Men have only 26 billion fat cells in their bodies. That sounds weird, using the word “only.” Women, on the other hand, have 35 billion fat cells in our bodies. In addition, the fat cells in a woman”s body are 5 times larger than a man”s (more room for storage!).
How dieting impact our fat cells
Dieting shrinks the size of our fat cell, not decrease its number. However, most people end up starving themselves, eating poor nutritional foods, or not strength training (sometimes all three) when dieting. So what happens when you loose weight? You end up losing precious metabolically active muscle.
Our bodies are programmed for three basic survival behaviors — 1. fighting or fleeing, 2. feeding, and 3. reproducing. When you starve your body, it does not know that you are dieting for its own good. All it knows is that there might be a famine. Since muscle cells burns 70 times more calories than fat cells, it is going to get rid of the muscle cells first in order to conserve the remaining fuel in your body (don”t you love efficiency?). So when your body gets rid of its high fuel burners, you end up slowing down your metabolism (so you can survive on less food) even when you are not dieting.
When you yo-yo diet, you are basically replacing your muscle cells with fat cells each time you try a new diet. The diet usually fails, and when it does, the weight you regained is mostly fat. The average woman has 35 billion fat cells, but the average yo-yo dieter has even more.
Men are usually very good with building muscle when they are trying to lose weight as I mentioned previously. Maybe its intuitive or from playing sports as a youth, but they gravitate towards strength training.
Estrogen and our fat cells
Estrogen, the female sex hormone, encourages fat storage enzymes and determine the location of the excess fat storage in women”s bodies such as the hips, thighs, buttocks. These storage areas ensure your body is ready for baby making. After menopause, the estrogen level in our bodies drops. The locations of the fat storage encouraged by our hormones start to resemble the men”s in the stomach area.
Fat oxidation
You are probably thinking that women have no physical advantage compared to men. We have more fat cells to begin with and with our culture of fad dieting, we are multiplying them unintentionally. And then there is the fluctuating estrogen level in our bodies that make us do crazy things like howling at the moon at a certain time of the month (maybe it is just me). But there is a silver lining.
It is not all bad news
Pre-menopausal women are more efficient at removing digested fat from our bloodstream after a meal. The shorter the exposure to elevated levels of fat in our bloodstream, the lower the risk for clogged arteries and heart disease. Men do not have this protection.
That is the trade off. Women have a harder time managing our weight, but we have less risk of heart disease. Men build muscle faster and have an easier time managing their weight, but have a higher risk of heart disease from the prolonged exposure to digested fat circulating in their bloodstream after a meal. In other words, if a man and woman are both fast food junkies their entire lives without doing much exercise, the woman is most likely to live longer than the man.
It is important realize that no matter how we are built, there are factors within our control. Women can lift weights and quit yo-yo dieting. Men can eat a less fattening meal. As I mentioned before, your health is a three legged stool — genetics, physical exercise, and your eating habits. We cannot control our genetics, but physical exercise and our eating habits are all within our control. Whether or not you choose to take control, that is another story.
Until next time and thanks for stopping by Small Steps to Health.
References for this post:
 Hormonal Balance: Understanding Hormones, Weight, and Your Metabolism: Scott Isaacs, Neil Shulman: Books
ISBN: 1933503041 |
 Ultrametabolism: The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss: M.D. Mark Hyman: Books
ISBN: 0743272560 |
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Thats why make human special.
Wow. I knew that fat cells never disappeared and just shrunk. However, I wasn’t aware that women had so many more fat cells. I’ll definitely have to do some more research into this area and try to do a few blog posts about this.
Tom Parkers last blog post..5 Food Groups that can slow down your Metabolism…@Wellness Junction
Your posts are *sooooooo* interesting. I just came across your blog from a link on Pastaqueen’s blog. I am just at the start of my journey and reading as much as I can. My own blog is just going to be my personal journey, but I find it fascinating and hugely useful that some other bloggers have done research and are posting really informative blogs!
Thanks!
goodbyetoallfats last blog post..How did I get so fat?
@Goodbyetoallfat – You might want to read “Outsmarting your Female Fat Cells” or “Outsmarting the Midlife Fat Cells.” Both of them are by Debra Waterhouse. They have a good chapter discussing this concept. You can probably find it at the library.
Thanks for the the comment goodbyetoallfat. I like your writing style on your blog.
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