In chronic obesity, activated adipose tissue pro-inflammatory cascades are tightly linked to metabolic dysfunction. Yet, close temporal analyses of the responses to obesogenic environment such as high-fat feeding (HFF) in susceptible mouse strains question the causal relationship between inflammation and metabolic dysfunction, and/or raises the possibility that certain inflammatory cascades play adaptive/homeostatic, rather than pathogenic roles. Here we hypothesized that CTRP6, a C1QTNF family member, may constitute an early responder to acute nutritional changes in adipose tissue, with potential physiological roles. Both 3 days high-fat feeding (3dHFF) and acute obesity reversal (2 weeks switch to low-fat diet after 8w-HFF) already induced marked changes in whole-body fuel utilization. While adipose tissue expression of classical pro-inflammatory cytokines (Tnf-α, Ccl2, Il1b) exhibited no, or only minor, change, C1qtnf6 uniquely increased, and decreased, in response to 3dHFF and acute obesity reversal, respectively. CTRP6 knockout (KO) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF) exhibited increased adipogenic gene expression (Pparg, Fabp4, Adipoq) and markedly reduced inflammatory genes (Tnf-α, Ccl2, Il6) compared to wild-type MEF, and recombinant CTRP6 induced the opposite gene expression signature, as assessed by RNA-sequencing. Consistently, 3dHFF of CTRP6-KO mice induced a greater whole-body and adipose tissue weight gain compared to wild-type littermates. Collectively, we propose CTRP6 as a gene that rapidly responds to acute changes in caloric intake, acting in acute over-nutrition to induce a "physiological inflammatory response" that limits adipose tissue expansion.