I have no idea after what seems like 25+ years of being conscious of my weight, trying to lose weight, thinking about losing weight, dieting, life-style changing, etc., etc., I have neglected to ask the simplest of all weight loss questions: When we lose weight, where does it go?
Perhaps I never asked this question because I thought the answer was too obvious- I poop it out. Duh (and wrong). Or perhaps I never thought to ask because I knew no one around me was a biochemistry major that could really explain to me the mechanics of weightloss on a cellular level. Well, thank god for Google. Now, I can get an answer to any of my seemingly obvious questions in the privacy of my own home. I can take as long as I want reading and re-reading information until it sinks in. I can find numerous sources to look at (making sure they are credible, with citations/references of course) and finally settle my brain on an answer that combines the reoccurring themes from the different sources into a coherent explanation. How great is the world we live in?
So, seriously, when we lose weight, where does it go?
Rather then launching headlong into a discussion of the Krebs Cycle, ATP, triglycerides, and mitochondria, (no one really wants that anyway) I'll shorten it up and get to my point. After all these amazing processes take place in our body to provide us with energy, and in the very basic sense of things, making energy= losing weight. Chemical reactions taking place within the body to make energy result in the by-products CO2, and water. So, essentially, we exhale and pee/sweat weight off.
This is very different from my previous line of thought...
So, my point? Solids and liquids going in make me gain weight, but weightloss is essentially me exhaling? Does anyone else find it totally interesting that you can consume solids and gain weight, and then to lose weight, you breath out?
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