Where does FAT go when you lose it?
May 22, 2016
Where does FAT go when you "lose" it?
We have a little sign as you walk in our studio. It’s a cute saying and fun to think about while working out. “Sweat is your fat crying.” At first I thought of it simply as cute and funny but as I thought about it I thought “hey it really is like our fat is crying!”
When people are asked where the Fat goes the common answer is heat or energy, but that isn’t completely true. I saw a great TED talk that had a guy thoroughly explaining it and doing experiments to show where it goes. (I’ll add it at the bottom 20 minute video)
FAT is made out of Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen. Those things don’t disappear into energy. The energy comes from breaking the bonds between those elements but the elements continue to exist. So where do they go?
Here is the chemical equation for what happens:
C55H104O6 + 78O2 -> 55CO2 + 52 H2O
FAT + Oxygen -> Carbon Dioxide + Water
We breathe in Oxygen which helps break down fat and makes Carbon Dioxide and Water...sometimes called fat oxidation.
This is where the FAT goes...
84% of fat is exhaled as CO2
16% of fat is excreted as H2O
So…most fat leaves by breathing? That’s some heavy air! We don’t usually think of air as having weight to it but it certainly does! Like feeling how heavy a propane tank is to know if you’ve got enough in there to grill some chicken. :o)
What doesn’t leave through your breath is pee-ed, sweated, or cried out. So in a workout when you are sweating and breathing hard some of your sweat is going to be water from broken down FAT! It IS your fat crying!
Take Away Points:
- So exercise to cause yourself to breathe more both during and after the workout. Try harder! :o)
- Weight training causes more breathing for hours afterwards as the body recovers so don’t rule it out.
- It still is about food coming in compared to CO2 out. If you are eating too much Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen (food) your body will just break that down and use that energy for movement and you will exhale the CO2 from that and sweat the water from that instead of FAT storage.
- Move more than you eat.
- Spend more of the day breathing harder (less TV, etc).
If this is interesting to you, you would probably love the TED Talk! Here it is…
Mathematics of Weight Loss: https://youtu.be/vuIlsN32WaE (Warning it is 20 min but pretty awesome!)
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