Today I want to talk to everyone about the headache-inducing topic of weight loss. Recently, I have been eating non-stop, and my weight is about to skyrocket! The weight gain this month may take several months to lose. In the next three episodes, I have painstakingly created a scientific weight loss trilogy, where I finally explain the first layer of logic about fat and weight loss to everyone.
Don’t treat it as an enemy just yet, as it actually plays an important role in the body. For instance, it can store energy. Unlike brown fat, white fat has few mitochondria, and its main function is to store excess calories for future use. A 70 kg male with 18% body fat carries over 11,000 kcal of fat. If he only drinks water without eating, a simple calculation indicates that he can survive for over 60 days. This was a key factor for our ancestors’ survival.
White fat can also secrete hormones like leptin. The more fat in the body, the more leptin is secreted. When the brain receives signals, it creates a feeling of fullness and stops eating. Conversely, if body fat is suddenly reduced too much, leptin levels drop, combined with other hormone changes, the body goes into energy conservation mode, urging you to find something to eat quickly. This is known as the yo-yo effect, which is hard to resist with willpower alone.
It also serves to provide insulation and cushioning. People with more fat are less likely to feel cold or experience significant pain from injuries. A chubby belly can even serve as a pillow for a wife or girlfriend. Moreover, every white fat tissue is connected to nerves, with receptors at the neural connections, which is crucial for weight loss, as we’ll discuss later.
Next, let’s reveal the only two paths to weight loss: reduce the amount of white fat tissue or reduce the size of white fat tissue. There is no third option. The first path involves liposuction surgery, which is a last resort for individuals suffering from severe obesity and chronic diseases. For most of us, we need to take the second route, which is to shrink white fat tissue or more precisely, reduce the volume of fat droplets within.
Before discussing the methods, let me introduce lipids and what’s contained inside fat droplets. Lipids are a group of organic compounds that are nearly insoluble in water. They can be further categorized into eight types based on structure and function, of which I will discuss three closely related to weight loss: triglycerides, steroids, and phospholipids.
Triglycerides are compounds formed by three fatty acids and one glycerol esterification, which make up the content of fat droplets. These are what we commonly refer to as fats and are what we aim to eliminate. There are many types of fatty acids, categorized based on length such as short-chain, medium-chain, and long-chain fatty acids, as well as saturated and unsaturated fatty acids.
Unsaturated fatty acids are further divided into monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, with trans fatty acids falling under unsaturated fatty acids that should be avoided. Oils like olive oil and bitter tea oil containing over 70% monounsaturated fatty acids, fish oil containing polyunsaturated fatty acids are healthy choices. On the other hand, butter, lard, and tallow with over 40% saturated fatty acids should be consumed in moderation. Although coconut oil is mostly saturated fatty acids, it should also be consumed in moderation.
Steroids are also important, encompassing anabolic steroids like testosterone that promote muscle growth quickly, and corticosteroids which have anti-inflammatory, anti-allergy, and immune-regulating functions. Steroids can be classified into hormones and sterols, with hormones responsible for signaling between body tissues to regulate physiological responses.
Sterols are important components of cell membranes, with cholesterol being the most crucial in the human body, stabilizing cell membrane structure, synthesizing hormones, vitamin D, and bile acids. The distinctions between “good cholesterol” and “bad cholesterol” will be explained further on.
Phospholipids are like aliens with heads and tails; the head is hydrophilic while the tail is hydrophobic, which is essential for their amphipathic properties. Phospholipids, along with cholesterol, form the cell membranes in the human body. Lastly, let’s discuss how consumed fats accumulate in the abdomen.
Lipids are insoluble in water, including triglycerides, cholesterol, and hormones. When we eat a piece of fried chicken, the fats and oils are broken down by enzymes from the mouth to the stomach and small intestine into small molecules. In the enterocytes of the small intestine villi, these are synthesized into triglycerides along with cholesterol and fat-soluble vitamins, enclosed in phospholipids to form spherical structures, further coated with apolipoproteins to become chylomicrons.
Chylomicrons enter the bloodstream through the lymphatic system, encountering lipoprotein lipase along the way which hydrolyzes the triglycerides into free fatty acids. These free fatty acids have two pathways: they either enter muscle or organ tissues to be burned for energy by the mitochondria, or they enter white fat tissue for storage.
That’s all for today’s content. Weight loss involves reducing the accumulation of white fat tissue throughout the body, which can only be achieved through reduction in size or removal. Lipids come in various types and are essential; consumed fats are processed into chylomicrons for transportation, with the hydrolyzed free fatty acids taking different paths.
Director Wang Yan, Director of the Dietary Nutrition and Health Science Research Institute of Wang
If you want to know how to make fat disappear, keep following this series. If you find the program helpful, remember to like and share. Lastly, remember that if you have trouble losing weight, it’s not your fault – relax! Stay vigilant about the world, safeguard your health. See you in the next episode with Wang Yan, Director of the Dietary Nutrition and Health Science Research Institute.
