Lost ten pounds: Where did it go?

[Dinosaur]

A while ago, I started a campaign to lose a pound a week for the next year.

So far, I have lost ten pounds.

I wonder how much is lost via each of the following.

• Urination
• Defecation
• Perspiration
• Respiration.

I have not been exorcizing much, so perspiration would have little effect.

 

[Sarkus]

Not much to any of those.
You'll probably still be doing much the same.

Likelihood is that it has all gone as heat and work.

You're using the same energy but consuming less energy.

 

[Dinosaur]

Sarkus: Weight gain & loss must be due to having more or less matter in my body. There is no magic or conversion of mass to energy involved.

As far as I know, there are two inputs: Food I eat and air I breathe (including some water vapor).

As far as I know, there are four outputs: S**t, urine, perspiration, and exhaling carbon dioxide (& perhaps water vapor).

I was wondering if anybody has knowledge of or a link to data about what percentage of weight losss comes from each of the 4 outputs.

 

[Idle Mind]

Technically, when you are working out, you are converting mass to energy (fat and glycogen stores). This is where the weight is lost. When you lose water through urination or perspiration, you don't lose that mass permanently. You will restore it once you have a drink afterwards. Same thing with defacating, which you do regardless of any other activities.

You said you aren't exercising much, but it doesn't require much to make a difference.

 

[GeoffP]

I have not been exorcizing much, so perspiration would have little effect.

I dunno. I think even a small exorcism would produce quite a lot of perspiration, to say nothing of projectile pea soup vomit.

Have you considered possession by a greater demon of some kind? That might really take the pounds off.

 

[Billy T]

Sarkus: Weight gain & loss must be due to having more or less matter in my body. There is no magic or conversion of mass to energy involved.

Speak for yourself. I have an non-magical nuclear reactor in my belly.

 

[GeoffP]

Speak for yourself. I have an non-magical nuclear reactor in my belly.

Mine's a bit lower.

 

[Syzygys]

It got burnt off, and disappeared into thin air...

 

[John Connellan]

As far as I know, there are four outputs: S**t, urine, perspiration, and exhaling carbon dioxide (& perhaps water vapor)..

You're missing the biggie!
The biggest output is surely the shedding of cells (especially skin cells). I'm too tired, but maybe somebody can look up how much weight we lose every day through shedding

 

[John Connellan]

I'm probably not thinking coz I'm really tired but how is respiration an output for weight? Isn't it a process involving energy?

 

[Dinosaur]

John Connellan thought of a fifth output: Shedding of skin. I wonder if I missed anything else. Hair loss will be ignored since it is too trivial to be considered under normal circumstances.

It seems that I have not made myself clear enough on the question I am asking. First consider a weight loss of 20 pounds (For example, only) over a period of 10 to 20 weeks. Under normal circumstances, there are two inputs: The air we breathe and the food/liquid we eat/drink. These inputs are used to repair/build body tissues and generate energy. To lose weight, the inputs must be less that the outputs, of which there are five (including the one mentioned by John).

• Urination: Water and various dissolved chemicals eliminated
  
  
• Defecation: Elimination of leftovers from the digestive process & perhaps matter absorbed through the intestinal walls.
  
• Perspiration: Water and a few dissolved chemicals.
  
  
• Respiration: Carbon Dioxide, nitrogen, unused oxygen, and perhaps some water vapor.
  
  
• Shedding of skin.

Now to lose weight, the above outputs must add up to more total mass that the two inputs. Except for shedding of skin, weight loss is primarily due to metabolic processes creating energy by oxidizing stored fat and protein. There might be some loss due to the use of chemicals stored in the liver (or elsewhere) and not replaced.

I am wondering what percentage of the weight lost is due to each of the above outputs. My opinions are as follows.

• I would expect little or nothing is lost via defecation. It is my guess that fecal material contains hardly any matter not originally ingested. Stored fat & protein oxidized for energy production probably results in waste products which are carried away via the circulatorly system and output via urination, respiration, and perspiration. I could be incorrect here if some significant amount of chemicals from the liver (or elsewhere) are used in the digestive process.
  
  
• Urination could be responsible for a large percentage of the weight loss if a high percentage of the water is not balanced by liquid ingested over the period of time the weight loss occurred. Extra water could be lost in order to maintain proper ratios of chemicals in the body. Dieting could result in a biochemical unbalance requiring the elimination of water from body tissues.
  
  
• Perspiration could result in temporary weight loss if a person induces a lot of perspiration by heavy exercise or by spending time in an environment causing the body to overheat (A sauna, steam bath, exercising on a hot day). I tend to dismiss this weight loss due to its temporary nature. I would expect the water lost to be replaced from liquid ingested in the absence of extreme activities and minimal liquid input (let us ignore such circumstances).
  
  
• I expect any skin shed to be replaced, resulting in only temporary (if any) weight loss.
  
  
• Respiration results in input of oxygen, nitrogen, water vapor, and traces of other chemicals. It results in output of unused oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, water vapor, and traces of other chemicals. The carbon dioxide exhaled contributes to loss of matter. If most of the carbon lost is from fat and protein tissue burnt to produce energy, this could result in a large percentage of the weight lost. If the oxygen component of the carbon dioxide is consistently in excess of the oxygen taken into the blood stream via the lungs, this would also contribute to weight loss.

From the above, my guess is that of 20 pounds lost in 10 to 20 weeks, only a few ounces would be lost due to defecation, perspiration, & skin shedding,

The above suggests that 18 to 19 or more of the 20 pounds lost is due to urination and exhaling of carbon dioxide. Note that you breathe 24 hours per day. A small loss with every breath could add up to pounds.

I have no clue to how much of the assumed 20 pounds lost is due to each of the major two outputs. I could be mistaken is my dismissal of the other three outputs.

Does anyone here have a clue about the above? Does anybody have some suggestions for search terms or a pertinentt URL?

 

[domesticated om]

I cheated, but here is what I found:

Lora A. Sporny, adjunct associate professor of nutrition education at Columbia University, answers.

In order to understand the disappearance of body fat, we must enter the world of biochemistry. All fats, whether solid or liquid, exist in chemical form as triglycerides, which consist of a glycerol molecule and three fatty acid chains. Each triglyceride macromolecule's appearance is similar to the letter "E"--with the glycerol being the vertical line and the fatty acids as the three horizontal lines. Many of these triglycerides are stored as droplets of oil within the fat cells that make up the fat tissue located throughout the body. They represent a fuel source to support bodily activities, like gasoline held in a car's fuel tank.

People who are overweight or obese--as roughly 66 percent of American adults are--possess large fat cells brimming with triglyceride fuel. When trimming calories and/or increasing exercise during weight loss, the enzyme hormone-sensitive lipase, located within fat cells, responds to hormonal messages and disassembles triglycerides into their component glycerol and fatty acids. These components then slip out of the fat cells and into the bloodstream, where they are accessible to tissues throughout the body. The liver preferentially absorbs the glycerol and some of the fatty acids--the remainder of which is taken in by muscle.

Once inside liver or muscle cells, the triglyceride ingredients are further disassembled and modified, eventually resulting in large quantities of a compound called acetyl-CoA. Within the cells' mitochondria--the powerhouses of the cells--the acetyl-CoA combines with the compound oxaloacetate to form citric acid. This synthesis kicks off the citric acid cycle (or Krebs cycle), a set of chemical reactions that creates usable energy from fat, protein and carbohydrates. As these mitochondrial activities unfold, they generate carbon dioxide, water and heat, as well as adenosine triphosphate (ATP), an energy-carrying molecule that fuels cellular activities.

The carbon dioxide is then expelled from the lungs during exhalation. The water exits the body as urine and perspiration. The heat that is generated helps to maintain body temperature at a comfortable 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. And the ATP powers cellular activities that require energy--from moving your muscles during exercise, to maintaining your heart's 100,000-plus beats each day, to digesting each mouthful of food that you swallow and processing nutrients into bodily tissues.
Source: http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2...E7F2-99DF-33AAA74708B0D3A3&ref=rss&frame=true

 

[Dinosaur]

Domesticated Om: Thanks for the link. It may lead to other good information or give me clues for further search keys,

The article seems to validate my belief that you do not lose much (if any) weight due to defecation.

 

[§outh§tar]

I dunno. I think even a small exorcism would produce quite a lot of perspiration, to say nothing of projectile pea soup vomit.

Have you considered possession by a greater demon of some kind? That might really take the pounds off.

lol

 

[John Connellan]

John Connellan thought of a fifth output: Shedding of skin.

Well actually, I said shedding of cells. I would expect an even greater amount of cells shed from the gastro-intestinal tract than the skin.

Hair loss will be ignored since it is too trivial to be considered under normal circumstances.

That too is another form of dead cell-shedding

I am wondering what percentage of the weight lost is due to each of the above outputs.

OK, I understand your question now. It is not weight loss as a whole u are referring to (of which defecation would be very great) but the amount (or percentage) that each process contributes to an actual net weight loss.

I think it is better to look at the problem as a whole though. If u do a budget and have all the inputs and outputs at hand, then u can see that any weight loss will have different sources to any other weight loss.

For example, let's say these figures below were correct for one day:

inputs

Breathing = 2g
ingestion

- food = 2000g​

- water = 1000g​

total = 3002g

outputs

defecation = 1300g
urination = 497g
perspiration = 5g
respiration = 1200g

total = 3002g

from this budget we can see the person will not gain or lose weight. It is a stable system. Any changes at all to this system will result in a net gain or loss. however to say all losses should have the same general percentages from each of these categories would be very wrong.

Now u did give us some idea of your weight loss program. U said that u didn't excersize much so we can already assume most of your weight loss was not due to changes in perspiration or respiration but to one or more of the other four. Unless u drastically changed the fibre intake of your diet, we will assume that changes in defecation were minimal. And unless you changed the water, alcohol or salt intake, large changes in urination are also unlikely. Of course any changes in breathing, no matter how drastic, are going to have only a small result on the overall loss. this leaves us with the likelihood that u changed your intake of absorbed matter; namely the proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
Here could be the new budget:

inputs

Breathing = 2g
ingestion

- food = 1500g​

- water = 900g​

total = 2402g

outputs

defecation = 1000g
urination = 447g
perspiration = 5g
respiration = 1200g

total = 2652g

Dieting could result in a biochemical unbalance requiring the elimination of water from body tissues.

The body will generally not allow this. It is very hard to disturb the water balance of the body. Even when we ingest large amounts of salt, in the long run (days to weeks) we usually counteract it by drinking more.

[*]Perspiration could result in temporary weight loss if a person induces a lot of perspiration by heavy exercise or by spending time in an environment causing the body to overheat (A sauna, steam bath, exercising on a hot day). I tend to dismiss this weight loss due to its temporary nature. I would expect the water lost to be replaced from liquid ingested in the absence of extreme activities and minimal liquid input (let us ignore such circumstances).

Exactly, same thing

[*]I expect any skin shed to be replaced, resulting in only temporary (if any) weight loss.

As it is a continuous process, there will be actually NO net weight loss at all!