When is a pound lost and where does it go?

tinksmommy2006

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.

So THIS is why drinking water helps you lose weight...the more water you drink, the more you pee, so the more fat can leave your body...good to know :huh:

Seriously, you'd think that with all the resources we have available to us, people would not be THIS misinformed. And that doctor...how did he/she ever get a license to practice medicine?! :grumble:

They bought their license on craigslist...duh??!!??!!:laugh:

missamielou

I think every pound you lost in December was found by my thighs.

This is hilarious!! :drinker:

sophjakesmom

I think every pound you lost in December was found by my thighs.

LOL,:laugh: That sucks~

Kirsty_UK

My husband loses pounds all the time - every time he sits down in the car they fall out his pocket and get lost in the crumby pit beneath the seat

SassyCalyGirl

its keeping the socks that get lost in the dryer company

love this!

Clintthecoolguy

Pounds of fat are NOT converted into energy. One of the rules of science is that matter can not be created or destroyed, only changed in form. The only way matter can be DIRECTLY converted into energy is through Nuclear Fusion or Fission, which itself takes massive amounts of energy to initiate - it's how our sun works after all.

Potential energy is stored up in your fat cells in the form of various chemicals, and the fat cells grow larger to retain them. When those cells are tapped for their energy (from dieting or whatever), they give up those chemicals, a reaction takes place, and the stored-up sugars are released back to your bloodstream for use.

So where do the pounds actually go? It leaves your body the same way all weight leaves your body - fluids and solids are passed out through sweat, urine, or excrement. Sounds gross, but there it is. You don't actually "lose" any fat cells. They just shrink.

So thinking "I have to convert all this weight I'm carrying around into energy" is not really true. When you build up a calorie (a.k.a. energy) deficit, it signals your body to use the stored-up potential energy. In the process, it releases the extra mass you have and converts it into waste

mandycasey

Loved reading this, made my day. Thanx xx

Fit4_Life

Too bad pounds lost don't go to your worst enemy.. :-D Ha!:devil:

cessnaholly

bump

Dethea

The original poster asked some interesting questions, and I like the way she thinks.

A "heat engine" takes in heat and converts a portion of it into mechanical work. When nutrient molecules in the body are combined with oxygen ("burned"), that's an exothermic reaction; it produces heat. Muscle cells use that heat energy to do work. The whole human body can be usefully regarded as a heat engine.

And yes, calories *are* energy, rigorously and exactly. A calorie is the amount of heat energy required to increase the temperature of a gram of water by a Celsius degree. (A nutritional calorie -- the sort we all talk about here -- is 1000 calories, as defined. It is also equal to 4186 joules, which is the work done by one newton of force over a parallel displacement of 4186 meters. A "typical" person weighs about 667 newtons, and can be lifted a little over six meters, straight up, by a nutritional calorie of mechanical work.)

A pound is lost when a pound of stored nutrients in the body (hopefully, fat) has been converted to ... well, not just energy. If an entire pound of fat were all converted to energy (according to E = mc^2), a dieter would be like an atomic bomb. But, as another commenter pointed out, chemical bonds in the pound of fat are broken, some of it is oxidized, heat is produced by that reaction; most of the rest of the broken-down nutrient molecules become waste and are eliminated in the same way as any food waste. The energy required by your body is supplied by the food you eat; if you don't eat "enough," you're in a calorie-deficit situation, and some stored body fat is internally "eaten" as well. As the OP said, about 3500 cal of deficit is equivalent to a pound of fat; as for WHEN this happens: as soon as your body requires a single calorie more than you've eaten, 1/3500 of a pound gets burned. When your cumulative deficit reaches 3500 cal, a full pound will have been used. (For the elimination of the unburned waste, I suppose there's a time delay measured in hours.)

But, in any case, that pound of fat didn't turn into nothing. A very small fraction of it is turned into heat and used by your muscles; the vast majority is turned into feces and urine, and returns to nature in the usual ways.

People ask me from time to time how much weight I've lost. Of course, I tell them that "lost" is probably too strong a term. I pretty much know where all of it is. Most of it's at the grocery store; quite a bit is at Burger King and Taco Bell and so on. I could go pick it up at any time. So, it's not really lost; it's more like "misplaced." I hope to leave it that way.

He's probably a scientist. Amazing. Best answer, besides the white stuff in your pee.

MercuryBlue

Pounds of fat are NOT converted into energy. One of the rules of science is that matter can not be created or destroyed, only changed in form. The only way matter can be DIRECTLY converted into energy is through Nuclear Fusion or Fission, which itself takes massive amounts of energy to initiate - it's how our sun works after all.

Potential energy is stored up in your fat cells in the form of various chemicals, and the fat cells grow larger to retain them. When those cells are tapped for their energy (from dieting or whatever), they give up those chemicals, a reaction takes place, and the stored-up sugars are released back to your bloodstream for use.

So where do the pounds actually go? It leaves your body the same way all weight leaves your body - fluids and solids are passed out through sweat, urine, or excrement. Sounds gross, but there it is. You don't actually "lose" any fat cells. They just shrink.

So thinking "I have to convert all this weight I'm carrying around into energy" is not really true. When you build up a calorie (a.k.a. energy) deficit, it signals your body to use the stored-up potential energy. In the process, it releases the extra mass you have and converts it into waste

I really like this response, as well as the other two more scientific replies. I think it's important to note that, yes, fat does eventually leave your body as waste (after we suck all the 'good stuff' out of it). TBH, while the original response in this thread gave me a bit of a chuckle for various reasons, it wasn't as completely inaccurate as people here have made it out to be. I was happy to see people answer the original question with good information instead of mockery. I haven't been on the boards in a while, and I was taken aback at some of the nastiness disguised as humor.

sagaloo

I think every pound you lost in December was found by my thighs.

ha, ha, that really made me laugh

tidmutt

Sigh. You are all SO misguided. Poor heathens.

Fatness is a punishment from the Divine Flying Spaghetti Monster. We have all displeased him in some way. And the only way to lose weight is to perform the appropriate rituals of repentance. In his Infinite Wisdom, our deity has provided several different rituals for those of different temperaments. You could practice the Treading of the Mill, or the Holy Contortions of Yoga, or submit yourself to the Torturers (sometimes called "Aerobics Instructors") at one of his Sacred Temples (also known as "gyms").

If your Ritual Humiliations have found favor with His Noodly Goodness, he shall visit you in your sleep and shave the pounds from your body with his Holy Cheese Grater.

I hope this has enlightened you all. May the Sauce be with you. RAmen.

ROFL!

tidmutt

Pounds of fat are NOT converted into energy. One of the rules of science is that matter can not be created or destroyed, only changed in form. The only way matter can be DIRECTLY converted into energy is through Nuclear Fusion or Fission, which itself takes massive amounts of energy to initiate - it's how our sun works after all.

Potential energy is stored up in your fat cells in the form of various chemicals, and the fat cells grow larger to retain them. When those cells are tapped for their energy (from dieting or whatever), they give up those chemicals, a reaction takes place, and the stored-up sugars are released back to your bloodstream for use.

So where do the pounds actually go? It leaves your body the same way all weight leaves your body - fluids and solids are passed out through sweat, urine, or excrement. Sounds gross, but there it is. You don't actually "lose" any fat cells. They just shrink.

So thinking "I have to convert all this weight I'm carrying around into energy" is not really true. When you build up a calorie (a.k.a. energy) deficit, it signals your body to use the stored-up potential energy. In the process, it releases the extra mass you have and converts it into waste

I really like this response, as well as the other two more scientific replies. I think it's important to note that, yes, fat does eventually leave your body as waste (after we suck all the 'good stuff' out of it). TBH, while the original response in this thread gave me a bit of a chuckle for various reasons, it wasn't as completely inaccurate as people here have made it out to be. I was happy to see people answer the original question with good information instead of mockery. I haven't been on the boards in a while, and I was taken aback at some of the nastiness disguised as humor.

Although I think the poster of that one took the converted into energy a little to literally. LOL I'm sure no one assumed a direct conversion of matter to energy... that would make for a lively Weight Watchers meeting.

Hummmingbird

Sigh. You are all SO misguided. Poor heathens.

Fatness is a punishment from the Divine Flying Spaghetti Monster. We have all displeased him in some way. And the only way to lose weight is to perform the appropriate rituals of repentance. In his Infinite Wisdom, our deity has provided several different rituals for those of different temperaments. You could practice the Treading of the Mill, or the Holy Contortions of Yoga, or submit yourself to the Torturers (sometimes called "Aerobics Instructors") at one of his Sacred Temples (also known as "gyms").

If your Ritual Humiliations have found favor with His Noodly Goodness, he shall visit you in your sleep and shave the pounds from your body with his Holy Cheese Grater.

I hope this has enlightened you all. May the Sauce be with you. RAmen.

You are my hero.

Hummmingbird

Sigh. You are all SO misguided. Poor heathens.

Fatness is a punishment from the Divine Flying Spaghetti Monster. We have all displeased him in some way. And the only way to lose weight is to perform the appropriate rituals of repentance. In his Infinite Wisdom, our deity has provided several different rituals for those of different temperaments. You could practice the Treading of the Mill, or the Holy Contortions of Yoga, or submit yourself to the Torturers (sometimes called "Aerobics Instructors") at one of his Sacred Temples (also known as "gyms").

If your Ritual Humiliations have found favor with His Noodly Goodness, he shall visit you in your sleep and shave the pounds from your body with his Holy Cheese Grater.

I hope this has enlightened you all. May the Sauce be with you. RAmen.

You are my hero. (aka a sub)

GasMasterFlash

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.

BUMP! OMG I HAD NO IDEA!

odusgolp

This does need to get recorded in the "Best of MFP" Hall of Fame...

morgansmom02

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.

BUMP! OMG I HAD NO IDEA!

HAHAHAHA this is the best thread ever!

AlyRoseNYC

This thread completes my life.