How Does
How Does the Body Lose Fat?
Contributor
By eHow Contributing Writer
Energy and Waste
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Fat is lost in the form of energy (heat) and waste (water and carbon dioxide). The cells which constitute body fat are called triglycerides. Triglycerides are broken down by the human body's metabolism, reducing triglycerides into fatty acids. The body's natural filters (the kidneys, muscle tissue, and liver) consume the fatty acids and produce heat for whole human body. This heat energy burns up the fatty acids. The waste (water and carbon dioxide) is excreted from the body in the form of urine. Carbon dioxide is released from the body each time a person exhales a breath of air.
Misconceptions
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The body does not lose fat if a person goes without eating regular meals. In fact, it only makes a person more likely to gain weight by skipping mealtimes. Eating three meals a day will not help to lose weight either. To encourage the body to lose weight, divide your meals so that you can eat five to six times each day. The trick to making your body lose weight is reducing some calories (a few hundred to five hundred at the most) each day while continuing to eat smaller but more frequent meals. The act of eating more often (and not more at one sitting) increases the body's metabolism (breaking down food and fats). To lose one pound of body fat per week is enough for an overweight person. Each pound of fat contains more than a few thousand calories. Reduce a few hundred calories per day, and you will shed about one pound of fat per week.
Storing Fat
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No amount of reducing calories will guarantee a loss of belly fat. However, overeating at one sitting (eating more than the size of your fist [the human stomach is roughly the size of your fist]) will cause belly fat to increase. The body naturally stores fat in the belly when you go without meals (It is a survival program in the body which stores fat as backup for times when food is not going to be available). This is why eating a second breakfast, second lunch, and having supper after dinner will convince the body that there is plenty of food. By eating more often, you will train your body not to reserve fat from the food that you have already consumed. To lose more fat, supplement junk snacks for natural foods like apples and bananas. Exercise regularly (Take walks rather than taking pleasure drives in your car).
eHow Article: How Does the Body Lose Fat?
