How long from Lip to Hip?

Crawflowr

I was just wondering how long does the body take to process the food we eat and store the excess as fat? I weighed myself this morning and I was back to my pre xmas minimum weight so it appears that I have successfully negociated Xmas but is my body still processing the food I ate yesterday and the day before and therefore may I still have some price to pay?

Now focussing on negociating my way through Hogmanny.

Crawflowr

Think I may have just answered my own question with a google search. i found the answer given really interesting and it explained a lot of how this whole diet/exercise thing works, I'm goiing to post this other persons response here to see if anyone here has any counter argument or information:

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Fats are absorbed from your food, by the 'fingers' in your Gut ('villi'). These pass the fatty molecules into your bloodstream.

Fats circulating in your bloodstream are being 'sucked' into adipose (fat storage) cells ALL THE TIME. The process is faster when your 'metabolism' is high ('metabolism' just means 'chemistry happening inside your body'), and slower when it's low (for example, at night).

For storage, the fat is converted into a different substance, which resembles soap. It's called 'triglyceride' (triacylglycerol in the USA), because its molecule is made up from three fatty molecules and a glycerol 'parking unit'. This stuff doesn't burn, so it needs to be converted back into 'fatty acids' before your body can use it as fuel.

All sorts of other cells are trying to 'soak up' fats from your bloodstream, too. If you are doing a lot of GENTLE activity, your muscles will be seeking out fats to use as fuel for these movements (fat can only be burned slowly; vigorous movements need to be powered by sugar, which is chemically an explosive).

GENTLE exercise causes signals to be sent to the adipose tissues, asking them to release more fatty acids into your bloodstream, so that a good supply of the right fuel can constantly be available. Doing a lot of vigorous exercises will inhibit this process, because fat can't used to power this type of work.

Your liver will take a lot of fats out of your bloodstream, for use in various processes. Some liver cells CAN also create new fat from other substances ('lipogenesis'), but normally DON'T. The idea that 'excess calories are converted into fat to be stored IS A MYTH. Some animals can do a lot of this conversion, but humans hardly ever do a significant amount of it.

So in terms of time, the fat can be stored almost immediately (within seconds of being absorbed), or go through weeks of other processes before being stored. Some fat molecules will be used as fuel almost immediately. This process converts the fat into Carbon Dioxide and Water. BOTH of these waste products will be exhaled.

Some fat will not be absorbed through the 'wall' of your intestine. This will be expelled from your body (1-2 days later)when you go to the toilet, together with everything else in your food that hasn't been absorbed. Oil in your s.h.i.t makes it yellower and stickier.

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