Where does it go???

MaryEffingPoppins

FAT!

Sooo, as I was riding my bike today it came over me.. "When you lose weight, where does it go?" Seriously. Does it just disappear? Does it turn into gas? Sweat, fluids... What?

TooFatToFit

Gosh, that is a good question! I assume our body breaks some of it down into smaller elements and disposes of it through all the organs that do that, but there has to be more to it than that. Hmmm...

ohwhataday

Up and out!

musicmint

Your body uses it as energy when you exercise. Thats why they call it burning fat when you do it..lol
It's important to exercise because this is the process you want to train your body to do...not starving yourself and burning muscle mass instead

MarandaPanda86

The fat cells are still there, they are just depleted of the fuel that is inside of them. That's why it's so easy to gain weight back! The cases are still there, they are just waiting to be filled. Lipo is the only way to really remove fat cells.

Caitie1986

I have often wondered the same thing... It's been a long time since biochemistry, but I think it has something to do with each individual fat (or glycogen) molecule being broken down. The products of breakdown of these molecules are energy, water, and waste. So- waste goes out in different ways, through the kidneys, colon, etc. Water can be lost in a number of different way. I think that's how it works.

significance

Much of it to gas. When you breath, you bind carbon to oxygen to make CO2. The carbon comes from your food and fat stores.

kr3851

I like to think there are little furnaces in my muscles that 'burn' the fat. But that's my inner pyro getting excited about burning things...

2stepz

... what happens to the gas in your car as you use it? It turns into heat, waste product, and water.

Your body is just a machine that needs fuel. Granted, its a VERY complicated machine, but a machine none the less. The fuel can either come from the primary tank (food you eat that day) or from your reserve tank (fat cells). So think of weight loss as using less primary and more reserve fuel.

This is why diet and exercise is key... the less fuel you take in the primary tank, the more the reserve is used; the more "miles" your machine has to go, the more fuel you will burn.

It also explains why you burn less fuel the smaller your "machine" gets. A Vespa is drastically more fuel efficient than an 18 wheeler. A 100 lb woman burns much less than a 400 lb man.

**Edit: I think my engineer is showing...**

curvygirl512

So, here's the flip side: where does all that muscle come from? Will post the answer after I talk with our biologists at school.

muitobem

Straight from the Mayo clinic:

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.

muitobem

Muscle vs. Fat

Despite what all the late night infomercials tell us, fat and muscle are two distinctly different tissues and one can't be turned into the other. Muscle will always be muscle and fat will always be fat. As to the second thought you mentioned, one pound of either is exactly that — one pound.

It is indeed a myth that fat cells can change into muscle. You can burn fat and build muscle, but a fat cell will never turn into a muscle cell. Body fat is a storage place where our body puts extra energy when we consume more calories per day than we burn. If someone continues to consume more calories than s/he needs, the size of their existing fat cells increases. When we "burn fat" we are actually shrinking the size of our fat cells by using the energy that has been stored there. There are also have a fixed number of muscle cells so when we are building muscle the individual muscle cells are increasing in size (bulking up).

Over time, you can gain muscle mass through a variety of activities including weight lifting and other forms of resistance training. If your main goal is to bulk up, you are likely increase your muscle mass which could increase your overall weight. Remember that your weight also depends on what you eat and if you're doing other types of exercise. For example, if you're doing lots of cardio, then you may ultimately lose fat and decrease your weight.

Instead of stepping on a scale, you may want to consider measuring your body composition. Methods to assess body composition (lean body mass vs. fat body mass) can help give you a more accurate idea of what comprises your body.

MarandaPanda86

Muscles grow larger because, as you strength train, you are technically damaging your muscles, essentially causing tiny tiny tears which must be filled with actin and myosin (I'm pretty sure, been a while since A&P) to repair them. This causes the muscle fibers to expand in size, thus making them stronger. That's the super-abridged version lol.