What is body fat?

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Let’s take a moment to define what we mean by body fat. For starters, body fat is not just pure fat. Pure fat has a very high energy content, or about 9 calories per gram. This amounts to about 4,100 calories per pound of pure fat.

However, is not just pure fat. Body fat consists of fat cells, called adipocytes, which also contain fluid and protein in addition to fat.สมัคร ufabet

Therefore, the calorie content is going to be a bit less than the calorie content of pure fat 

Does one pound of body fat contain 3,500 calories?

In 1958, a scientist named Max Wishnofsky concluded that. The caloric equivalent of one pound of body weight lost or gained was 3,500 calories.

He based his conclusion on the scientific evidence available at the time. Decades later, his result has been cited thousands of times by the media and in scientific literature.

It’s basically become common knowledge that one pound contains 3,500 calories. But is it really true? Let’s try to find out.

We will be using generally accepted values for this calculation. However, some research does show slight variations.

In general, we can assume that:

  • One pound equals 454 grams.
  • Pure fat contains 9 calories per gram.
  • Body fat tissue is 87% fat.

Using those values, we can conclude that a pound actually contains anywhere from 3,436 to 3,752 calories.

However, it is important to note that these calculations are based on old research.

Some of the studies state that tissue contains only 72% fat. Different types may also contain varying amounts of fat.