
When you lose weight, where does it go? The answer may surprise you - transparentlabs
https://medium.com/team-transparentcareer/when-you-lose-weight-where-does-it-go-the-answer-may-surprise-you-adf440568ced#.92n5hb8s9
======
grok2
Is this really true? And does is explain weight-loss due to calorie
restriction (based on the explanation it seems like the weight loss should
take a lot of time without exercise -- need to breath out all that CO2).

~~~
transparentlabs
The effect of reducing calorie intake is so much greater than exercising more.
If you could reduce your calories by 500/day that would be like working out
vigorously for 1 hour every day. Its all just inputs and outputs. If your
baseline calorie burn assuming no exercise is 1500/day and you reduce from
1750 to 1250, then over time you will lose weight.

In either case, the mechanism is the same, you convert organic carbon
compounds to CO2 and water and excreting those through breathing and urination
is how the weight goes from your body back to the environment.

------
ermir
It's the reverse mechanism of how potted plants grow without the soil being
depleted, the mass of the growing plant comes from the H2O and CO2 in the
atmosphere to perform photosynthesis, among other reactions.

