Where does the fat go? (system, pregnant, carb, run)

[Ann in Oriental]

May seem like a silly question but when one loses weight, where does the fat go? Is it released in our urine or bowel movements? Seriously, what happens to it?

[ConeyIsBabe]

I never thought of that

My guess is that the fat cells shrink when we loose weight and perhaps the FAT gets flushed out of the cell and eliminated or if we eat too much high cholesterol food like red meat & dairy..... then perhaps the FAT sticks to our arteries and clogs them up - leading to heart trouble ?? I dunno............ good question

[stan4]

It's broken down and used as energy.

Fat is just one of the energy storage mechanisms in your body.

[6 FOOT 3]

Originally Posted by Ann in Oriental

May seem like a silly question but when one loses weight, where does the fat go? Is it released in our urine or bowel movements? Seriously, what happens to it?

It's released in the Bowels, Urine and our Exhale or Carbon Dioxide which is produced inside our 100 trillion cells energy factories or Mitochondria's.

[20yrsinBranson]

Originally Posted by Ann in Oriental

May seem like a silly question but when one loses weight, where does the fat go? Is it released in our urine or bowel movements? Seriously, what happens to it?

Components of your fat cells are broken down and released into the blood stream to fuel the body. Fat is converted to fuel (glycogen, I believe, but I am not sure). This process creates waste which is carried by blood cells and filtered through your liver and kidneys and removed in your feces and urine. The number of fat cells does not change (unless you are pregnant), but they shrink to a fraction of their former size.

20yrsinBranson

[Padgett2]

Originally Posted by 20yrsinBranson

Components of your fat cells are broken down and released into the blood stream to fuel the body. Fat is converted to fuel (glycogen, I believe, but I am not sure). This process creates waste which is carried by blood cells and filtered through your liver and kidneys and removed in your feces and urine. The number of fat cells does not change (unless you are pregnant), but they shrink to a fraction of their former size.

20yrsinBranson

that's about it in a nutshell. And you get "Fat" by eating more calories than you need. The excess glycogen (I think that's the right term too) is converted in the liver into fat for storage through a complex system. When less calories are taken in than needed, the liver reverses the system and the fat is reconverted into fuel that the body can use.

I think I read somewhere that the average person in good health, needs about 1600 calories per day to just maintain life with no activity. That's just lying in bed, doing nothing. Anything else needs more, but not so much that the body stores it as emergency fat for later use.

[6 FOOT 3]

I always used the Auto Engine analogy to descibe what goes on inside the Human Cell. Human components in (parentheses).

In an Auto Engine the Gasoline ( Fat or Glucose ) gets transported to the Piston Chamber (Mitochondria Matrix) where it's reformulated and mixed with Oxygen and then the Spark Plug (Electron Transport Chain) energises and ignites the mixture of Fuel and Oxygen and causes an explosion which gives off energy (ATP) for power to run the Automobile (Human Body) and a waste by-product known as Carbon Monoxide (Carbon Dioxide).

[pitt_transplant]

If you look in the toilet of your early AM urine you will see a little oil slick on top on some of your dieting days.

[Ann in Oriental]

Originally Posted by 20yrsinBranson

Components of your fat cells are broken down and released into the blood stream to fuel the body. Fat is converted to fuel (glycogen, I believe, but I am not sure). This process creates waste which is carried by blood cells and filtered through your liver and kidneys and removed in your feces and urine. The number of fat cells does not change (unless you are pregnant), but they shrink to a fraction of their former size.

20yrsinBranson

So you can actually add fat cells with each pregnancy?!

[Jesse69]

As you get fatter the fat cells get fatter until they multiply more so you have more fat cells.