User:Znode/Misc/The Physics of Losing Weight

Introduction
As acceptance became equivalent to physical image, it has became more and more critical for those overweight to improve their shape. Although this is a great notion healthwise, is has however been more and more a burden on society. Lack of knowledge in basic science, and the emergence of more and more medical scams for the sole reason of draining the wallets of those who desperately need weight loss has fooled many and confused more. So much misinformation is spread by the word of mouth, especially in health- or image-conscientious communities, that finding the true method of losing weight seems impossible.

This article addresses some basic precepts of weight loss, as well as misinformation throughout our society.

True Weight Loss
Basic laws of physics and biology governs the possibilities and impossibilities of weight loss.

Empirical Laws of Body Mass

 * 1) Neither matter or energy can be created, destroyed, or converted to the other except through nuclear reactions.
 * 2) Therefore, since fat is mass, it cannot be simply "lost" or "converted to energy", but can only be converted to other mass and expelled by the body.

Weight Loss Misconceptions
Liposuction is a method of removing fat physically from the body. Of course, it is expensive. Much easier methods and natural are to be found, such as exercise.

The most common misconceptions about natural weight loss are as follows:
 * The first misconception is that weight is lost through bodily wastes, which is quite untrue. Whether it be urine or feces, they are both by-products from material that you have ingested through the mouth. Indeed, bodily wastes are a sign that you are gaining energy - for any wastes to be produced, you have to first have eaten, and a portion of the food digested and absorbed. An easy way to visualize this is by the simple fact - the digestive tract is not your body but instead a tube through your body - anything that comes out of one end has to have been put in from the other end.
 * Secondly, weight is not lost through sweat. Think logically - sweat is nothing but water and electrolytes, and contains no fat.
 * And finally, because no mass can just "disappear to energy" (except in nuclear reactions), your fat does not "turn into energy and go away" during exercise. It has to be expelled somehow.

Breathing
So from where is your fat-weight expelled, if not through sweat and bodily wastes? There is only one more significant channel of material expulsion in the body - breathing.

Yes, you hear me correctly.

WEIGHT IS LOST THROUGH BREATHING.

Fat is a hydrocarbon. Literally, it is composed of hydrogen (atomic mass 1) and carbon (atomic mass 12). So when fat is broken down for energy, where does each molecule go?

Hydrogen goes to other portions of the body; its most common use in the body is forming water. Since the human body needs a constant supply water, it is safe to assume that the other "jobs" will occupy most of the hydrogen produced in this manner. Therefore, the only weight loss is through losing carbon.

From which channel does carbon exit the body? You guessed it - carbon dioxide in exhalation.

Two Fundamental Rules of Weight Loss
There are a lot of tricks, of course, to diet and exercise. Changing foodtype so that less energy is consumed, faking fullness, making exercise more enjoyable - but it is impossible for weight loss to escape from the two fundamental methods:
 * 1) Eating less energy; (Note: This does not necessarily mean eating less food)
 * 2) Using more energy.

Important Numbers
It is extremely easy to discover weight loss statistics from the internet. Exercise Calorie Expenditures, for example, can be easily found. Even an easy-to-use net-based calculators exist for your convenience. But let us do some numbers:


 * Jogging at 12 min/mile, 160lb. person => 592 Calories/ hour
 * Fat is 9 Cal/gram

$$\frac{592\frac{Cal}{hr}}{9\frac{Cal}{g}} \approx 66\frac{g}{h}$$

$$\frac{1}{\left (66\frac{g}{hr}\right )\cdot\left (\frac{0.0022lb}{1g}\right )} \approx \frac{7hr}{lb}$$

It is clear then that one hour of jogging is only equivalent to 66 grams of fat. To lose a pound of fat (4,086 Calories), 7 hours of jogging is necessary.

In comparison, a can of Coca-Cola&trade; gives 155 calories, equivalent to about a ¼ hour of jogging. which is about 15 minutes of jogging