When people say they want to lose weight, they’re usually talking about losing excess fat.

If you want to lose fat, then it’s important to know under what conditions fat cells multiply, grow ‘fatter’ or shrink. Yes, fat cells can get fatter also. They are the cells responsible for storing the unused calories you consume, so the more calories and less exercise, the larger they will get. What’s more, when a fat cell grows fat enough (3 to 6 times its original size), it multiplies. These new cells, in turn, can get fatter.

5 years ago, I was under a lot of stress and I was constantly coughing and had problems breathing. I thought I had a cold or some virus. Went I went to the hospital, they took an X ray and found that my heart was so enlarged it was almost the size of one of my lungs. My stress hormones were also elevated – they found high levels of cortisol in my blood. I discovered that I was born with cardiomyopathy (a disease that involves the weakening and inflammation of the heart). The doctors installed a defibrillator, as a protection in case my heart stops beating, to shock it back to life.