When you lose weight where does it go?

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big booty
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When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby big booty » Tue Dec 29, 2015 11:39 pm

This one is for all you biochemists out there. Matter can not be created or destroyed. So when you are losing weight (by dieting or exercising) how is the stored fat leaving your body?

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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby RonK » Tue Dec 29, 2015 11:43 pm

It is being converted to energy to power your muscles.
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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby Mulger bill » Tue Dec 29, 2015 11:44 pm

Most of it as CO2 and H2O, the waste products from using the stuff as fuel.
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big booty
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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby big booty » Tue Dec 29, 2015 11:56 pm

OK so Im breathing it out as a gas and water vapour? Gives me a starting place to look up more info. Thanks.

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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby bigfriendlyvegan » Wed Dec 30, 2015 12:08 am

Google is a good place to start.

There's a good talk by Ruben Meerman from QUT on the topic.




It's summarised here if you prefer to read.

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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby Kalgrm » Wed Dec 30, 2015 3:36 am

It goes on to my wife's hips.

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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby trailgumby » Wed Dec 30, 2015 8:58 am

Kalgrm wrote:It goes on to my wife's hips.

Cheers,
Graeme
I lol'd :lol:

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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby cyclotaur » Wed Dec 30, 2015 9:05 am

Kalgrm wrote:It goes on to my wife's hips.
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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby big booty » Wed Dec 30, 2015 9:12 am

OK that's pretty simple. To lose weight I just need to breathe more. :D

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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby Rhubarb » Wed Dec 30, 2015 10:21 am

Where I used to work, there was a divorced couple who worked there. They were very civil to each other and mostly got on fine, but every now and then, the occasional barb was thrown, in either direction.

One day the lady said to her ex-husband, "Hey, look at all the weight I've lost" as she did a sort of pirouette in front of him at his desk, after apparently losing a few kgs. Her ex-husband responded with "Don't worry, you'll find it all again soon. It'll be up the back of the fridge there somewhere."

She stormed off. He smirked. One of the ladies friend's was glaring back at him with dagger eyes. Everyone else was left shocked, trying to look down, avoiding eye contact, and keeping a straight face while we pissed ourselves laughing on the inside.

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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby Constantheadwind » Wed Dec 30, 2015 10:59 am

how is the stored fat leaving your body?
There are fat cells that are nourished. Depleting the nourishment value is not changing the number of cells. Energy contained within is being exported.

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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby Calvin27 » Wed Dec 30, 2015 11:02 am

That video was great!

My takings:

- Drink less. Water makes you fat because it engages in exchange with the other molecules used to make fat. (ok I don't actually believe this one, but I don't see why this is not the case theoretically?)

- Breathe more. :) Easy.

- The last one is the icing on the cake. What are typical CO2 levels at HR zones? If this is known, then you could theoretically calculate weight loss for each and every ride as crude as the calculation may be - could be a motivating factor. Also, does this correlate with traditional weight loss theory about the low intensity training zone as the optimum?
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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby softy » Wed Dec 30, 2015 11:07 am

Okay,

After watching that vid on "where does the fat go" been doing a wee bit of research, cross referencing a number of sites. Now carbs (the badies at the moment) provides our body with most of its energy, if we have to much it is turned to glycogen. Then if we still have to much it is turned to fat. Now although it can be turned to fat, the body prefers to use it as it is hard to store, tending to store fat and protein and use the carbs.

Therefore eating lots of carbs is not as likely to make you fat as other sources of food eg: fat protein.

Now as cyclists we are chasing energy, therefore eating more carbs is going to meet our energy needs. The standard recommendation is to eat 45 to 65% carbs so we want more due to our high activity levels! Push this up another 10 -20% and we get up to around 80% of carbs.

There is a guy from South Oz, which we all know pushing these ratios. Now we all have chooses to do whatever we like and conduct our own research, but the more i look into this the more what he says in general, makes sense.

Some may not like his style, but i do believe he is not to far off the mark with the high carb diet. The evidence i have found supports his suggestions. He also has been saying fat is breathed out for some time now.

Vegan or not, i do believe aligning yourself with his suggestions of High Carb, is somewhat on the money, even if you do want to include some animal products, but maintain the ratios.

Of course just my view and findings..... :)

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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby softy » Wed Dec 30, 2015 11:11 am

Calvin27 wrote:That video was great!

My takings:

- Drink less. Water makes you fat because it engages in exchange with the other molecules used to make fat. (ok I don't actually believe this one, but I don't see why this is not the case theoretically?)

- Breathe more. :) Easy.

- The last one is the icing on the cake. What are typical CO2 levels at HR zones? If this is known, then you could theoretically calculate weight loss for each and every ride as crude as the calculation may be - could be a motivating factor. Also, does this correlate with traditional weight loss theory about the low intensity training zone as the optimum?

Water has zero calories so can't add fat. Yes it can add weight if the body retains it. It is also used in processing within the body.
De-hydration is very dangerous, i wouldn't cut water intact at all, especially if your are sweating.

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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby big booty » Wed Dec 30, 2015 11:51 am

Constantheadwind wrote:
how is the stored fat leaving your body?
There are fat cells that are nourished. Depleting the nourishment value is not changing the number of cells. Energy contained within is being exported.
Not really sure what youre trying to say? Yes energy is consumed, but I was more interested in where the stored fat went after it was converted.

The stored fat contains usable energy, no probs there. That stored energy is released and consumed during exercise etc. as the large fat molecules are broken down into smaller molecules. Im not a biochemist so Im not sure what intermediates are produced during metabolism. However conservation of matter (and technically energy) states that it can not be created or destroyed. So my original question was where does all the fat go as you lose weight? It does NOT disappear as energy. The video in the post above explains it really well. Basically CO2 and water are the final by-products produced as fat is "burned" and we either breathe it out (CO2 and possibly water as a vapour) or sweat/urinate it out (liquid water).

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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby big booty » Wed Dec 30, 2015 12:02 pm

softy wrote:Okay,

After watching that vid on "where does the fat go" been doing a wee bit of research, cross referencing a number of sites. Now carbs (the badies at the moment) provides our body with most of its energy, if we have to much it is turned to glycogen. Then if we still have to much it is turned to fat. Now although it can be turned to fat, the body prefers to use it as it is hard to store, tending to store fat and protein and use the carbs.

Therefore eating lots of carbs is not as likely to make you fat as other sources of food eg: fat protein.

Now as cyclists we are chasing energy, therefore eating more carbs is going to meet our energy needs. The standard recommendation is to eat 45 to 65% carbs so we want more due to our high activity levels! Push this up another 10 -20% and we get up to around 80% of carbs.

There is a guy from South Oz, which we all know pushing these ratios. Now we all have chooses to do whatever we like and conduct our own research, but the more i look into this the more what he says in general, makes sense.

Some may not like his style, but i do believe he is not to far off the mark with the high carb diet. The evidence i have found supports his suggestions. He also has been saying fat is breathed out for some time now.

Vegan or not, i do believe aligning yourself with his suggestions of High Carb, is somewhat on the money, even if you do want to include some animal products, but maintain the ratios.

Of course just my view and findings..... :)

I think the guy you are referring to has a marginal understanding of basic biochemistry. He can eat all the carbs he likes because he's always on his bike and is thus burning all those carbs up. Energy intake equals energy output. Lets pretend that he had an accident and broke his leg and couldn't ride for 12 months. In fact lets say he could barely get around even with crutches. Lets say he continued to eat the same amount of carbs. What do you think would happen?

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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby Aussiebullet » Wed Dec 30, 2015 12:22 pm

He could still eat a high carb low fat diet to match his energy needs, it's just going to be a lower amount then when he is highly active, eating carbs won't make him fat, eating excess calories will, carbs are not the enemy. Oh how I wish that myth would die.

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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby trailgumby » Wed Dec 30, 2015 12:57 pm

He'd end up with malnutrition if he just cut back on the amounts. On one analysis I've seen he has to maintain the high volumes in order to get enough of the essential nutrients whose requirements don't fluctuate with activity levels. Cut back on the volume and you're no longer getting enough of them. He has to get regular B12 shots as it is.

I do like him though. The language is mostly NSFW, his diet theories are out there, but I find some of his bike-related observations are quite sharp. His series on the cheap bike I thought wasn't bad.

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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby trailgumby » Wed Dec 30, 2015 1:00 pm

RonK wrote:It is being converted to energy to power your muscles.
That would be nuclear fission or fusion. I know you're a hot cyclist, but .... :lol:

Otherwise, the chemistry laws of conservation of mass apply.

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When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby RonK » Wed Dec 30, 2015 1:17 pm

trailgumby wrote:
RonK wrote:It is being converted to energy to power your muscles.
That would be nuclear fission or fusion. I know you're a hot cyclist, but .... :lol:

Otherwise, the chemistry laws of conservation of mass apply.
It's a correct statement. The stored energy is released. The remaining mass is not fat, and is expelled.

The OP framed his question in the simplest of terms. Not being a pedant, I responded in kind. :wink:
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ColinOldnCranky
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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby ColinOldnCranky » Wed Dec 30, 2015 2:07 pm

Kalgrm wrote:It goes on to my wife's hips.

Cheers,
Graeme

Ouch, brave man.

I'm guessing that your wife does not subscribe to this forum.
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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby Constantheadwind » Wed Dec 30, 2015 2:26 pm

Not really sure what youre trying to say? Yes energy is consumed, but I was more interested in where the stored fat went after it was converted.
Just to clear up, the adipose tissue, the white and brown fat cells, is a constant. That's the fat see see on the side of a rash of bacon for example. The fat cell contains triglyceride, that is the energy. The energy is used as needed (that's what makes you look large or lean as those cells swell and contract) and the laws of physics always apply.
Gets a whole lot more technical if you want to delve into the cellular level reactions taking place, lots of info to be found at this link:

http://eatingacademy.com/weight-loss/ho ... f-fat-flux

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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby big booty » Wed Dec 30, 2015 3:17 pm

Aussiebullet wrote:He could still eat a high carb low fat diet to match his energy needs, it's just going to be a lower amount then when he is highly active, eating carbs won't make him fat, eating excess calories will, carbs are not the enemy. Oh how I wish that myth would die.

OK you have me confused?? Carbohydrates = calories. If you ingest carbs, you are by default ingesting calorific matter. Eat more carbohydrates than your body needs (for your given situation) and the excess is first stored as glycogen and then eventually stored as triglycerides. Or am I missing something?

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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby Constantheadwind » Wed Dec 30, 2015 6:18 pm

Also bear in mind your state of metabolic health. T1 Diabetic cannot utilise calories effectively due to no insulin production, Eat all the carbs you can and starve to death. T2 Diabetic has developed a resistance to insulin so more is released which signals a heightened level of storage into fat tissue. You may have heard some say "I put on 4 kilo just by looking at it". Everyones' situation is different.

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Re: When you lose weight where does it go?

Postby ColinOldnCranky » Wed Dec 30, 2015 10:13 pm

I wonder if mention of FIGJAM :roll: aka BananaBoy :roll: should be treated in much he same way as Godwin's Law. It's a strong predictor that a thread is about to move to a pointless dead end.

Hmmm. Pointless dead end? I think I may be another good descriptor of FIGJAM. :mrgreen:
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