When it comes to losing weight and living a healthy lifestyle the amount of information available can be a little baffling, and there’s lots of conflicting advice out there making it hard to know what’s best. However understanding the science behind weight loss can help make things a little clearer, and ultimately help you to achieve your goals. So here we take a look at some interesting facts about fat and weight loss that might just surprise you.

Fat Burning?

Often when we talk about exercise and weight loss we are actually talking about burning fat. However this isn’t necessarily always the case. Before we burn fat we actually burn the energy we get from carbohydrates first, and only once this runs out do we source energy by burning fat.

Fat Cells

Fat is stored in our bodies in a special type of cell known as fat cells. When your body stores more fat this does not lead to an increase in the number of fat cells, instead your existing fat cells simply become bigger.

When we lose weight, this involves a process whereby our bodies convert the molecules in the fat cells in our bodies into energy. As a result of this process the amount of fat stored in our fat cells decreases and these subsequently shrink in volume.

Some people have more fat cells than others, and the range is actually quite variable. Whilst diet and exercise can help you to lose weight it can’t reduce the number of fat cells in your body. This can help explain why some people find it harder to lose weight than others.

Visceral vs Subcutaneous

The human body contains two main kinds of fat.  The first of these is visceral fat, which is also referred to as deep fat and surrounds the major organs in your body. This kind of fat has a number of implications for our health. For example it can increase your risk of diabetes and heart disease. The other kind of fat in our bodies is subcutaneous fat, which is found directly underneath your skin and as such is the most visible.

Whilst diet and exercise can have significant impact on visceral fat, this is not always the case for subcutaneous fat which can be notoriously difficult to lose. This is why, regardless of our best intentions, following a healthy diet and exercising regularly doesn’t always produce the results we want. However treatments such as Aqualyx can help tackle this problematic type of fat. This minimally invasive treatment can act to dissolve fat, helping to reduce stubborn deposits of subcutaneous fat.

Here at the Aesthetic Skin Clinic we are providers of a great range of aesthetic treatments including Aqualyx in the UK. For more information please do not hesitate to contact us and a member of our friendly team will be happy to help you with your enquiries.