Where Does Fat Go When You Lose Weight?

I guess we’ve all wondered at some point – when you lose weight, where does it go? This is a question that appears fairly simple, yet there are even fitness influencers who cannot answer this question. When talking about fat and where it disappears when we lose weight and “burn fat” – we’re talking about how our bodies store and use energy that we need to function.

How does our body work?

Generally, the human body stores backup energy (calories) in fat cells that are distributed around the body. Calories are just the measurement unit we use to determine the amount of energy the body uses. So, the surplus of energy we have is distributed around the body as fat. Some of it goes in the abdomen around the organs. This is known as visceral fat. Others go under the skin as subcutaneous fat. Even a small amount of that fat can be deposited in muscle tissue.

Not only that, but we also have smaller reserves of energy that our bodies store in the liver, muscles, and brain as glycogen. Glycogen is the stored form of glucose (sugar). It is the sugar that the body uses as its main energy source.

Having this said, the body uses energy all the time, regardless of what we’re doing. The body uses energy when you run, eat, or even sleep. Of course, we use more energy when we’re running than when we’re walking. However, we use energy at rest too. The body needs the energy (calories) to do basic things to survive. The heart needs energy to pump blood, the digestive system to digest food, the lungs to breathe, the brain to think, and so on. We need the energy to regulate body temperature, repair cells, and basically any other body process. This is the baseline metabolism – the minimum energy the body requires to maintain basic biological functions.

Carrying Extra Weight – Fat?

If you’re having more fat than normal and carrying extra weight, it means that you are taking in more energy than your body is using. It means that the body doesn’t use as much energy as you tend to get in, consuming various foods and drinks. That ‘curse’ everyone wants to get rid of – thickening around the bellies – is just a combination of accumulated deep visceral fat and more shallow subcutaneous fat. Basically, it is the extra energy (the calories) we tend to consume that the body uses for its baseline metabolism (minimum energy needs) as well as the activities.

Physical activity

When you’re having some form of physical activity, whether you’re walking or having intense bouts of exercise, your body (muscles) need calories to perform the task. The body will first use the glycogen in our muscles to perform the necessary tasks. The liver is going to release glycogen to help with muscle activity and regulate blood glucose levels.

It is only after about 30 to 60 minutes of aerobic exercise that the body will start to burn fat instead of glycogen (after glycogen is depleted). Regardless if we’re talking about aerobic or anaerobic activities – your body will use calories to perform the tasks. But the amount of calories it uses varies. For example, it is obvious that you will burn more calories when you run than when you walk.

Consuming fewer calories than the body needs

If you’re consuming less energy than the body needs overall to maintain itself (the amount of physical activity combined with the basal metabolic rate), such as when you’re dieting, the body is going to turn more often to fat reserves to get its energy needs to fulfill the necessary task (mainly survive).

When your body “uses” fat, it basically metabolizes the fat. Therefore, those fatty acid molecules are released into the bloodstream and travel to the important organs so they can do their jobs. It goes to the heart, lungs, muscles, and so on. The fatty cells are broken apart and the stored energy in their chemical bonds is being used.

Therefore, the fat that you lose or “burn” is essentially the byproduct of this process. Those byproducts are excreted through your body in the form of water when you sweat and pee, but most of it is excreted as carbon dioxide – when you exhale. Having this said, the extra fat from your body is mainly excreted through your lungs as you’re breathing. To be more specific – if you lose 10 pounds of fat then 8.4 pounds come out through your lungs and only 1.6 pounds turn into water which you sweat and pee. That’s why the lungs are the primary excretory organ for fat!

Dieting and Training

There are people who keep on training and they do not lose any fat. Yet, there are people who do not train yet they keep on burning excess fat. Why is training related to the amount of fat we burn? Well, as said, fat is just the excess of calories (energy) we tend to consume via drinks and foods. When you’re doing physical activity (training) you speed up the process of calorie expenditure. However, if you keep on eating more than your body burns (even if you train), you will still gain fat.

Moreover, the body uses more energy to simply carry out the usual basic processes than when training. You are only training a few hours a week, and in terms of calorie expenditure, it doesn’t make much of a change. As said, your body requires energy (calories) for the basic processes (baseline metabolism) and for any physical activity you do on top of that (that’s the active metabolism). However, a moderately active person who is doing 30 to 45 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per day will contribute to only 20% of our daily energy use.

Because of all these factors, if you want to see yourself slimming down and shedding off pounds, you need to start paying attention to your diet more.

What about training when you want to lose weight?

Intense strength training significantly helps you lose weight not only due to extra calorie expenditure during the activity but also because of the “afterburn” effect and because it helps you gain more lean muscle mass. An increase in muscle mass will help you burn more calories at rest because muscles will need more energy to build and maintain than fat does.

In short, building lean muscle mass will boost your baseline metabolism. This explains why weightlifting and other types of strength training will significantly change your body composition.

Dieting to burn excess fat

Dieting for your weight loss is an art that you need to master. There are a lot of different things to take into consideration. But based on everything I earlier mentioned I hope you realized that the most important fact when it comes to dieting to burn excess body fat is: that you need to create a calorie deficit. It is the calorie deficit that keeps on burning that excess fat.

And the more calorie deficit you create, the faster you burn fat. But the problem is that you can’t go too low. If you restrict your food (calories/energy) intake too drastically, your metabolism is going to adjust to this. This way, it will start to use fewer calories for basic functions (that’s why you will notice a lack of energy, stamina, and strength). Moreover, your body may also start to break down muscle for energy. Again, this will slow down metabolism and fat burning process.

Having that said, it is important to find a perfect balance when it comes to diet and weight loss. You need an exquisite balance of calories, macronutrients, micronutrients, and so on. If you’re doing it wrong, it may backfire on you. For example, lack of nutrients may lead to hormonal issues, which leads to health issues. That’s why many people start developing health issues after incorrect diets, gaining all the weight they’ve lost during the dieting period and likely adding even more.

Short Answer: Where Does Fat Disappear?

In short, the fat that we lose tends to be excreted from our body with the help of our lungs for the most part. 84% of the fat we lose goes away as carbon dioxide, and only 16% disappears in the form of water that we pee or sweat.

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