When is a pound lost and where does it go?

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LemonSocks
LemonSocks Posts: 238 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have two questions that have been bugging me. So I hear you lose a pound of fat for every 3500 calories. This being the case, when does that pound actually drop off? Theoretically, if I were to eat my maintenance calories and burn 3500 calories through exercise would I lose a pound the moment I reached that calorie burn or does it take a day or two to remove itself?


This second part of the question sounds ridiculous, I'll admit, but where exactly does that pound of fat go? I get that it's converted into energy but I have a hard time getting my head around the idea that something that occupies a certain space (the pound of fat) can essentially disappear into something which no longer occupies space.


The second problem is something that confuses me when it comes up in any context. I just can't quite understand how something can become nothing. Any thoughts welcome.
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Replies

  • kaned_ferret
    kaned_ferret Posts: 618 Member
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    With regards to the second part, it doesn't become nothing as such, but is converted into energy, which is lost/expended as heat amongst other things including kinetic energy... (scavenging the remnants of my science lessons from oh so many years ago here!)
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
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    I think every pound you lost in December was found by my thighs.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
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    When you put gas in your car and drive around all week, where does it go?
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
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    its keeping the socks that get lost in the dryer company
  • Sublimely_Self_Righteousreused
    Sublimely_Self_Righteousreused Posts: 935 Member
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    It goes to the Land of Misfit Pounds

    happy-cuteness-overload.jpg
  • CaptainGordo
    CaptainGordo Posts: 4,437 Member
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    well you can stay at maintainance at burn 500 cals a day n you will lose a pound every week.
    2nd ques when you are burning fat look for when thing when you go to toilet to pee you will notice something white in your pee is like chicken fat thats how some of your fat comes out n some as a sweat. because when i did a diet few years back when the white thing came in pee i got scared that its something serious but found out its nothing just fat so a doctor knows best.
    What?! You don't pee fat out.

    Here's what happens...
    When you lose weight, where does the lost body fat go?

    from Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.

    Body fat breaks down during a series of complex metabolic processes.

    When you burn more calories than you consume, your body uses fat (triglycerides) for energy. This causes your fat cells to shrink. In turn, triglycerides are broken down into two different substances — glycerol and fatty acids — which are absorbed into your liver, kidneys and muscle tissue. From there, the glycerol and fatty acids are further broken down by chemical processes that ultimately produce energy for your body.

    These activities generate heat, which helps maintain your body temperature. The resulting waste products — water and carbon dioxide — are excreted in urine and sweat or exhaled from your lungs.

    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/body-fat/AN01327
  • ilookthetype
    ilookthetype Posts: 3,021 Member
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    well you can stay at maintainance at burn 500 cals a day n you will lose a pound every week.
    2nd ques when you are burning fat look for when thing when you go to toilet to pee you will notice something white in your pee is like chicken fat thats how some of your fat comes out n some as a sweat. because when i did a diet few years back when the white thing came in pee i got scared that its something serious but found out its nothing just fat so a doctor knows best.

    This is the most amazing response I have ever read.
  • lemonjune
    lemonjune Posts: 37 Member
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    I think every pound you lost in December was found by my thighs.

    :laugh:
  • CaptainGordo
    CaptainGordo Posts: 4,437 Member
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    well you can stay at maintainance at burn 500 cals a day n you will lose a pound every week.
    2nd ques when you are burning fat look for when thing when you go to toilet to pee you will notice something white in your pee is like chicken fat thats how some of your fat comes out n some as a sweat. because when i did a diet few years back when the white thing came in pee i got scared that its something serious but found out its nothing just fat so a doctor knows best.
    If you have white **** coming out with your urine, see a doc. It ain't fat!
  • chubbybunnee
    chubbybunnee Posts: 198 Member
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    I picture it like a hamburger. You but it in the pan and the fat is in the hamburger meat...you heat it up and some of the fat turns into grease and liquid...Your body gets rid of fat through our GI tract but it is also used for energy so a lot of it escapes as "heat energy"... When you sweat, people joke that is your fat crying...it does have something to do with that! lol....Our bodies use energy to live, to sort out what in our intake is fat, sugar, carbs, etc....

    Here is a good informational link about it : http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/human-biology/fat-cell2.htm

    Hope this helps!
  • Contrarian
    Contrarian Posts: 8,138 Member
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    well you can stay at maintainance at burn 500 cals a day n you will lose a pound every week.
    2nd ques when you are burning fat look for when thing when you go to toilet to pee you will notice something white in your pee is like chicken fat thats how some of your fat comes out n some as a sweat. because when i did a diet few years back when the white thing came in pee i got scared that its something serious but found out its nothing just fat so a doctor knows best.

    Science!
  • Sublimely_Self_Righteousreused
    Sublimely_Self_Righteousreused Posts: 935 Member
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    well you can stay at maintainance at burn 500 cals a day n you will lose a pound every week.
    2nd ques when you are burning fat look for when thing when you go to toilet to pee you will notice something white in your pee is like chicken fat thats how some of your fat comes out n some as a sweat. because when i did a diet few years back when the white thing came in pee i got scared that its something serious but found out its nothing just fat so a doctor knows best.

    I admit, I just read this. You couldn't have explained it better! :happy:
  • foster59803
    foster59803 Posts: 439 Member
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    I think every pound you lost in December was found by my thighs.

    Mine too! Damn!
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    To whoever said you PEE it out:

    "Ketonuria is a medical condition in which ketone bodies are present in the urine.
    It is seen in conditions in which the body produces excess ketones as an alternative source of energy. It is seen during starvation or more commonly in type I diabetes mellitus. Production of ketone bodies is a normal response to a shortage of glucose, meant to provide an alternate source of fuel from fatty acids."

    Note where it said DURING STARVATION or in Diabetics...

    This is not a "common" type of "where does my fat go?". It is not something to strive for or be pleased to see. It is actually bad.
  • infamousmk
    infamousmk Posts: 6,033 Member
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    Every time I lose a pound, I look for it everywhere. My pants pockets, the bottom of my purse, under the bed! And I never do figure out where the heck it goes!
  • gseburn
    gseburn Posts: 456 Member
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    I think every pound you lost in December was found by my thighs.

    :-D
  • ZombieSlayer
    ZombieSlayer Posts: 369 Member
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    When you put gas in your car and drive around all week, where does it go?
    its keeping the socks that get lost in the dryer company
    It goes to the Land of Misfit Pounds

    :drinker: :drinker: :drinker: :drinker:
  • Qarol
    Qarol Posts: 6,171 Member
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    well you can stay at maintainance at burn 500 cals a day n you will lose a pound every week.
    2nd ques when you are burning fat look for when thing when you go to toilet to pee you will notice something white in your pee is like chicken fat thats how some of your fat comes out n some as a sweat. because when i did a diet few years back when the white thing came in pee i got scared that its something serious but found out its nothing just fat so a doctor knows best.
    You win the internet. :flowerforyou:

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