Exercise Physiology: Theory and Application to Fitness and Performance 9th Edition by Scott Powers, Edward Howley

Exercise 11

In terms of the resistance to weight reduction, contrast obesity due to hypertrophy with obesity due to hyperplasia of fat cells.

Step 1 of 2

Hypertrophic obesity is due to an increase in the amount of fat in each fat cell, whereas hyperplastic obesity is due to an increase in the number of fat cells. Hypertrophic obesity is mainly responsible for moderate obesity where the mass of adipose tissue is less than 30 kg. Beyond that limit, the cell number that stores fat increases. The fat cell number is strongly related to the mass of adipose tissue.