How Does Your Body ‘Burn’ Fat?

Increasing the amount of exercise is one way to use the energy stored in fat cells, or to ‘burn’ fat. HoonQ/Shutterstock

Many of us may be considering “burning some fat” so we feel better in our bathing suits out on the beach or at the pool. What does that actually mean, though?

The normal fat cell exists primarily to store energy. The body will expand the number of fat cells and the size of fat cells to accommodate excess energy from high-calorie foods. It will even go so far as to start depositing fat cells on our muscles, liver and other organs to create space to store all this extra energy from calorie-rich diets—especially when combined with a low activity lifestyle.