As we enter a post about fat storage, it’s important that we begin by acknowledging that fat storage can be an emotional topic.
Simply bringing up fat is enough to trigger some deep emotions, and that is a challenge that we need to be aware of as we move through this topic.
If that’s the case for you, I encourage you to stick with me here, as I have a few thoughts (rooted in the science) that might just clear up some of your ideas around those feelings.
As for the feelings themselves, we need to manage these separately, because no amount of information I share with you is going to change your relationship with weight (at least, not right away). The reality is that our society has tied so much value to fitting the current skinny norm, and that can lead to deeply programmed feelings that we need to be mindful of and work with as we learn some new information that may be helpful.
So, if you have any tough feelings come up, I encourage you to simply sit with them. No need to run away from them or try to push them away. There’s also no need to get caught up in them and make them turn you away from new information that can help you.
Instead, just let them arise if they decide to show their face. Notice them. Maybe even name them. Feel what it feels like to have strong feelings around your weight. Don’t judge those feelings, and if you happen to notice any judgement about your weight that these feelings may take you towards, simply notice this judgement along with all other feelings and attitudes.
The idea here is to notice, possibly name, and feel what comes up.
Then, once the moment has passed, let those feelings go on their way, allowing you to once again return to this space to learn to make healthier decisions.
Note, if you need a practice to help you do this, select one of my grounding or breath practices from over here. Then, when you’re ready, continue on with me.
As for what we’re doing here today, in this post: this is for any of you who have dealt with weight struggles for a long time, and those who may feel frustrated or defeated.
Also, it’s for any individual living in the modern world: a world that is so tied up into valuing health and even sometimes worth based on one’s weight or clothing side.
This is for all of you, because these outdated ideas are deeply flawed, incredibly harmful, and far from what the science tells us is important regarding one’s health.
My aim for you, here, is not to guarantee any quick results or make any promises about weight loss.
Instead, what I wish to communicate is the information that I have found to be most useful to those who are making healthy decisions involving fat storage. My hope is that this information will serve you on your own health journey such that you are better able to move through life loving and supporting your own healthy body, both physically and mentally.
Shall we dive in?
Fat storage as a part of a healthy body
Before heading into weight loss, I think it’s of utmost importance that we understand fat storage as a natural and healthy function of the human body.
We can’t eat all the time (I know, sometimes it’s nice to think that it would be awesome if we could, but no one truly wants that reality). We eat just a few meals a day, and the rest of the time we still need energy to function.
It’s important that our bodies have a means to store away energy so that we always have energy available to fuel the innumerable complex functions of our bodies. Therefore, it’s important that our bodies store away some of the energy we consume as fat.
Fat storage is a normal and healthy process in the human body, so next time you send any judgment or negative thoughts towards your fat stores, try this instead: gratitude.
Next time you recognize judgment or any negative thoughts towards your fat stores, try recognizing the benefit that is at play. Now, there is no need to go too deep here – you don’t have to like everything about your fat stores and you don’t need to force your negative thoughts out of yourself. Maybe, simply begin by appreciating that your human body is rather remarkable. It knows how to support you with a constant supply of energy, whether or not you’re eating in that moment.
At least, that’s how a healthy body has been designed to function. To store and release this energy and to maintain a healthy balance of fat stored away – we’ll circle back to this point here shortly, but first let’s address…
The flaws in societal norms
We tend to put a lot of emphasis on excess fat storage as a health problem. But is it really?
To some extent, of course it is. We have plenty of data to show us numerous ways in which excess fat accumulation can be a problem. But let me ask a couple specific questions:
- When, exactly, does excess fat storage become a problem? That is, if we’re measuring fat storage purely by a number on the scale or clothing size, how much fat storage is really a problem?
- What exactly is it about fat storage that is unhealthy?
Weight loss 101 will tell you that you are overweight (and in turn, unhealthy) once your BMI exceeds a certain number (29, maybe. As you’ll see shortly, it’s not even worth me bothering to look that up). Your BMI takes into account two numbers: your height and weight.
From those two values it then makes a judgment about your state of health. Gah, that already just sounds ridiculous!
The science backs me up here (reference 1 and 2 at end of post). It turns out there is not a strong correlation between weight and health outcomes. Some people are “overweight” and yet completely healthy. Others are of a normal weight and have many markers of poor metabolic health (e.g. chronic inflammation, elevated blood sugar, elevated blood lipids, etc.).
If “overweight” individuals can be perfectly metabolically healthy and “normal” weight individuals can be metabolically unhealthy, then why do we care about weight again?
Let’s take a look at those two questions I posed to help us get a clearer understanding of what truly makes fat storage unhealthy.
How and when does fat storage become a problem?
Note: I have a video version of this content over on Instagram , so feel free to check it out over there if you wish to see me walk through this topic at the whiteboard.
Now, as we get started here, keep in mind: it’s normal and healthy for the body to store fat. That fat is most commonly stored in subcutaneous (under the skin) adipose tissue (ref 1).
When we consume food, the hormone insulin is elevated, and adipose tissue responds to insulin by taking in energy (both carbs and fats) and storing it as fat.
Later on when insulin levels have dropped back down, this fat is then released back out into circulation to be used as a fuel source for the body.
As adipose tissue takes up energy, it is going to expand. It does this in two ways:
- An individual cell grows larger as it takes up more energy
- Cells replicate such that more cells exist within that tissue to store more energy
Now it’s time to address our key question: as adipose tissue expands, when does this expansion actually become a health problem?
- Is it when it causes the individual’s BMI to go over 29?
- Is it when that individual no longer fits a specified pants size?
- Is it when any quantifiable value that we can establish for all individuals is reached?
Nope, here’s what actually happens:
As an individual’s fat tissue expands, and keeps expanding, eventually that individual may hit a point in which those individual fat cells reach a certain expansion threshold. Once that threshold is reached, the adipose tissue is going to respond with a pro-oxidative, pro-inflammatory response.
This pro-oxidative, pro-inflammatory response serves as a signal, both locally and systemically.
Locally, this adipose tissue responds by becoming insulin resistant.
Remember, insulin is the signal to store energy away. But if the adipose tissue is at capacity, it doesn’t want to keep storing energy. So, it simply stops listening to the insulin signal to store energy!
This is great for that adipose tissue because now it doesn’t have to keep taking in energy and can actually release some of that fat.
As for what happens systemically – to the rest of the body – what is happening out there when adipose tissue becomes insulin resistant?
Here’s the short version:
When we consume food, both glucose and fats are released into circulation. This means that the concentrations of these biomolecules are increasing in the bloodstream.
These higher concentrations are not healthy for the body, which is why it’s important that tissues, such as adipose tissue, are able to take this energy in and store it away.
But if adipose tissue is no longer listening to the insulin signal to store away this energy, then where is it going to go?
- will it stay in circulation?
- will it become a stronger burden on other tissues (the liver or muscle, perhaps?)
- will it get stored away somewhere that isn’t as safe as subcutaneous adipose tissue?
All of these are options, and if you’re interested in learning more, check out my free course on insulin signaling and fat balance. You can sign up for it over here. Or, if you’re already subscribed to the newsletter, you’ll find the link in that newsletter.
For our purposes today, though, we don’t need to go down that rabbit hole. Instead, let’s take a step back and think about what this information means for your health.
What does this physiology mean for you and your health?
Let’s get to work answering this key question. To get us started, let me ask you a question first?
After walking through this bit of information on fat storage in adipose tissue, how would you know if your level of fat accumulation is healthy or unhealthy?
Have an answer?
Or are you struggling to find one?
I bet you are, and here’s why: unless fat accumulation has become severe enough such that it is directly impacting your life, then it’s difficult to tell whether or not it’s healthy or unhealthy.
The way to tell if you’re metabolically healthy or unhealthy goes something like this:
- Do you feel like you have energy to do the things you need to do each day?
- Do you feel capable of doing these activities, or are you regularly battling headaches, brain fog, or other debilitating symptoms?
If you are feeling healthy, then that fat accumulation that society tells you should be bothersome might just be perfectly okay!
And, if you want some clearer answers, talk to your doctor about what your blood panel numbers mean. Are your triglycerides high (indicating increased circulating fat); is your blood sugar relatively stable (reflecting healthy insulin signaling and blood sugar homeostasis)? Are there any markers of chronic inflammation?
Your doctor can help you out here to get you the answers you may want.
As for us, here – this is the point:
There are many ways that we can get in tune with our current state of health. We can tune into our own bodies at any moment, and if we want to, we can seek out technology that can give us insight as to what is going on in our bodies.
As for how much fat we’re carrying around? That isn’t going to give us any useful information. It may or may not be tied to health problems, but if we have health problems we’re going to learn that information elsewhere!
So, why should we bother spending our time being so concerned about what the scale reads or what our clothing size is?
Because society tells us to. That’s why we do what we do, and if the right amount of fat storage is simply a societal construct, then we become free to choose our own way of viewing the fat on our bodies.
Again, as we do this, we have to understand that it’s not a completely conscious and logical decision. We’re going up against a whole lot of deeply engrained dogma here, and that leaves physical traces within our nervous systems.
Still, we can begin, here and now, with an intention to move forward choosing to look at fat storage in a different light:
- creating a gratitude practice for the body’s ability to store away energy so that it can provide you with energy to do all those amazing things you go out and do
- being mindful of the way we base our dietary and exercise decisions: do we judge what’s healthy based on what is directly tied to our weight?
- celebrating our bodies by going out and being active!
From this place, we can move forward through whatever obstacles come our way, whether that’s facing deeper health issues that are truly tied to poor metabolic health (insulin resistance, for one) or whether that looks like a journey of overcoming deep programming and strong feelings around the way you think you should look.
Whatever it is for you, I wish you the best on your journey and know that I’m here as a resource as you see fit.
ONE LAST THING, if you’re curious about technical tidbits
What is it that differentiates why some people can carry more fat and remain completely healthy?
Well, as with everything that has to do with the body, that answer is complex. However, I think much of that answer can be summarized by the following (adapted from ref 2, P. Tandon et. al., 2018)
References:
Sethi, J. K., & Vidal-puig, A. J. (2007). Adipose tissue function and plasticity orchestrate nutritional adaptation. 48. https://doi.org/10.1194/jlr.R700005-JLR200
Tandon, P., Wafer, R., & Minchin, J. E. N. (2018). Adipose morphology and metabolic disease. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.164970
