The Skinny on Fat
Understanding what body fat is and where it comes from will make
it easier to lose it and keep it off. Your body’s preferred sources of
energy are dietary carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. However,
when you consume more than you use, those calories are stored
in fat cells for later use.
Fat cells are formed by converting tissue stem cells into
adipocytes that swell up like balloons with dietary lipids.
When caloric needs exceed available free calories from
the food we eat, calories stored as lipids in fat cells are
released into the blood stream for energy. Managing
a healthy body fat percentage includes slowing down
the production of new fat cells and increasing the burn
rate of calories stored in body fat.
The solution to storing fewer calories as fat can be
summarized with the equation:
Eat
Less
Calories
In
Exercise
More
Fat
Stored
Lean Body
Mass
Calories
Out
Fat
Released
5