What happens to fat when you lose weight?

Donnabelle98

I know this is silly but I have always thought about it. What happens to fat when you lose weight? Does the fat shrink and disappears or does something else go on?

Machka9

It's breathed out.


https://theconversation.com/when-we-lose-weight-where-does-it-go-91594

sijomial

Don't know why someone woo'd the post above as it's an accurate in that you basically breathe the majority of it out.

An analogy would be a candle - when you burn it you release the stored energy (heat and light) and gas is given off.

Your fat store is an energy store, you use that energy to power your bodily functions.

Jackie9003

It might be a positive woo, I've seen the article before and found it fascinating definitely not a proper woo.

NovusDies

Once the fat is tapped for energy there is a theory "squishy fat" that water temporarily replaces the fat content in the cell which helps mask weight loss on the scale. This may be why many people have weight "whooshes" where they drop a chunk of weight in a 24 hour period after not seeming to lose weight at all for a week or more.

I am not sure if this happens all of the time or even if it happens at all. I haven't really looked into it that much. I do experience "whooshes" but they could be just normal fluctuations.

manderson27

I was really surprised a year ago when I discovered that the majority of it was released through the breath. The body is truly amazing.

SpicyWater

I'm actually kind of relieved to see this because I had no idea either and felt like it was probably something I should know as a bio major. My husband tried to convince me that you poop it out and that's why if you're losing weight your poop floats ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ lol

Keto_Vampire

Carbon dioxide loss overtime exceeding carbon intake (carbohydrates, lipids, proteins)
#Carbon = new villain of weight gain...stop eating carbon...(><)...(joking of course)

mlsh69

I've always heard that the fat cells shrink but remain in their spot. Who knows lol

whatalazyidiot

This made me think of Envy, where they have the spray that makes poo disappear. BUT WHERE DID THE POOP GO?!!

onaneren2017

NovusDies wrote: »

Once the fat is tapped for energy there is a theory "squishy fat" that water temporarily replaces the fat content in the cell which helps mask weight loss on the scale. This may be why many people have weight "whooshes" where they drop a chunk of weight in a 24 hour period after not seeming to lose weight at all for a week or more.

I am not sure if this happens all of the time or even if it happens at all. I haven't really looked into it that much. I do experience "whooshes" but they could be just normal fluctuations.

My dietician warned me about this. There was this period of time where I hit a plateau and I wasn’t losing any weight. And from my measurements he said that there was a fat loss but my water retention was going up, which he said was a normal thing that he sees every day and told me about this.

maureenkhilde

It is a combination of breathing it out 84%, and other 16% is through water loss, mostly sweat.
However the fat cells remain in the body, they just shrink when they become empty of fat. It is something I have followed for a few years. If you were an obese and or pretty overweight child you have a higher average of fat cells going into young adulthood. Why this is has some meaning is that the number of fat cells for most people are set by late teen years. However Obese people do seem to have a higher than average number of fat cells. One item that researchers have been looking into is why when people lose weight, even lots of weight why fat cells do not disappear. They may shrink in size, but do not disappear. Exception to this is when obese patients undergo some type of bariatric surgery and literally the fat cells were surgically removed.

Safari_Gal

Great posts y’all