Lose Weight By Breathing More, According to Science

Have you ever wondered where does the fat go when you lose weight. Certainly, most people don't really ponder this interesting question as they are just to happy to have lost it in the first place. Biochemists examined this phenomenon and discovered that fat can be breathed out as well as burned off as you lose weight.

"It goes into thin air," says Ruben Meerman, a physicist and lead author of the study published in the British Medical Journal. Meerman, an Australian TV science presenter, and University of NSW's Professor Andrew Brown report for the first time precisely where fat goes when it is "lost".

According to the report, 84 percent is breathed out as carbon dioxide. The rest disappears as water, in the form of urine, perspiration and tears.

When fat is broken down to its constituent parts, a couple of things happen.Chemical bonds are broken, a process which releases heat and fuel to power muscles.

However the atoms - what fat is essentially made of - remain, and much of these leave the body via the lungs as carbon dioxide, say the scientists.

Losing 22 pounds of fat necessitates inhaling 64 pounds of oxygen, according to Dr. Brown and his research team, who say this process produces 62 pounds of carbon dioxide and 24 pounds of water.

"None of this biochemistry is new, but for unknown reasons it seems nobody has thought of performing these calculations before.

"The quantities make perfect sense but we were surprised by the numbers that popped out.

These results show that the lungs are the primary excretory organ for weight loss," authors Ruben Meerman and Andrew Brown explained of the findings, published in the Christmas edition of the British Medical Journal.

"The water formed may be excreted in the urine, faeces, sweat, breath, tears or other bodily fluids and is readily replenished.

"The exhaled carbon can only be replaced by eating food or consuming beverages such as milk, fruit juices or sugar-sweetened drinks."