Ok we exercise then how exactly is the fat going away? Is it literally melting during exercise? and then what, we pee/sweat it out? Just curious, thought someone around here might know.

I've always heard that fat cells don't go away, they just shrink.

Great question !!!!

From the Mayo Clinic: (google "where does fat go when you lose weight")

Site: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/body-fat/AN01327

Quote:

Answer

When you consume fewer calories than your body needs, your body turns to fat for energy. Body fat is broken down through a series of complex metabolic processes. Your body uses the energy produced by these processes. The waste products from these processes are water and carbon dioxide. You excrete water primarily through urine and sweat, and carbon dioxide by exhaling.

Soooo.... *technically* ALL the weight we lose is "water weight"?

By taking in less cals your body will burn [U]stored fat[/U], one of the best things you can do while excersing is to drink heaps of water to help flush the wastes out. If for one minute I thought I would lose weight by just losing water, and keep it off, I would sit in a sauna all day LOL
MaryL

Thanks for the answer I've long wondered that myself. I had concluded that the times I have to visit the bathroom more fequently is when I lose most. I have to get up once or twice during the night now whereas when not dieting I sleep through.

Kitty

The answer makes perfect sense, given that our bodies are designed to store fat in case of a famine. If famine did strike, our fat would keep our body going until we found more food.

who cares where it goes - as long as it never finds its way back!!! :-)

Thanks for the answers, I was just curious, makes me wanna drink water even more.

@ Finn!!!

I always said I lost weight just from walking back and forth to the bathroom all day long! Makes sense to me...

Thanks for the link! The other piece to keep in mind is that these "complex metabolic processes" can take time... one reason that eating less than you burn on day 1 doesn't equal immediate weight loss on day 2.

And I'm not sure how much extra water is excreted from fat. Most of the time we're losing slowly, it's excreted from urine, sweat and carbon dioxide... it may not be enough of a difference for us to notice...

While i'm sure that water and co2 are waste products of fat being metabolised, when some thing is used as energy, that is where it goes isn't it? It becomes energy?
I really sound like a knowitall don't I? Im not trying too. I'm just thinking back to all the bio classes i took in college.
there is the whole Krebs cycle that explains the breakdown of sugar into ATP (adenosine tri-phophate) which is used by the body as energy.

I could look it up if anyone is really interested in a whole science lesson. ...In fact, now I am curious, maybe i will look it up.

Kaebea - thats where the extra energy goes. Energy, though, is stored in the bonds between atoms, which have a VERY small amount of weight (almost negligible). So the WEIGHT lost is actually the water and CO2, which are released because the ENERGY, stored in the chemical bonds in your cells, is used up.

Mass is ALWAYS conserved...no weight can be "burned up" and gone forever. It has to be exhaled or excreted.