Does fat leave?
 

Ok...I have an interesting question for the group today.

I was wondering how exactly the fat leaves our bodies? I have asked a few people in real life just to see what they thought. Some say our bodies just burn it and it disappears. Wouldn't there be some remnant left to get rid of? Some think we get rid of it when we go to the bathroom.

Does anyone know for sure? If not, how do you think it happens??

That is a very interesting question. Now I am wondering the same thing myself. I wonder if it shrinks? I think I remember hearing that you always still have the same amount of fat cells (as you had at your fattest weight), but they shrink. I could be wrong though.

I heard the same thing.

Yeah, you always have the same number of fat cells, just smaller cells. Unfortunately, when we are gaining weight those cells swell and then divide/multiple...too bad when we lose weight they dont disappear. I am getting a ton of mine lopped off with a tummy tuck when i lose it all...take that belly fat cells. ha ha

I studied this in college, but it's pretty complicated and hard for me to explain simply (because I don't understand it all that well), but there are many chemical reactions that take place in the body.

In a nutshell, the body is a giant chemical processing plant that can take some substances and turn them into other substances that the body can use either as energy or to repair or rebuild organ structures. Think of it as body organs are always in a constant state of being damaged and rebuilt. For example skin cells slough off every day, and your body uses components in our food, water and air to make new skin cells. This is true for your whole body. We make new cells and get rid of old ones every day. Food, water, air are used to keep everything working - anything that is left over (the dead cells, the undigested bits of food, anything the body can't use) is excreted - in urine, feces, sweat, saliva, exhaled breath...

Fat molecules may not be fat molecules when they're excreted - they might have been broken down into smaller components that aren't really fat anymore, or some of it may leave undigested (for example if you're taking Alli or Orlistat, some of the fat will not be digested - with potentially yucky consequences).

Your body can create fat cells, but doesn't destroy them. So you can think of the fat cell as a grease-filled balloon. You can empty the balloons of the grease, but you'll still have the balloons.

Really good info! Thanks for asking this question. I've often wondered the same thing.

good job kalods! that was an excellent explination!

Here is an explanation that I actually learned a couple days ago from a book that my friend's younger sister has that answers life's puzzling questions. Basically, muscles look for 2 sources for energy, sugar and fat. The more active we are the more energy the muscles burn from fat. So after fat is burned there are 3 components left. That is carbon dioxide ( which we breath out), water ( sweat, urine, etc.) and something called ketones, which are fragments or partially burned fat. The ketones or processed by the liver and either get burned in the muscles or brain for energy, and some get broken down in the kidney. But for the most part burned fat becomes either energy, water, or carbon dioxide. Hope that helps!

yup and the only way to get a fat cell to actually completely leave your body is with some LIPO where they suck that puppy right outta ya LOL

Oprah says that you pee it out. Not fat cells, which you cannot get rid of without surgery!

-Aimee

:lol: Trazey, you crack me up!
Thanks everyone for the great responses!

This is a little depressing....you're telling me that my body created tons and tons of fat cells when I got fat and now I can never get rid of them? So in theory a fat person can never really be thin?

But you see it all the time, people who have lost tons of weight and are now in incredible shape and look great. Can our fat cells shrink to minuscule size and almost disappear?

Wisher, as I understand vaguely we did not create new fat cells when we gained weight. We simply 'filled' them as kaplods explains. I was always under the understanding that we've always had the same rough amount of fat cells throughout life, we just inflated them.

ETA~ Looking over kaplods post again I see I may have misunderstood what I've been told. I guess bodies do create new fat cells. Hmph.

Don't worry about fat on a molecular level, if you have 100 or a million fat cells who cares as long as your a$$ looks nice in jeans :D