It seems like everyone is trying to lose weight.  You can hardly cruise the net or watch TV without seeing some sort of fitness or weight loss advertisement.  Yet, with all of this emphasis on weight loss it is surprising how many people, including healthcare professionals, have no idea where the lost weight actually goes.  The British Medical Journal has published the research by a team at UNSW Science in Sydney.   The study shows that when we lose weight we don’t convert the mass into heat or energy, as previously thought.  We breathe it out.  The study showed that 10 kg of fat turns into 8.4 kg of carbon dioxide, which is exhaled when we breathe, and 1.6 kg of water, which we then excrete though our urine, tears, sweat and other bodily fluids.

If you go to the British Medical Journal’s Webpage, they have some great illustrations and even an animated cartoon explaining this phenomenon.