[jajabee]

Hey all, I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I can't figure out what to search for... I'm wondering, when you lose weight, where does it go? I mean, it's not like it shows up in a neat little box under your pillow in the morning.

All I can figure is that maybe "burning" calories is actually literal, and the fat leaves our bodies as heat? Or does it all go out as liquids? Sorry if this is too gross, I'm just really curious!

[graphicgirl7]

I'm sure it goes into the toilet. Where else would it go? LOL

[willow650]

Body fat: Where does it go when you lose weight?
Where does body fat go when you lose weight?
- Elisa / Texas
Mayo Clinic dietitian Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D., and colleagues answer select questions from readers.
Answer

When you consume fewer calories than your body needs, your body turns to fat for energy. Your fat cells (triglycerides) provide the fuel for this energy.

Through a series of complex metabolic processes, triglycerides are broken down into two different components — glycerol and fatty acids — which are absorbed into your liver, kidney and muscle. Here, these components are further broken down by chemical processes that ultimately produce energy for your body.

The heat generated through these activities is used to help maintain your body temperature. The waste products that result are water and carbon dioxide. You excrete water primarily in urine and sweat and carbon dioxide in air exhaled from your lungs.

[GradPhase]

Hah! I've actually wondered this same thing. I once read somewhere on 3FC that a few ladies love checking out their sweat lines on their work out clothes after running, to physically SEE the fat come off their bodies - so I just stuck with that as a sufficient answer for my curiosity - plus even if it isn't a good answer, after my work outs it still makes me feel great... so now I'm not sure if I want to know if I'm wrong or not!

[jajabee]

Cool, thanks! So... does it make sense that the increase in carbon dioxide production would cause a little gassiness? Cause I went on a long run this morning, and I swear I was wanting to burp the whole drive home! :P

[WarMaiden]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E%3Dmc2

You're not sweating, peeing, farting, or burping the fat out. It's simply being converted to energy.

[mazza]

Originally Posted by WarMaiden

You're not sweating, peeing, farting, or burping the fat out. It's simply being converted to energy.

Well said!

[kaplods]

Energy and waste byproducts (which you do sweat, pee, poop, fart, and burp out).

An analogy would be burning wood (or anything else) which creates thermal energy, but also in the process, creates/leaves behind waste products of water, carbon dioxide, and carbon molecules or ash.

[JulieJ08]

The CO2 won't make you gassy (intestinal-wise); it would be breathed off. The water you'd pee off.

[rinku]

An interesting thread indeed !

[WarMaiden]

Originally Posted by kaplods

Energy and waste byproducts (which you do sweat, pee, poop, fart, and burp out).

An analogy would be burning wood (or anything else) which creates thermal energy, but also in the process, creates/leaves behind waste products of water, carbon dioxide, and carbon molecules or ash.

Theoretically, though, you should not be producing any more of these waste products after starting to lose weight than before, assuming you were in a state of energy balance prior to weight loss; because you are still burning approximately the same number of calories off per day, with perhaps a small boost if any exercise is being done. The only thing that's changing is that a greater proportion of your energy is now coming from stored fat, versus from intake of food.

[HealthPNut]

Well said Willow-that's exactly what a professor told me in biology- only he showed the actual break down of the molecules with it. I can't remember exactly what it was, but stored energy was something like C2O6H3 and when they break down they re-group to form H2O and CO2. You pee, sweat, and breath it out.