is losing weight actually possible? it kind of feels like once you gain weight it just won’t ever go away. like this one time i heard that fat cells never actually die they just deflate.
So yes and no. Yes it is true that fat cells are like little balloons, they can get larger or smaller, but they do not actually disappear. This is because fat is actually an active endocrine organ. It's responsible for producing important hormones.
Fat cells can die, but they are immediately replaced, just like all of our cells. Fat plays many important roles in the body, and eliminating these cells entirely would be really bad. The same way you wouldn't expect to ever lose lung cells or kidney cells, we don't lose fat cells.
You can think of fat cells sort of like little banks for energy. If we consume a lot of excess energy, it fills up our banks. If we consume a deficit of energy, our body can "make a withdrawal" from those banks. The funds available within them will vary, but the banks themselves are still there
But that doesn't actually mean it's impossible to lose weight, and it is possible for some people to lose weight in a healthy way. The fat cells are still there, but since they are physically smaller, it looks to us like "losing fat" even though the actual fat cells haven't gone anywhere.
Is it possible for any given person in particular? I have no way of knowing. You likely have no way of knowing either. That's why I can't encourage anyone to pursue weight loss outright. It might not be possible for you. However, if it is possible, it's going to happen as a side effect.
I think the idea that it's possible for everyone to lose body fat in healthy ways and the idea that it's impossible for anyone lose body fat in healthy ways are both false.
I also think a lot of the people who can lose some body fat in healthy ways, cannot lose as much body fat as they want in healthy ways.
I think everyone is trying to become A Thin™ Person and I do not think all bodies are naturally thin. I think what happens a lot is a person who feels like they want to lose a large amount of weight, starts adopting fitness habits and they lose a much smaller amount of weight and then hit what they call a "plateau" because the same habits aren't resulting in more weight loss.
But I think in many cases that's not a plateau, it's the body signaling "this is where I want to be."
And if that level isn't the thinness they've idoloized it becomes rationalized as "I can't lose weight." When the issue was actually just that they had unrealistic expectations about how much their weight would change.
Additionally when that weight loss is achieved, as it usually is, through short term dieting, the second that restriction period ends, the body is ready to fill its banks back up. Which happens more rapidly as a result of prolonged calorie restriction slowing down metabolism and leading to more calories being stored in fat cells
Because weight loss, when it does occur, it's only sustainable when it's a result of permanent multifaceted habit changes. If a temporary diet change results in weight loss and then your habits resume to baseline, your body is going to rapidly refill those banks and your weight may even exceed what it was pre-restriction period.
Also always remember that changing our weight, in any direction, depends not just on the habits we can directly control. It is also heavily affected by our stress levels, by our sleep quality, and of course very much by our genetics
So to answer your question: is it possible to lose weight in healthy ways? Technically yes, but it varies so significantly between people and even between different environments for the same person that it's simply never a wise gamble. And attempts to artificially control your weight will usually fail, because they require abject misery.
