Exhale the Fat Away!
When we lose weight—and specifically, fat—where does it go?
I guess the real answer might actually surprise you: When we “melt” away fat, it literally disappears into air—just by breathing. In fact, 84 percent of fat is shed via breathing out carbon dioxide, while the remaining 16 percent is released via sweat, tears, and, well, urine.
Learn this reality so you can’t be fooled by weight loss gimmicks:
Via a fairly complex chemical pathway, we breakdown fat molecules to make energy, and have some waste products left over, namely water and carbon.
Water and carbon mass, formerly fat in fat cells, former (too much) food on a plate, leaves our bodies through three primary paths.
- Exhaling
- Toilet
- Sweat
A very tiny amount of the water is lost in sweat and through the bowel, some is recycled, and some is exhaled as water vapor. The vast majority of the mass lost in fat loss goes out, a little bit at a time, in the carbon dioxide we exhale, save for the less than 1% that goes into urine.
But note that breathing is just the vehicle for fat loss, not the fuel. In other words, you’re not going to exhale any metabolized fat cells unless you burn them off first with exercise and a healthy diet. or an overhaul, we should just stick to the tried-and-true regimen of exercise and healthy eating.
“Eat less, move more.” But you knew that, right?
