Where does the fat actually go??

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.

Source: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/body-fat/AN01327

It's not a stupid question at all, I had the same thought so researched the answer

So as you can read, you don't magically destroy the cells, but instead kind of empty them out :happy: the fat inside the cells is "burned" (used to make energy through metabolic processes) but not the cells themselves.

from Livestrong.com

Photo Credit fat image by Leonid Nyshko from Fotolia.com

The number of fat cells you have in your body does not increase or decrease over time, rather the size of them increases or decreases. The number of fat cells a person has in her body is set by the time she goes through puberty. As an adult, you cannot get rid of your fat cells, but your diet and activity level affect the size of them. The volume of your fat cells depends on your overall body fat percentage. An increase or decrease in your body fat percentage makes these cells vary in size. Healthy weight loss and reduction of body fat both stem from healthy eating and daily exercise.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/256055-how-to-eliminate-fat-cells/#ixzz1rFDm4gV0

You don't grow new fat cells when you gain weight. They just increase in size therefore when you lose weight they shrink

That's really interesting, thanks for the article Mel

I found ...need to go to toilet more frequently ...and more so at night ...when you first start loosing weight ...and then get s better , lol !

So, fat cells are formed by the time we reach puberty ........ Therefore, I gather those of us that are, say, big hipped may have more fat cells around the hips than our sisters?

With that in mind, does liposuction suck out fat cells? One would think so. But I have been led to believe that liposuction isn't necessarily permanent.

Anyone know the answers to this?

Yes it sucks out the fat cells, but not all of them, that is not possible nor wise. The problems arise when after the procedure, the patient does not adhere to sensible eating, in other words, they eat rubbish and junk all the time - they need to live a healthy lifestyle. If they do not, the remaining fat cells grow and the person once again is overweight.

Website below regarding liposuction:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/180450.php

And here I was thinking that the fat just hid under my bed.

(I sort of envisaged puddles of fat lying in my wake, so was a bit grossed out. Feel a bit better now!)

I found ...need to go to toilet more frequently ...and more so at night ...when you first start loosing weight ...and then get s better , lol !

Same here.

Just drink water, work out, burn more calories than you consume and the fat is peed out!

On a related note, does the body burn off fat evenly, from one area before it moves on to another, or does it depend on the person? I ask because I read once that fat burns off like an onion being peeled and that areas of the body where less fat is stored only appear to make progress faster than areas of the body where more fat is stored because it comes off evenly from all areas. I've always wondered if that analogy was accurate.

I know for me I'm losing centimetres all over. I seem to just be getting smaller all over - I'm the same shape as I was before, just on a smaller scale.

I'd love to focus the weightloss on one area (TUMMY!) but I appear to be losing boobage as well as tum. Meh.

I WISH I was losing boobage! I've had big boobs my whole life and they got bigger when I gained weight, and I want them GONE. They're so annoying. Bleh.

Can't remember but I remember this for cooking fat :laugh: (240O2 + 5C51H88O6 = 255CO2 + 22H20)

Kirsty_UK: I was waiting for someone to make an Adipose reference! They're so cute! And squishy! And I don't want to know how many of them would "walk away" from my body.... lol.

Great thread, I always wondered this too

Does the amount of water you drink affect the amount of fat flushed out of you then?

Great thread! Thanks for asking. Very informative