What happens to the weight we lose?

Question

Ok, so we don't leave them at the toilet, do we?

I wonder what kind of an energy do the kilos we lose turn into.

Answer 1

The energy turns into the activities that keep you alive (breathing, heart beating) and having fun (running, dancing, sitting, whatever).

The actual mass (no substantial amount is actually converted to energy) is turned into carbon dioxide that you breathe out and water, which you pee, sweat, or breathe away.

Answer 2

In our body there are numerous processes that are conducted every second we live. They need energy. Energy needed to keep us alive (to conduct this processes) is called basal metabolism.
Other than that we can use energy for work.

Into the work (exercising, running, walking or even breathing needs this energy). But during transformation of weight into the work, large quantity of heat is created.
This is the problem with every energy transformation. When we transform it to another shape, large part is converted to the heat and it useless for us. We lose this energy.
So we use weight for: basic metabolism and work.
On basic metabolism we can't influence (or we can influence but minimally). The best way to lose the weight is to increase body work - to exercise.

Answer 3

All kinds of fancy answers copied from wikipedia. Basically by reducing your intake of food and increasing exercise you end up using the fat that is stored in your body rather than the food your body has digested.

As you use up the fat your overall weight will descrease. Remember not to go back to you earlier eating habits right away because fat cells live for about a year and they are very eager to soak up the fat from unused food.

Answer 4

All food undergoes glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, and the electron transport chain. For sugars, the starting ingredient is glucose (a 6-carbon molecule) whose bonds are broken down in multiple steps until it is oxidized into carbon dioxide (a 1-carbon molecule) and exhaled from the body. Each step in the oxidation of glucose produces ATP, which is a universal form of cellular energy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycolysis

Fats are oxidized into acetyl-CoenzymeA (a 2-carbon glucose-intermediate). This acetyl-coA molecule then enters the aerobic respiration process at the citric acid cycle stage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipid_metabolism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetyl-coA

In short, the extra carbohydrates and fats in our body can be eventually converted into carbon dioxide (which is exhaled from the body) and energy (in the form of ATP).

Answer 5

The calories are burned off as work energy. Your body requires caloric energy to function. As you exercise, your caloric requirements are increased and subsequently converted into energy to operate your body. Sometimes, they are expended through bodily fluids and solids.