If diet & exercise stays constant before/after liposuction, what happens to the energy store in the body that is lost?

Sometimes, individuals will have problem areas that are relatively exercise resistant. These are the focus areas for your plastic surgeon to lipo.  If you are at a stable weight prior to lipo, then you will not gain additional fat just because of lipo.  The areas that are liposuctioned are less likely to become large, and any additional increases in fat weight will redistribute.  To be sure, all of the effects of liposuction on lipid metabolism have not been worked out. You will likely only lose a few pounds from the liposuction procedures.  I know of no evidence in the literature that fat redistributes after liposuction in the absence of weight loss.  Liposuction can reduce cell number and volume.  Weight loss can reduce cell volume.Do not worry about weight gain for the first few months.  I recommend that my patients eat a healthy balanced diet, with an emphasis on protein, fresh vegetables, and whole grains with limited fat, carbo, sugar, and alcohol. Kenneth Hughes, MD, Board Certified Plastic SurgeonLos Angeles, CA

Your body will create fat when you consistently consume more calories than you burn. ~3,500 calories = one pound of fat. If you are at a steady weight, and are not gaining or losing I would not expect this to change after liposuction. After a liposuction procedure, if continue to be net neutral on your caloric intake/consumption than your body will have no reason to create additional adipose tissue. 

That is a great question and one  that deserves more attention. Liposuction is the most predictable and best way to remove moderate amounts of fat. After significant liposuction, you will lose enough fat that your weight will change. This fat removal is permanent. If you were not gaining weight before surgery, you should not gain weight after surgery if you keep close the same habits. I give my patients a "goal weight" so they know their target weight for 3 months after surgery when swelling is mostly gone. Some people find the goal weight hard to maintain with the same diet/exercise habits, possibly meaning enough fat was removed that their metabolism changed slightly. Everyone is different. The key to maintaining your result and not "gaining it back" is to be vigilant about healthy diet and regular exercise for those first few months after your recovery, and then monitor your weight regularly. The happiest liposuction patients at my practice are those who have used their surgery as a springboard toward improving their lifestyle. With that said, even those who gain some weight back still enjoy a better shape than before. Hope that is helpful!

Great question.  Think of your body having a blueprint plan of where to distribute calories into your fat stores.  Also, consider that when you gain weight the existing number of fat cells become larger in size, i.e. the number of fat cells stays constant - conversely, when you lose weight the existing number of fat cells become smaller in size.  Liposuction removes a certain number of fat cells in a certain area, leaving fewer fat cells in a particular location that can either increase or decrease in size with caloric changes.  This means that if you take in the same amount of calories, they are more evenly distributed into your remaining fat cell stores.  Consequently, although those calories "go other places", the net result is that you have less fat cell enlargement in the places you don't want them and you look more proportional.

Liposuction is a contouring operation, so if excess fatty tissue is removed from an area, the area permanently has less storage cells to hold fat (the number of fat cells is constant from a very young age, they just expand in size).  Once those fat cells are removed, they are gone.  Fat cells store excess calories, they don't change your metabolic rate, so if you need 2000 cal/day and you continue to get 2000 cal/day after liposuction, then there are no excess calories to store.  If you ended up taking in more than 2000 calories, then your body would store the excess calories as fat, however it would distribute the calories among your remaining fat cells throughout your body - when it is spread out, it is not as noticeable.  Liposuction isn't a weight loss operation and in general, most patients won't lose more than a few pounds at most from the operation.