Nursing school was awhile back, and I can't remember...

Where does fat go once it is "lost". Do we "excrete" it, or does it turn into energy and "burn" (evaporate?!!) off?

I was just thiking about this yesterday on my run, and thought it might be good to envision as a motivator...

lol, you know, I have often wondered the same thing. I am not really sure. I am hoping someone will enlighten us both

From the Mayo Clinic:

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.

WARNING WARNING TMI ALERT!!!!! :d

Funny, I've been wondering the same thing these past few mornings. In this last week, particularly when I've been varying my calorie intake a bit, and these last few evenings, and, to be honest, a couple of times during the day I have made such copious bathroom calls that I've wondered: if I'm not actually losing internal organs (joke) then there is an awful lot of diet-induced waste products going on here. Not urgent, not like I'm sick, just um remarkably plentiful!!!!! (Well, I did warn you.)
While I've always assumed that our bodies turned to the fat for energy, the other side of things seems to be the case too.

Good Lord, the things we think of....

I was wondering the same thing! Thanks for the information!

Ailidh Your post gave me a great laugh....Thanks!

Hello all!
Enjoy our life. Haha!

murphmitch-
Thank you! This was very helpful. I thought I remembered it that way, but then I remember some obscure pathophysiology lecture saying something about, "fatty stool floats"...
so some, after being absorbed by the liver, must make it..um.."out"!

Actually, the reason there's excess fat in stools is because it *isn't* absorbed, due to some disease state.