Where Does Fat Go During Weight Loss?

Ever wondered where all the extra fat goes after you lose it? Does it burn and turn to energy? Does it go with waste excretion? Does it turn to…muscle? Well, the researchers from the University of New South Wales, Australia have found that the majority of weight we shed is disposed from the body through breathing.

Where Does The Fat Go?

The researchers decided to watch the atoms of tryglecirade (type of fat) molecules during oxidation (process of tryglecirade molecules breaking down) and see what happens to them. They say:

None of this biochemistry is new, but for unknown reasons it seems nobody has thought of performing these calculations before. The quantities make perfect sense but we were surprised by the numbers that popped out.

The results they got were that when 10 kilograms of fat were oxidized 8.4 of them were exhaled as carbon dioxide and 1.6 of them turned to water that is then excreted from the body with urine, sweat, and other things. But breathing alone will not get you rid of pounds while you’re consuming the same amount or more food than you burn/exhale. The researchers advice to increase physical activity to increase the amount of carbon dioxide lost if you want to become lighter.

According to researchers an average person exhales around 200g of carbon during the day including during sleep. Adding exercise and reducing amount of food consumed will increase that number.

All in all this study only reiterates the good old method of eating less and moving more for weight loss.

Watch this cool video from Veritasium where the phenomenon of morning weight is explained: