When does the body store fat?

Submitted by fappie6 t3_10u9ozz in askscience

Like at night when you sleep or what? cause obviously you dont get fat like right after you eat a piece of chocolate or something. I wonder when it happens, when does the fat get stored and you start noticing a belly or fat around your face etc. I'm curious

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SolasHealth t1_j7f7jnb wrote

That's a good question. Your idea is also admirable. However, the fact is not as you assumed. When you consume fat, it is stored in your cells. These cells stores energy in the form of glycerides.. Later, these glycerides degraded and released energy when required. When the number of fat storage cells increases , a person gains weight. This is an ongoing process. Storing fat is not going to happen overnight.

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beaker38 t1_j7jcj93 wrote

But generally (for adults anyway), it’s the amount of fat stored in each fat cell that’s changing, and the number of cells doesn’t vary much, if at all.

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Majoishere t1_j7g8lvp wrote

Aren't glycerides from sugars?

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SolasHealth t1_j7jmlej wrote

>Aren't glycerides from sugars?

Triglycerides are fats derived from food that circulate in the blood. The majority of the fat we consume is in the form of triglycerides. Extra calories, alcohol, and sugar in the body are converted into triglycerides, which are then stored in fat cells all over the body. As a result, when you consume a high-sugar diet, your liver produces more bad cholesterol, known as LDL, while decreasing your good cholesterol, HDL. Because there is excess energy in the form of sugar, the liver is forced to convert that sugar into fat, which it does by producing more triglycerides.

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CrateDane t1_j7he59a wrote

Triglycerides consist of a small glycerol backbone with three fatty acids attached. The glycerol can be quite directly derived from sugars, but the fatty acids would require more complicated de novo lipogenesis. Simpler for the adipocytes just to use fatty acids from fat, but it's certainly possible to make fat from sugars.

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RexRauron t1_j7esprm wrote

Fat is stored and metabolized all the time. Hormones like insulin determine at which rate these processes occur. When more fat is available then the body needs, more fat is stored then released.

Btw most of the fat we store is from our diet. Converting carbohydrates to fat is ineffective and only contributes a very small amount under normal conditions.

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CharlesOSmith t1_j7fm624 wrote

Not a direct answer to your question, but an important addition for consideration: the lecture in this video describes the important differences in how our bodies treat calories derived from different source molecules. The key comparison starts at 45 minutes in, but the whole thing is worth watching.

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Epicteetis t1_j7nppio wrote

It’s dependent on the amount of calories consumed vs calories used, and not so much on the time of day. Metabolism is a continuous process that’s practically always in motion so weight gain/loss is only noticeable with cumulative effects. If someone eats more calories than their body needs for the day, those excess calories are stored in fat cells, eventually causing noticeable fat accumulation. On the flip side, if the person needs more calories than they’ve eaten, the fat cells are burned as the “reserve” fuel, causing weight loss.

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