normal adipocytes Volia!

New FAT CELLS!

Fat cell get to large YOUR BODY WILL KEEP MAKING MORE!

YES = We can make new fat cells

Apoptosis = Death /Removal of cell

Unfortunately getting rid of fat cell is nearly (but not completely) impossible.

People perception is that liposuction is the only way.

Fat Cell don’t generally undergo Apoptosis with a few exception visceral fat and breast or extreme conditions.

NO = We can’t Get Rid Of FAT forever

5 Different Types of Body Fat:

1. Essential Body Fat2. Brown Adipose Tissue (BAT)3. Visceral Fat4. Subcutaneous Fat5. Stubborn Fat

Types of Body Fat

Referred to the fat around your organs and your nervous system and in your brain

You cant lose it and even if you could you would want to because you’d be dead.

Men: Essential fat make up about 3%o of total weight. So a male with 10% Body Fat = 1/3 Essential Fat that cant be removed, that why if you hear someone claiming there body fat is below 3% you should be suspicious.

Women: Slightly higher estimated at 9-12% is a big part of the difference in total body fat.

10% body fat in men is equivalent to 16-19% body fat in women Both 7% above their essential body fat levels. Female bodybuilder reporting body fat lower than 9% again be suspicious.

Low Fat Diets = Bad for you

The Essential Body Fat:

The main role of BAT is energy utilization, primarily to provide heat.

WAT has very few mitochondria (the powerhouse of the cell). Mitochondria makes energy by burning free fatty acids.

In contrast BAT has very little lipid but quite a lot of mitochondria which is why its so good at energy good at energy and heat production.

Overall BAT isn't important in terms of getting rid of stubborn body fat.

Brown Adipose Tissue (BAT)

Visceral fat is found around your internal organs and can be thoughts of as gut fat.

Its more metabolically active.

Visceral fat has a better blood flow – meaning it easier to get the fat out of the fat cell

Research shows that visceral fat responds differently to diets and exercise than other types of fat. APPEARS = aerobic exercise get rids of visceral fat more effectively.

Males at 15% body fat can still have some but anybody much leaner than that it’s a non issue

-

Visceral Fat

For short means:‘Sub’ = Under ‘Cutaneous’ = Skin

40-60% of your total body weight is found under the skin.

Males = On top of there visceral fat male carry more fat on their midsection and back with less on their hips and glutes

Andriod/ Apple Shape

Increased health risks due to visceral fat

Subcutaneous Fat

Females = Fat on Hips and Thighs less on their Abs

Gynoid body fat patterns/also pear shape.

Female = More protective of diseases.

Females – Menopause w/out HRT – Which to a male like body pattern.

This also can be ver-sa to males.

Subcutaneous Fat

Sub – q fat isn’t the all the same.

Hips/Thighs Fat is metabolically different than abdominal fat.

Different types of abdominal fat

1. Deep Abdominal Fat2. Superficial Abdominal Fat

- Upper and lower

Subcutaneous Fat

Hip/Thighs – is the hardest to get rid of.

Breast Fat – Body Fat

Subcutaneous Fat

Breast Fat

Lost During

Exercise

Regain

Body fat

Some Women,

Don’t change

Stubborn

Subcutaneous body fat is my eyes can be broken down in t different types:

1. Regular fat – Easy to drop body fat2. Stubborn Fat

When it comes to stubborn fat its far less a issue with diet and training its more of a patience issue (Which us men lack )

Stubborn Fat

Stubborn is defined as a 12 site skinfold total of under 120mm (less than 10mm average at each site)with one site being 30 or higher.

Stubborn Body Fat

Chin: 3.9mmCheek: 7.2mm Pecs: 3mm Triceps: 2.7mm Subscap: 15.8mm Midaxilary: 3.8mm Supra-iliac: 6.5mm Abdomen: 5.3mm Knee: 5.9mm Calf: 2.3mm Quads: 3.8mm Hams: 6mm 

Area of Measurement

The supra-iliac measure was elevated = insulin resistance. 

In general fat will come of the body from least to the most stubborn and there is a clear hierarchy in how it does this.

Summary

Visceral Fat

Non Stubborn Subcutaneou

s Fat

The Deep Abdominal

Fat

Superifcial Body Fat

Hips and Thighs

Any Questions