When you lose weight, where does the fat go? Most people would say that when you exercise, you “burn” the fat. So does the fat simply burn away? This can’t conceivably be the answer, as adipose tissue has mass. The law of conservation of mass states that the fat can’t just disappear, because mass in an isolated system is neither created nor destroyed by chemical reactions or physical transformations. Every chemical equation must remain balanced, so the mass of the products in a chemical reaction must equal the mass of the reactants. In other words, this means that the fat you lose when you lose weight still exists, it just exists in different chemical form.

If the fat doesn’t literally burn away, how does it leave your body? The next most frequent answer is that you lose it through bodily fluids such as sweat, urine, and feces. This is partially correct. About 20% of the fat we lose is excreted through some sort of bodily fluid. The remaining 80% is excreted through breathing. You’re not breathing out tiny chunks of fat, you’re actually exhaling the metabolic byproduct of fat metabolism, carbon dioxide.

So if I sit around and breathe more frequently, will I lose more fat? No, that’s called hyperventilation. You still need to exercise and create an energy deficit that would kickstart adipose metabolism. And no, the carbon dioxide you exhale does not contribute to global warming.

The importance of understanding basic fat metabolism can not be understated. How can someone be expected to tackle their weight loss when they don’t yet have a basic understanding of what weight loss is? It turns out the term “burning fat” is incredibly misleading. Dozens of fat loss companies take advantage of the misconception that we “burn” fat by selling scam products and services based on the topic. You can now understand that products that claim they “melt” the fat away don’t conceivably make any sense. Body wraps, infrared saunas, radio frequency waves, abdominal belts, and lasers are all complete scams. If you want to lose fat and keep it off, all you need to do is go back to the basics - work hard, be patient, and don’t forget to breathe.