Are there any studies on this or is it more bro-science ?
I just haven't seen any studies on the idea that an empty fat cell will never be destroyed.
I have seen quotes like "your whole body is reconstructed over a period of years", i.e. cells have a lifespan, so if your body is reconstructing cells why would it put resources into rebuilding empty fat storage containers. Or, the other option would be fat cells are immortal, which seems to be extreme as well.
Just looking for some actual studies on this ...
Ok, a quick google pulls up this article in the NYTimes referencing a study - have read the first paragraph or so and article is on the right lines of what you are after.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/health/research/05fat.html
Obviously there are a lot of biochemical triggers for fat storage, muscle growth etc. Leptin has a very large part to play along with insulin, etc.
If something controls the fat storage levels, it makes sense that they will grow back after being removed via liposuction, especially if the person doesn't fundamentally change what / how they are eating. Their insulin resistance, leptin levels, etc will control this regardless of the actual surgery implications.
I'd be interested in a longer term study where an obese person undergoes something like liposuction, then also changes their diet to something more in line with low carb to fix these insulin and leptin issues and see if those cells actually regrow.
Places I learn from along the way:
http://strengtheory.com - Greg knows his stuff
http://fitness.reddit.com - has gone downhill since becoming a default sub but they are looking at changing that, still good
bodybuilding.com is pretty good to be honest once you get over the hard sell of supplements, Jim Stoppani has a PhD and was a researcher at Yale I believe
"The mathematics of weight loss" TED talk by Ruben Meerman is pretty solid from memory
Elliott Hulse is a YouTuber (so take some of the stuff with a pinch of salt) but pretty good.
Problem is that the body doesn't want to get rid of that fat cell because "hey, it might be handy one day to store extra energy when we can't eat for a few days because the baboons ate everything" and so it's fairly easy to top that cell back up with fat in the future.
With regards to the slow metabolism refereced in the article (I skimmed it) this is tied to leptin levels which needs to be topped up with "refeed days" every now and then just to kick start you metabolism again. A refeed day is basically a day where you eat a lot of carbs and keep your protein and fat as they usually are on the normal diet days.
Very broadly speaking (and short cutting lots of science and variations), it is easier for a previously fat person to get fat again than it is for a skinny person to get fat in the first place.