What Happens When You Loose Weight?

[Aldin]

So, yesterday I was talking to a bud of mine that is an Engineer and he asked me a very simple question: "When you are a dieting, how does your body lose the weight?"

I answered with "Well, when your body doesn't have enough energy to supply its needs, your basal metabolic rate, your body will start, essentially eating it self."

he replied with: "Well if we take the Law of Conservation of Mass and Energy into account... that means you either Shit, Piss, or Sweat it all out. Right?"

I don't know if this is true, as I don't know how to answer his question. So, what exactly happens when we lose weight?

[Birch]

Everynight when we go to sleep, the lard fairies visit us and suck all the fat out of out belly buttons...

Mass is not the same as weight my dear.

[Aki]

I don't know for sure, but I'd guess that the body converts fat into energy your body can use, which is then released as heat? If you don't move much you don't get hot because you're not burning anything, whereas when you run around you start sweating because of all the energy you're putting out. I guess it's similar to how a car turns gas into different forms of heat and exhaust.

[Counterfeit Soda]

Shit, piss, and sweat are not the only things that come from fuel being turned into energy. I hope your friend is aware of that.

I would assume it's released as heat, and the waste is pissed and shit out.

But don't take my word for it.

[Vegetable]

he replied with: "Well if we take the Law of Conservation of Mass and Energy into account... that means you either Shit, Piss, or Sweat it all out. Right?"

Sounds like this guy didn't finish college.

[Jackamaideshwang]

Converted to metabolites, which then use their energy to contribute to creating usable energy (Kinetic energy, thermal energy, all that), and these metabolites are either reconverted or excreted. All the energy is conserved obviously, just converted to other forms of energy.

[flexibility]

He is an Engineer?

[willbo26]

What Happens When You Loose Weight?

you get lighter

[Ashtar]

So, yesterday I was talking to a bud of mine that is an Engineer and he asked me a very simple question: "When you are a dieting, how does your body lose the weight?"

I answered with "Well, when your body doesn't have enough energy to supply its needs, your basal metabolic rate, your body will start, essentially eating it self."

he replied with: "Well if we take the Law of Conservation of Mass and Energy into account... that means you either Shit, Piss, or Sweat it all out. Right?"

I don't know if this is true, as I don't know how to answer his question. So, what exactly happens when we lose weight?

It sounds like he didn`t take basic fucking biology, because you exhale CARBON dioxide. A lot of it goes into the air.

Not to mention it gets translated into kinetic energy in your muscles, electric activity in the brain, heat energy to maintain your metabolism, etc. Plus we are noisy things, so some is noise, which is a form of kinetic energy.

[Happy]

Does any of it come out in your shit? Because for the last 3 weeks, I wake up at 5am and by 5:45 I have already done 2 massive shits - sometimes solid, sometimes not. Ive also lost most of my excess fats. Are these two things related?

[Ashtar]

Your food comes out of your shit. I don't think your body ditches waste into there though. Basically your body is good at conserving matter and energy, so it will hold onto it unless you combust it for power.

[Happy]

Then can you explain why I shit more than I eat? I'm baffled.

[flexibility]

Then can you explain why I shit more than I eat? I'm baffled.

That, my friend, is one of the mysteries of life.

[Lobo]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Metabolism_790px_partly_labeled.png

[Vincent_Lee]

Thing is, Our brain uses up loads of energy, it's all from 1/5 of what we eat in a day, up to 2/5 if we are concentrating or studying really hard.

Alot of the energy we consume is used for our muscles, like our heart, which pounds consistantly all day, when muscles move, they need ATP ( adenine tri-phosphate )
ATP is made in the mithochondrions in our cells by a process in which the major parts of Glucose(amongst otherthings) is oxidized, hence our great oxygen craving, so we basicly turn large molecules that we eat to smaller ones that our muscles uses to move around.

During this very complex process alot of heat is generated, and one human being radiates alot of heat outwards every day. And to explain the entire metabolic system would take a loooooooong time.

One other thing the body needs energy for is regulating core temerature, the body constantly strives to have the same temperature in the entire body. therefore drinking roomtemp. water is more energy efficient.

[Lobo]

You're all still missing the point, matter isn't destroyed while generating energy. Bizarely, tyciol of all people got it right when he mentioned exhaling carbon dioxide, which is one of the main waste products of human metabolism.

It's like if you put fuel in your car, drive the car, the amount of fuel decreases; but it isn't just vanishing from the universe forever, it's converted into exhaust fumes.

[tpvlyrm]

yes indeed, idiots, Ashtar is right (as always).

[tpvlyrm]

Lobo - yours is certainly prettier, but this one is larger, more complicated and less clearly readable, and that's what science is all about:

http://web.mac.com/franzdg/iWeb/BDS/Pages/metabolism.jpg

[Ashtar]

Then can you explain why I shit more than I eat? I'm baffled.You eat fibre. The fibre you eat absorbs the water you drink, which adds bulk to your stool. Also I seriously doubt you're weighing the mass of or grouping the bulk of your intake/output to do a fair comparison.
Bizarely, tyciol of all people got it rightyes indeed, idiots, Ashtar is right (as always).Ah, so it's not bizarre then!