For some, burning fat is a real struggle. When done correctly, the results can be impeccable! To go from a size 36 waist to a 32 is something to be proud of. Have you ever wondered how all this material can appear to simply vanish? Using Science, we can explain what fat is, how it is lost and indeed, where it all goes when it is broken down!

Fat Loss

When you eat more carbohydrates and proteins than your body needs, it converts and stores this excess as fat. To burn off fat reserves, you need to burn more calories than you take in. Before we talk about where burnt fat goes, we need to understand what fat is.

What exactly is Fat?

Stored fat is composed of adipose tissue [1]. Adipose tissue is made up of cells called adipocytes which are packed full of molecules called triglycerides. When it comes to burning fat, it is these triglycerides you are trying to get rid of. Triglycerides are made up of glycerol and 3 fatty acids [2]. Oxidisation (using Oxygen to trigger a reaction) is the process that breaks these molecules up, essentially burning them out of your fat reserves, and off your body. Where does this burnt fat go?

The Common Misconception

Funnily enough, a survey of professionals including Doctors, Personal Trainers and Dieticians showed that more than 50% of them had no idea where fat went when burnt [3]! They presumed that fat was converted into energy and lost as heat. This, in fact, cannot be possible thanks to the Conservation of Mass law. This fundamental law of Chemistry states that the same amount of mass that goes into a reaction must come out. Although heat may be released in the process, you’ll always end up with the same number of atoms you started off with after the fat has been oxidised. The Hydrogen, Carbon and Oxygen atoms making up the triglycerides don’t magically disappear, so where does it all go?

Where does burnt fat go?

Oxidisation of triglycerides yields Carbon Dioxide, water and energy. The atoms making up the triglycerides and oxygen in the reaction (before oxidisation) become carbon dioxide and water [4]. Essentially, fat is lost through urination and simply by breathing out. In fact, research shows that 84% of an adipose triglyceride is exhaled as carbon dioxide! Losing 10kg of fat, means about 8.4kg of that fat is exhaled as carbon dioxide.

Figure 1: Image showing the oxidisation reaction of a triglyceride (fat molecule)

Summary

To burn fat, the key is to eat less and exercise more; it’s that simple! Eating more calories than your body needs causes the excess to be stored as fat - whereas eating less calories causes a deficit which is burnt from the body by the day. Exercise increases your body’s need of calories; which is why it helps burn more fat than if no exercise is done. After all, it is said that fat loss is down to 80% diet and 20% exercise [5]!

If you have any questions, leave them below and until next time, take care.

~ Mystifact

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References:
[1]: https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/adipose_tissue.htm
[2]: http://www.rsc.org/Education/Teachers/Resources/cfb/lipids.htm
[3]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8ialLlcdcw
[4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_mass
[5]: https://www.simplemost.com/weight-loss

Please note; no copyright infringement is intended. All images used have been labelled for re-use on Google Images. If any artist or designer has any issues with any of the content used in this article, please don’t hesitate to contact me to correct the issue.

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