Objects hidden in figures

I store an object instance in a figure after loading the object.

     setappdata(obj.fig_handle,'obj',obj);

I accidentally saved the figure. Now the object seems to be loaded when the figure gets loaded, but I can't seem to find out how to remove it and resave the figure.

The reason I think it is being loaded with the figure is that it contained references to objects which have deleted methods. These delete methods are being called when I close the figure, even though I've never loaded the objects (in the current session).

Where are the references to these objects? I'd like to delete them and then resave the figure. I've checked appdata but nothing appears to be there.

Thanks, Jim