[a-priori]

"The number of fat cells becomes fixed by the end of adolescence."

Uh, reference? I think you're wrong there. From what I remember, new fat cells grow when weight is gained, and are "deflated", but mostly survive, when weight is lost.

[attack]

He's probably thinking of human muscle cells.

[flipbrad]

no - he's absolutely correct. this was discovered earlier this year, IIRC.

cf: http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/54629/

[randallsquared]

This suggests that liposuction is actually an important step if you want to keep fat off.

[flipbrad]

not necessarily. if the body can somehow keep count, it may just replace the cells you remove. I'm not sure we know for certain either way yet.

[randallsquared]

My guess would be that that won't happen any more than limbs get regrown. Of course, my guess is pretty worthless. :)

[attack]

Answer:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/health/research/05fat.html...

> Losing or gaining weight affects only the amount of fat stored in the cells, not the number of cells.

BUT

> Every year [..] 10 percent of your fat cells die [...] and are replaced with new fat cells.

So, fat people aren't at a disadvantage by having far more cells.

[flipbrad]

your skin certainly knows where and when to (re)grow...