Where do those lost pounds go dieters?

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catherinecherub

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Although it is often pushed to the side during the festive rush, during the post-Christmas fallout, weight loss will once more be at the top of many of our agendas. But where does excess weight go when we lose it? The answer provided by a new paper may be a surprise.
diagram-of-the-human-lungs.jpg

The lungs are the primary excretory organ in weight loss, according to the researchers.
According to researchers from the University of New South Wales in Australia, when weight is lost, the majority of it is breathed out as carbon dioxide. Their paper is published in the Christmas issue of The BMJ.

Prof. Andrew Brown and Ruben Meerman reported widespread misconception regarding how weight is lost, finding physicians, dietitians and personal trainers all equally guilty of not knowing. Most believed that fat is converted to energy or heat, "which violates the law of conservation of mass," they write.

Others believed that fat could be excreted within feces or converted to muscle. These responses may well have provoked gasps from Brown and Meerman, who have now formulated a calculation to illustrate how we actually "lose weight."........................

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/287046.php
 
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zand

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Hmmm. I wonder if I should practise breathing properly (I'm asthmatic, I don't always breathe correctly) Maybe that's why my weight loss is slow and why exercise doesn't seem to help a lot even when I am strict with what I'm eating?
 

noblehead

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Now that is interesting, who would have thought it...........
 
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You learn something knew every day. Mind you, I still get the impression that mine is leaving me via the urine. I should be a lot thinner than I am.
 

Brunneria

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Reminds me of two things:

Read of a hospital study on heart patients (years ago, so I can't reference it, sorry) where they were given training on deep breathing, following their first heart attack. The number of second heart attacks was reduced. Very vague, I know, but it must have been 15 yrs ago that I read of the study.

Secondly, my yoga teacher used to say that pranayama (control of life force through the breath) was more important than exercise, diet, or yoga postures. He also worked with clients who were bed bound or paralysed, and found teaching them yogic breathing was really helpful.
 

dannyw

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Energy cannot be created or destroyed ! Weight loss is literally the removal of stored energy. It must be transformed into another form of energy, heat, light or noise. Exhalation will deal with lost calories in this way but is only part of the story.
 
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NoCrbs4Me

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Energy cannot be created or destroyed ! Weight loss is literally the removal of stored energy. It must be transformed into another form of energy, heat, light or noise. Exhalation will deal with lost calories in this way but is only part of the story.
Actually, weight loss is literally the loss of weight (i.e. mass).
 

NoCrbs4Me

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Weight loss is not conversion of mass into energy. That's what happens in a nuclear reactor or atomic bomb: http://www.jick.net/~jess/hr/skept/EMC2/node4.html

As the article explains, weight loss occurs from carbon dioxide being breathed out. Less carbon and oxygen in your body = less mass = less weight.
 

Pasha

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A little boy was once asked to answer the following question in the form of an essay, "what is the future of coal in England" . His answer was very simple, brief and logical .

SMOKE, was his answer

The researchers from the university of New South Wales may not have been aware of the young boys wisdom.
 

Mike d

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A little boy was once asked to answer the following question in the form of an essay, "what is the future of coal in England" . His answer was very simple, brief and logical .

SMOKE, was his answer

The researchers from the university of New South Wales may not have been aware of the young boys wisdom.

That's debatable on so many fronts .... but I'll let it go.
 

NoCrbs4Me

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That's debatable on so many fronts .... but I'll let it go.
I've noticed everything's debatable on this forum, but I'm sure someone disagrees with me.
 

Pasha

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The essence of the debate would involve the conversion of carbohydrates into carbon dioxide and water. The exit of carbon dioxide through the lungs ,is I believe , a long known fact and to the best of my knowledge has not been disputed.

ie the analogy to the combustion of coal to carbon dioxide and water remains true.
 

Scandichic

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Fascinating! What happens when you eat lchf? Had read something about peeing out ketones. Is this true too?
 

phoenix

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The science of the article is real but needs to be read carefully because the Christmas edition of the BMJ, (as some other journals including New Scientist) is a bit of a joke and the science behind the calculationit isn't at all new. (as the authors explain in one of the responses )
http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g7257/rapid-responses
Fascinating! What happens when you eat lchf? Had read something about peeing out ketones. Is this true too?

read this transcript or watch the video on youtube for what happened when they tried to measure this in twins.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2004/atkinstrans.shtm
 
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