The problem of excess fat in the body is not only the gain of excess weight, but also the health of internal organs. Overweight people often face the question of how to remove fat from the body, not taking into account the fact that there are two types of fat in the human body: subcutaneous and visceral (internal).
Subcutaneous fat is located just under the skin, usually on the thighs, abdomen and buttocks. The internal one is located around vital organs - liver, heart, stomach, intestines, lungs, etc. While subcutaneous fat can be seen with the naked eye, internal fat cannot. The real threat to health and beauty is internal fat, which must be dealt with first.
What is fat and why does the body need it?
Full human existence is possible only if the body is sufficiently supplied with energy. Energy in the human body is presented in the form of glycogen carbohydrate, deposited in the liver and muscles, and also in the form of fat.
Fat is a concentrate of the body’s vitality, which begins to be consumed in conditions of low nutrition. That is, during a full meal, part of the reserves is stored in reserve. So to speak, for a “rainy day”. When such a period comes, and the body begins to receive less of the food it is supposed to, it begins to process its own reserves. It should be taken into account that fat is a very convenient form of energy storage. From one kilogram of fat, you can get up to 8750 kilocalories.
Studies have shown that obese people can stay longer in cold temperatures. In addition, plump young ladies were more valued in past centuries. After all, it was believed that they would be able to feed babies during periods of food shortage.
Fat loss in men and women
There are many factors that influence how quickly (or slowly) a person can lose fat. But one of the most important is gender. Men have higher levels of the hormone testosterone, which promotes muscle growth and can make fat loss faster and easier. A study published in August 2020 on Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism found that when participants ate the same low-calorie diet for eight weeks, men lost an average of 13 kilograms and women lost an average of 11 kilograms.
Read also: It’s easier for men to lose weight than for women
Gender also determines where the body will store most of its fat. “For men, the main area is the stomach. For women, it's the breasts, buttocks and thighs,” says Wilcock.
This doesn't mean women can't lose body fat or achieve their desired body fat percentage. But they may have to work a little harder.
The Cleveland Clinic recommends that women do weight training at least twice a week for 30 minutes to increase muscle mass. And, of course, pay close attention to how many calories you take in. Although everyone's caloric needs are slightly different, women may need to eat between 1,200 and 1,800 calories per day to lose weight. But keep in mind that the right number depends on many factors, including your age, current weight, and activity level.
Human fat reserves, types of adipose tissue
In order to talk about fat in general and about fat accumulated by a person, you need to know where it is located. There are two types of fat in the human body: white and brown. By the time you grow up, the amount of white fat is many times higher than the content of brown fat. Therefore, further we will talk exclusively about white fat. White fat, or “adipose tissue,” is a community of fat cells called adipocytes.
The structure of the adipocyte is such that it is capable of accumulating triglycerides, represented by white fat. In this case, the fat cell cannot stretch indefinitely. And since the body receives abundant nutrition, the excess needs to be stored somewhere. And here, auxiliary cells come to the aid of adipocytes, which, transforming into fat cells, begin to accumulate free fat.
Nutritionists discuss where fat goes when losing weight
When losing weight, most of the body weight is exhaled with carbon dioxide and goes into the air. The most paradoxical thing is that even doctors incorrectly answer the question: “Where does fat go when losing weight?” Despite the obsession with diet and fitness around the world, many health professionals are unable to properly answer the question of where fat goes when losing weight.
The most common misconception among doctors, nutritionists and personal trainers is that fat must be converted into energy or heat when losing weight. The correct answer is that when you lose weight, most of your body weight is exhaled as carbon dioxide and goes into the air. Surprised?
Fat when losing weight... fizzles out
There is surprising ignorance and confusion about the metabolic process of losing weight. The correct answer is that most of the mass is exhaled as carbon dioxide. In their work, published in the British Medical Journal today, the authors showed that to lose 10kg of body weight, you need to inhale 29kg of oxygen.
This metabolic process produces 28 kg of carbon dioxide and 11 kg of water. Mr. Mirman became interested in the biochemistry of weight loss through personal experience. “I lost 15kg in 2013 and would just like to know where the fat went when I lost the weight.
After taking a self-paced course in biochemistry, I came across this amazing result.”
Since there is currently a worldwide obesity crisis, we should all know the answer to the simple question of where does fat go when we lose weight.
If you lose 10 kg and go to find out where the fat atoms go, the arithmetic is simple: 8.4 kg will be exhaled as carbon dioxide through the lungs. The remaining 1.6 kg is water, which can be excreted in urine, feces, sweat, breath, tears and other body fluids. None of this is obvious to humans because we exhale invisible carbon dioxide.
Misconception about where fat goes when losing weight
More than 50% of the 150 doctors, nutritionists and personal trainers surveyed believed that when you lose weight, fat is converted into energy or heat. This violates the law of conservation of mass.
This misconception probably originated from the law of conservation of energy and became a mantra for weight loss. Some respondents even believed that the metabolites were excreted in the feces or could be converted into muscle.
Scientists have encountered misconceptions that reveal a surprising lack of knowledge about how the human body works.
Can breathing lead to weight loss?
The study authors also addressed one of the most frequently asked questions: Can simply breathing lead to weight loss. Answer: no. Breathing speeds up a person's metabolic rate and causes hyperventilation of the lungs, which can lead to dizziness, rapid heartbeat and loss of consciousness. Second most frequently asked question:
Could losing weight cause global warming? The question reveals alarming misconceptions about global warming, which is caused by the release of ancient carbon atoms trapped underground in fossilized organisms. Carbon atoms exhaled by humans return to the atmosphere after several months or years, ending up in plant foods.
Scientists recommend that these basic concepts be included in high school and university biochemistry curricula. We need to dispel the myth about where fat goes when losing weight. Ruben's new approach to the biochemistry of weight loss allows you to track where each lost atom of fat goes. Thus, the secret of another black hole in understanding where fat goes when losing weight has been revealed.
Advice!
The New Horizons spacecraft continues to transmit to Earth the results obtained during its flyby of the Pluto system on July 14 of this year.
This week, researchers' attention was focused on new detailed images of Charon, Pluto's largest moon.
Until mid-July, planetary scientists expected to see a bleak landscape on Charon, covered with craters of the “ordinary” satellite of Pluto. Instead, they saw pictures of mountains, canyons
Already, robots and robotic systems perform complex work in industrial and knowledge-intensive fields, but in the future their role will increase significantly.
It is planned that smart machines will perform many more tasks, and their areas of application will become much wider.
The use of robots is very promising in the household, in the service and consulting sectors, as well as in medicine, construction and other industrial applications.
On the subject: The best weight loss diets for women
Doctors and nutritionists around the world are of the opinion that most often people gain excess weight due to excessive appetite. In other words, they eat a lot. However, most overweight people understand this themselves, but they can’t help themselves.
Is it possible to curb your appetite without resorting to medication? It turns out that it is possible if you listen to the advice of psychologists. Often the dream of losing weight replaces some other desires.
For example, a person just wants to improve his life and be happy.
Source: https://GlobalScience.ru/article/read/25793/
Can a fat cell burn?
Can not. The joke of nature is that auxiliary cells can only perform one-sided transformation into fat cells, and they know nothing about the reverse transformation. It is this fact that is the reason for the rapid weight gain after a period of hunger strike. It’s as if the body is saying, “Be careful, the hunger strike may happen again. We need to refresh ourselves!” In this case, weight gain occurs at an accelerated rate, since the cells are already freed from fat reserves and are ready to replenish it.
Now it’s worth talking about the process of synthesis and consumption of existing fat. For this, adipocytes have two types of receptors.
If the body receives enhanced nutrition, the human blood is saturated with necessary nutrients to the maximum permissible level, and here the Alpha receptor, which is responsible for the synthesis of fat, comes into play. This process is called lipogenesis.
If, however, the body finds itself in conditions of low nutrition, and the blood does not currently contain substances necessary for the body, the fat consumption phase begins, or, according to scientific terms, the lipolysis phase. The Beta receptor comes into action, and fat is broken down, producing the energy necessary for existence.
A very fast and effective method of losing weight. Corn silk will help you lose weight. Don't know how to lose weight? Read a useful article about garlic for weight loss - here!
An interesting article on how to remove fat from calves -
Read the article about the benefits of water.
It should also be noted that adipocytes, fat cells, differ in the presence of receptors. Cells located in the thighs and buttocks contain predominantly alpha receptors. Therefore, they quickly accumulate fat. The upper part of the body, on the contrary, is rich in cells whose main function is to give. Therefore, during fasting, the upper half of the body loses weight first.
The reason that can cause both fat synthesis and its breakdown is the level of adrenaline, glucose and insulin in the blood. It is this wonderful three that is responsible for our appearance.
Fat Loss Process
Excess energy consumed—usually calories from fat or carbohydrates—is stored in fat cells in the form of triglycerides. This is how your body conserves energy for future needs. Over time, this excess energy leads to excess fat, which can affect your figure and health.
To promote weight loss, you need to consume fewer calories than you burn. This is called a calorie deficit (,).
Although it varies from person to person, a daily deficit of 500 calories is a good level to start seeing noticeable fat loss ().
By maintaining a constant calorie deficit, fats are released from fat cells and transported into the energy machinery of your body's cells called mitochondria. Here fat is broken down through a series of processes to produce energy.
If the calorie deficit continues, body fat stores will continue to be used as energy, resulting in decreased body fat.
Summary:
A sustained calorie deficit releases fat from your fat cells over time, which is then converted into energy to fuel your body. As this process continues, the body's fat stores decrease, leading to changes in body composition.
In what places does fat disappear first?
Now it’s worth talking about the process of synthesis and consumption of existing fat. For this, adipocytes have two types of receptors.
If the body receives enhanced nutrition, the human blood is saturated with necessary nutrients to the maximum permissible level, and here the Alpha receptor, which is responsible for the synthesis of fat, comes into play. This process is called lipogenesis.
If, however, the body finds itself in conditions of low nutrition, and the blood does not currently contain substances necessary for the body, the fat consumption phase begins, or, according to scientific terms, the lipolysis phase. The Beta receptor comes into action, and fat is broken down, producing the energy necessary for existence.
It should also be noted that adipocytes, fat cells, differ in the presence of receptors. Cells located in the thighs and buttocks contain predominantly alpha receptors. Therefore, they quickly accumulate fat. The upper part of the body, on the contrary, is rich in cells whose main function is to give. Therefore, during fasting, the upper half of the body loses weight first.
The reason that can cause both fat synthesis and its breakdown is the level of adrenaline, glucose and insulin in the blood. It is this wonderful three that is responsible for our appearance.
Where does the fat go?
As fat loss progresses, fat cells dramatically decrease in size, leading to visible changes in body composition.
Byproducts of Fat Loss
When fat deposits are broken down to produce energy through complex processes in your cells, two major byproducts are released: carbon dioxide and water.
Carbon dioxide is exhaled during breathing, and water is eliminated through urine, sweat or exhaled air. The utilization of these byproducts increases significantly during exercise due to increased breathing and increased sweating (, ).
Where do you lose fat first?
Typically people want to lose weight in the abdominal, thighs and buttocks areas.
Although reducing fat in a specific area has not been shown to be effective, some people tend to lose weight from certain areas faster than others (, ).
However, genetic factors and lifestyle play an important role in the distribution of body fat (,).
Additionally, if you have a history of weight loss and weight regain, body fat may be distributed differently due to changes in fat cells over time ().
Why is it so difficult to maintain reduced weight?
When you eat more than your body can burn, fat cells increase in both size and number ().
When you lose fat, these same cells may shrink in size, although their number remains about the same. Thus, the main reason for changes in body shape is a decrease in the size, not the number of fat cells ().
This also means that when you lose weight, the fat cells remain and, unless efforts are made to maintain the weight loss, they can easily grow back in size. Some studies suggest that this may be one reason why maintaining a reduced weight is so difficult for many people (, ,).
Summary:
During weight loss, fat cells shrink in size as their contents are used for energy, although their number remains the same. Byproducts of fat loss include carbon dioxide and water, which are removed through breathing, urination and sweating.
How to remove fat from buttocks, thighs, abdomen?
Contrary to popular belief, it is not possible to selectively remove adipose tissue with the help of sports training and diets alone. This is due to the fact that fatty tissue located on the buttocks, abdomen or thighs is part of the human body. The human body is not able to limit or, conversely, increase nutrition in one or another area of the body. But every rule has its exceptions.
For example, in order to reduce belly fat, you should give it a good workout (for example, pump your abs), but at the same time limit yourself in nutrition. In this case, the energy needed to perform exercises will be taken from abdominal fat reserves. True, this process is long and it is important to prevent the formation of new fat cells - adipocytes.
How does it leave the body?
After it became clear that there are several types of deposits, the question arises of which fat is lost first when losing weight. The easiest way to get rid of abdominal pain is to simply reduce your caloric intake and start exercising. Cardio exercise helps best in this regard. The outflow of visceral fat leads to an improvement in overall well-being.
Subcutaneous reserves are lost much more difficult; in this case, a strict correction of the diet is required with a ban on fast carbohydrates and fats of animal origin. But fat, which characterizes gender, will be the last to be lost, and will begin to do so only after the body has rid itself of the bulk of other deposits.
It is important! With considerable effort and patience, you can get rid of any type of fat, but you need to understand what exactly you lose weight in the first place and what then, and why this happens.
Is it possible to lose only fat when losing weight?
If anyone thinks that during fasting only the amount of fat will decrease, they are deeply mistaken. The stress associated with fasting affects the entire body. And since muscles do not have their own sources of energy, they lose weight first. As for the training described above, muscle mass in this case simply changes the cross-sectional shape of muscle fibers, the number of which is the same in both a newborn and a bodybuilder.
Unfortunately, some workouts still burn muscle tissue instead of fat in the pursuit of weight loss. You can recognize such a coach’s policy by his prohibitions on eating protein foods 2 hours before and after training.
How?
Before we find out where, let’s find out how fats “disappear” when you lose weight! We already have a great article about this : How to lose weight , but let’s briefly consider this process, because repetition is the mother of learning:
- To begin with, we need a reduced caloric intake in order to generally create a need to replenish energy from our reserves. Those. when you want to eat, but you clenched your will into a fist and endure it, then the body understands: “there is no point in relying on you, you will have to twist yourself!”
- The body then releases the fatty acids from the cells and releases them into the blood. Moreover, it is absolutely unclear where exactly they will be taken from: targeted local fat burning, alas, does not exist!
- After fatty acids enter the blood, they need to be consumed, i.e. any activity that requires calories! Otherwise, they will return back to storage places if the energy demand does not reach certain heights.
An interesting point from the article Cardio or strength training: the best conditions for burning fat. Energy for muscle work : fat is most actively used as a source of energy during low- and medium-intensity cardio (pulse 120-160 beats/min, calm deep breathing). However, in the end, it doesn’t matter at all for weight loss.