Inflated with Emotion
In my
For decades, I was stuck in the "diet" mentality. I believed that my excess weight was a temporary problem that could be "fixed" with a temporary solution. I thought I could go "on" a diet, lose the weight, be "cured," and then... well, I never quite figured out the "then" part.
My "Aha!" moment - the one that finally clicked and became a core part of my clean keto lifestyle - was realizing that for many of us, our body's fat-storage system is a one-way street. The problem isn't the fat; it's the storage capacity we've built.
The best way I've found to explain this is what I call the "Balloon Analogy."
Part 1: Inflating vs. Deflating the "Balloons"
First, let's establish the simple mechanics. Think of your individual fat cells (the scientific term is adipocytes) as tiny, biological "balloons."
Weight Gain (Lipogenesis): When your body is in a "fat-storing" state—driven by high insulin (from a carb-rich diet) and a calorie surplus—it's not (usually) building new balloons. It's taking triglycerides (fat) and pumping them into your existing balloons. This process of swelling existing fat cells is called hypertrophy. The balloon inflates.
Weight Loss (Lipolysis): When I'm in my "fat-burning" state (fasted, ketogenic, low insulin), my body is "unlocking" these balloons and pulling that stored fat back out to be burned for energy. This is lipolysis. The balloon deflates.
This seems straightforward, right? But it's this very process that hides the hard truth.
Part 2: The Hard Truth: The "Balloons" Are Still There
This is the entire reason the "diet" mentality fails.
Diet and exercise do not destroy fat cells.
A little louder for the people in the back...DIET AND EXERCISE DO NOT DESTROY FAT CELLS!!
When I lost 190 pounds, I didn't "get rid of" 190 pounds of fat cells. I simply took a massive infrastructure of inflated balloons and emptied them. The deflated, shrunken, empty balloons were still there, metabolically "on standby," just waiting for the fat-storing signal (insulin) and a surplus of energy to return.
A person who was 410 lbs and has dieted down to 220 lbs does not have the same body as a person who has always been 220 lbs.
The first person has a vast, permanently-built "storage capacity" of empty, "hungry" balloons. This is why weight regain can feel so rapid and automatic for those of us who have been significantly overweight. Our bodies are just frighteningly efficient at re-inflating the storage we already built.
Part 3: The "Balloon Factory" (A One-Way Trip)
This leads to the next logical question: how did we get this massive storage capacity in the first place?
This process of "building" new fat cells is called hyperplasia. And for the most part, it's a one-way trip.
Childhood & Adolescence: The vast majority of our total, lifetime "balloon count" is determined when we're young. Genetics and (critically) our childhood nutritional environment set our baseline "storage capacity" for adulthood.
Adulthood (Under Extreme Conditions): For a long time, it was thought this number was fixed after puberty. We now know this isn't true. In cases of significant, sustained weight gain (like mine), your body can fill its existing balloons to their absolute maximum. When it runs out of room, it's forced to build new ones.
Short of physical, surgical removal (like liposuction), these cells do not go away.
Part 4: Why This Must Be a "Management Protocol"
This realization was, in a way, freeing. It shattered the "diet" paradigm. My clean ketogenic lifestyle is not a temporary "cure," because the underlying "infrastructure" (my balloon count) can't be cured.
Therefore, the only sustainable, long-term strategy is to permanently manage the hormonal signals that fill those balloons.
This is the entire point.
My clean, anti-inflammatory, low-insulin lifestyle (keto + 22:2 fasting) is my management protocol. Its primary goal is to keep my insulin levels at rock bottom, removing the "fill" signal. By doing this, I'm not "curing" my body—I'm just choosing to keep my balloons deflated for good.
This is why I'm so vigilant about
It's not a 30-day challenge. It's my clean keto lifestyle.
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