Where does fat go after weight loss? Fat is converted into carbon dioxide and water. You exhale carbon dioxide and water enters your circulation until it is excreted as urine or sweat. If you lose 10kg of fat, exactly 8.4kg goes out of your lungs and the remaining 1.6kg turns into water.
The breakdown of fat cells occurs in two primary forms. One is in the form of water, and the fat leaves as sweat or urine. In addition, about 84% of fat leaves your body as carbon dioxide during exhalation.
Mostly, losing weight is an internal process. You will first lose hard fat that surrounds your organs like liver, kidneys and then you will start to lose soft fat like waistline and thigh fat. The fat loss from around the organs makes you leaner and stronger.
Research shows that 84% of fat loss is exhaled as carbon dioxide. The remaining 16% of fat is excreted as water. During the conversion of energy, carbon dioxide, and water are byproducts of waste. They are excreted via urine, perspiration, and exhalation.
As against areas such as legs, face and arms, our stomach and abdominal regions possess beta cells that makes it difficult to reduce the fats easily and lose weight in these areas. However, as per research, belly fat is the most difficult to lose as the fat there is so much harder to break down.
While everyone loses weight differently, dropping as little as 3 to 5 pounds can show up on your face first, Eboli says.
Excess visceral fat can pose serious health risks, but when you embark on a healthy diet and exercise plan, this fat is often the first to disappear. This means you're likely to notice weight loss in your abdominal area first. Too much visceral fat can make your belly protrude.
The bottom line
When your body uses fat for fuel, the byproducts of fat metabolism are often excreted through urine. While peeing more frequently is unlikely to lead to weight loss, increasing your intake of water may support your weight loss goals.
Most fat is stored underneath the skin and is known as subcutaneous fat. That is the fat that is visible and that you can feel. The rest of the fat in the body is hidden. That is visceral fat.
The amount of time that fat takes to digest varies from person to person and between men and women. In the 1980s, Mayo Clinic researchers found that the average transit time from eating to elimination of stool was approximately 40 hours. Total transit time averaged at 33 hours in men and 47 hours in women.
If you are on a low-carb diet, it will help you lose weight as there will be water loss from glycogen in the muscles. But in this case, fat will not burn. Also, if you are doing cardio, you may lose weight quickly but burning belly fat might take time.
The first stage of weight loss is when you tend to lose the most weight and begin to notice changes in your appearance and how your clothes fit. It usually happens within the first 4–6 weeks ( 1 ). Most of the weight loss in this stage comes from carb stores, protein, and water — and to a lesser extent, body fat.
Fat cells in the stomach area have a higher amount of alpha receptors, which makes them more stubborn to get rid of. This is why when you start a fat loss program, you see results in the face, arms and chest before you lose the belly fat.
Often, extra fat in your face is the result of excess body fat. Losing weight can contribute to fat loss and help slim down your body and face.
Chewing gum does not reduce face fat.
It is a popularised myth that chewing gum reduces face fat. The simple fact is that you cannot reduce fat from one spot. Chewing gum can give your facial muscles a good workout but isn't effective in reducing face fat.
According to our experts, the reason you gain weight so rapidly in your midsection and not in, say, your calves and forearms is because the adipocytes (or fat cells), which are found throughout the body, are more plentiful in the hips, butt, stomach, and thigh area for women and stomach for men.
Our Preoccupation with Motivation
So motivation is the number one perceived obstacle to weight loss. We've had countless conversations with clients who are frustrated, flustered and generally worn down by their lack of motivation — “It's my fault, I just can't seem to keep myself motivated,” they cry.
The most stubborn fat of all is subcutaneous fat, and for females it is much more difficult to lose this type of fat compared to men because it holds 9 to 10 times more alpha receptors than male body fat.
It's long been a complaint that those last five pounds can often be the hardest to lose. And the answer to why this is the case reveals a lot about the dynamic relationship between body weight and appetite (what we feel when we say we're “hungry”), and about how, as humans, we're almost always “ready to eat”.
High-intensity interval training (HIIT): It is probably one of the fastest and most efficient ways to lose stomach fat and reduce the overall body fat percentage. HIIT is a high-intensity short period of exercise that usually doesn't exceed 30 minutes, with short breaks of recovery periods of 30-60 seconds.
Your Metabolism Will Slow Down to Store Fat
The more you work out or manage your calorie intake to lose weight, the more your metabolism wants to compensate by slowing down to maintain your current weight, this is called metabolic compensation. It kicks in to preserve and store fat for future energy.