So scientifically, when does the fat come off?

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Replies

  • LeenaJean
    LeenaJean Posts: 276 Member
    Technically you don't "lose" anything except for the water I believe. I read somewhere that it is all just fat cells that expand when you gain weight, and shrink when you lose weight.

    This is true.
  • LeenaJean
    LeenaJean Posts: 276 Member
    ana3067 wrote: »
    Aemely wrote: »
    Mine is mostly on Tuesday.

    Ha-ha! :p

    v2he1d4t8ybf.gif

    tumblr_inline_nfkuwbyCHu1qegzff.gif

    Oh my goodness! I have a plush of these guys :)
  • kyta32
    kyta32 Posts: 670 Member
    LeenaJean wrote: »
    Technically you don't "lose" anything except for the water I believe. I read somewhere that it is all just fat cells that expand when you gain weight, and shrink when you lose weight.

    This is true.

    Actually, that was disproved:

    http://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-professionals/clinical-updates/endocrinology/what-new-adipose-tissue

    "When normal-weight people gain modest amounts of fat, they do so by enlarging the fat cells in their upper body subcutaneous fat depot. In contrast, gain of lower body fat is largely the result of increasing the number of fat cells. Dr. Jensen highlights: "We found that the gain of as little as 1.2 kg of leg fat resulted in an average gain of 2.6 billion new fat cells! This finding refuted the long-held belief that adult humans do not develop new fat cells but are instead stuck with those that developed in their adolescence. We recently reported that adults do not lose these new leg fat cells when they lose weight."

    Adults can grow new fat cells (mostly in the legs), but I guess you only get rid of them by liposuction. Since the fat cells expand with fat, what comes out of your body is water (sweat, urine, the hydrogen part of fat) and carbon dioxide (breath, the carbon part of fat) the biproducts when fat is used for fuel.
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    Scientifically? When conditions are ideal.
  • mykaylis
    mykaylis Posts: 320 Member
    the body can also lose the fat cells themselves. it's called apoptosis. judging from what i see in my mirror, it doesn't happen half as often as gaining new cells!
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I do alternate day fasting. I never lose weight after a fast day, it's always 2 days later after a normal eating day.

    That's interesting, because I almost always lose scale weight after a fast day.

    Do you mean a true fast, as in nothing but water, or a low calorie day called a "fast day" in IF circles?

    I eat between 300-550 calories on fast days, and 1550 calories on up days.
    I used to get so annoyed when I hopped on the scales after a fast day and had lost nothing! So I started doing the everyday weighing which is when I noticed the pattern. Mind you, my body seems to be fighting me for every kilo it releases haha :s

  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    All I'm having today is a 140 calorie soup for dinner.
    Ideally zero calories would be the best best. They say 0-500 calories more so for compliance and makes it easier for people to stick to
  • Rose6300
    Rose6300 Posts: 232 Member
    I can't tell if you want a serious answer or not, but this article explains it pretty well. http://www.predatornutrition.com/en/content/losing-body-fat-for-women/
  • GingerbreadCandy
    GingerbreadCandy Posts: 403 Member
    edited December 2014
    kyta32 wrote: »
    LeenaJean wrote: »
    Technically you don't "lose" anything except for the water I believe. I read somewhere that it is all just fat cells that expand when you gain weight, and shrink when you lose weight.

    This is true.

    Actually, that was disproved:

    http://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-professionals/clinical-updates/endocrinology/what-new-adipose-tissue

    "When normal-weight people gain modest amounts of fat, they do so by enlarging the fat cells in their upper body subcutaneous fat depot. In contrast, gain of lower body fat is largely the result of increasing the number of fat cells. Dr. Jensen highlights: "We found that the gain of as little as 1.2 kg of leg fat resulted in an average gain of 2.6 billion new fat cells! This finding refuted the long-held belief that adult humans do not develop new fat cells but are instead stuck with those that developed in their adolescence. We recently reported that adults do not lose these new leg fat cells when they lose weight."

    Adults can grow new fat cells (mostly in the legs), but I guess you only get rid of them by liposuction. Since the fat cells expand with fat, what comes out of your body is water (sweat, urine, the hydrogen part of fat) and carbon dioxide (breath, the carbon part of fat) the biproducts when fat is used for fuel.

    Wait, so is the implication that you can never get rid of the fat you gain in your lower body?

    Also, does this give any kind of foundation to those retarded theories that you "cannot get cured of obesity"?

    I'm assuming not, and that I am just doing a brain-jump, but still… would be nice if someone explained to me why I am wrong. :smiley:
  • uconnwinsnc1
    uconnwinsnc1 Posts: 902 Member
    Can anyone find a scholarly article/peer reviewed source on this? I am actually pretty interested in the mechanics of fat burning over the course of a day and don't want to get my information from a .com site.
  • kyta32
    kyta32 Posts: 670 Member
    kyta32 wrote: »
    LeenaJean wrote: »
    Technically you don't "lose" anything except for the water I believe. I read somewhere that it is all just fat cells that expand when you gain weight, and shrink when you lose weight.

    This is true.

    Actually, that was disproved:

    http://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-professionals/clinical-updates/endocrinology/what-new-adipose-tissue

    "When normal-weight people gain modest amounts of fat, they do so by enlarging the fat cells in their upper body subcutaneous fat depot. In contrast, gain of lower body fat is largely the result of increasing the number of fat cells. Dr. Jensen highlights: "We found that the gain of as little as 1.2 kg of leg fat resulted in an average gain of 2.6 billion new fat cells! This finding refuted the long-held belief that adult humans do not develop new fat cells but are instead stuck with those that developed in their adolescence. We recently reported that adults do not lose these new leg fat cells when they lose weight."

    Adults can grow new fat cells (mostly in the legs), but I guess you only get rid of them by liposuction. Since the fat cells expand with fat, what comes out of your body is water (sweat, urine, the hydrogen part of fat) and carbon dioxide (breath, the carbon part of fat) the biproducts when fat is used for fuel.

    Wait, so is the implication that you can never get rid of the fat you gain in your lower body?

    Also, does this give any kind of foundation to those retarded theories that you "cannot get cured of obesity"?

    I'm assuming not, and that I am just doing a brain-jump, but still… would be nice if someone explained to me why I am wrong. :smiley:

    The links I've looked at say you can't get rid of the fat cells themselves, however the fat they contain can be broken up and taken out to be used for energy (so they get smaller). Two people can have the same number of fat cells, but one may have fat cells that are 3 times the size of the other person's. One person is a healthy weight, the other is overweight. The difference is the amount of fat stored, not the amount of fat cells. Fat cells age and die off, but are replaced by the body, so that the number of cells tends to stay the same, except as children/teenagers, when pregnant, and when gaining a significant amount of weight. Children who are overweight tend to grow up with more than the average amount of fat cells, but they are able to use the fat for energy, and make the cells smaller (lose fat).

    You can get "cured" of obesity, but will need to continue to take care of yourself to keep from gaining weight. Some of the most fit people I know used to be obese. Your body is an efficient machine, that likes to be ready for hard times :)
  • GingerbreadCandy
    GingerbreadCandy Posts: 403 Member
    edited December 2014
    kyta32 wrote: »
    kyta32 wrote: »
    LeenaJean wrote: »
    Technically you don't "lose" anything except for the water I believe. I read somewhere that it is all just fat cells that expand when you gain weight, and shrink when you lose weight.

    This is true.

    Actually, that was disproved:

    http://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-professionals/clinical-updates/endocrinology/what-new-adipose-tissue

    "When normal-weight people gain modest amounts of fat, they do so by enlarging the fat cells in their upper body subcutaneous fat depot. In contrast, gain of lower body fat is largely the result of increasing the number of fat cells. Dr. Jensen highlights: "We found that the gain of as little as 1.2 kg of leg fat resulted in an average gain of 2.6 billion new fat cells! This finding refuted the long-held belief that adult humans do not develop new fat cells but are instead stuck with those that developed in their adolescence. We recently reported that adults do not lose these new leg fat cells when they lose weight."

    Adults can grow new fat cells (mostly in the legs), but I guess you only get rid of them by liposuction. Since the fat cells expand with fat, what comes out of your body is water (sweat, urine, the hydrogen part of fat) and carbon dioxide (breath, the carbon part of fat) the biproducts when fat is used for fuel.

    Wait, so is the implication that you can never get rid of the fat you gain in your lower body?

    Also, does this give any kind of foundation to those retarded theories that you "cannot get cured of obesity"?

    I'm assuming not, and that I am just doing a brain-jump, but still… would be nice if someone explained to me why I am wrong. :smiley:

    The links I've looked at say you can't get rid of the fat cells themselves, however the fat they contain can be broken up and taken out to be used for energy (so they get smaller). Two people can have the same number of fat cells, but one may have fat cells that are 3 times the size of the other person's. One person is a healthy weight, the other is overweight. The difference is the amount of fat stored, not the amount of fat cells. Fat cells age and die off, but are replaced by the body, so that the number of cells tends to stay the same, except as children/teenagers, when pregnant, and when gaining a significant amount of weight. Children who are overweight tend to grow up with more than the average amount of fat cells, but they are able to use the fat for energy, and make the cells smaller (lose fat).

    You can get "cured" of obesity, but will need to continue to take care of yourself to keep from gaining weight. Some of the most fit people I know used to be obese. Your body is an efficient machine, that likes to be ready for hard times :)

    Makes sense.

    And no worries, that is what I believe as well. :) I remember stumbling across that theory though, and I'd rather nothing give them any foundation.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    jgnatca wrote: »
    National Geographic asked the hypothetical, "What would happen if all the people disappeared off the face of the earth?". An immediate effect would be a drop in temperature world-wide. Each of us gives off about as much heat as a sixty-watt light bulb (poor light bulb; it is quickly disappearing).

    It gave me a new image of us as human beings. We're little sixty watt heat furnaces walking around, burning off the energy we consume. All the time.

    *like*
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    Technically you don't "lose" anything except for the water I believe. I read somewhere that it is all just fat cells that expand when you gain weight, and shrink when you lose weight.

    That is total nonsense.

    Yes, fat cells expand when you gain weight, but they aren't holding water. Oddly enough, fat cells hold fat. They also release this fat for the body to use. Other cells break down this fat into other forms. Some of these chemical reactions result in byproducts that the body can't use. These are filtered from the blood stream and exit the body as waste.

This discussion has been closed.