Big Fat Myths: When you lose weight, where does the fat go?

by Ruben Meerman

When you lose weight, where does the fat go?Most people assume it turns into heat and energy, but Albert Einstein showed us that diets would be devastating if this were true.The correct answer is that fat is converted to carbon dioxide and water. Energy is released, but no mass is created or destroyed. This was known when the First Fleet sailed into Sydney and yet it took two more centuries for Ruben Meerman to show that precisely 8.4 kilograms out of every 10 kilograms of fat are exhaled, while the remaining 1.6 kilograms become crystal clear water. His calculations were published in The British Medical Journal in December 2014.Meerman begins this diet myth–busting book by reminding us what we already that human beings are carbon-based, oxygen-dependent life forms. Where do the carbon atoms we exhale come from? Carbohydrates are hydrated carbon, and so are fats, whether they’re saturated or not. Eat less, and you’ll exhale the excess carbon stored under your skin.Big Fat Myths lifts the veil on weight loss by tracing every atom you eat into and out of your body. Diet myths and wellness nonsense topple like dominoes along the way, restoring your confidence in common sense and the age-old wisdom that to lose weight, you simply need to eat less and move more.

326 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 19, 2016

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really fascinating book for me. It won't be for everyone - the author is a physicist, and the text is quite heavy on the mechanics and scientific details of how weight loss (and gain) works in the human body, and some people simply won't have the mindset or patience for it.

That having been said, the fundamental message that Ruben communicates is profound; for years the health and fitness industries have been telling us we need to "eat less; move more", frequently with an emphasis either on the type of food we eat, or purely focusing on the movement side of things. Ruben challenges this with a counter-slogan of "eat less; breathe more", which at first seems a barely relevant distinction, but as you read he makes a compelling (albeit rather science-heavy) argument for it.

As with most of the people (both laypeople and experts) that Ruben initially interviewed before writing the book, I have always had a vague idea that somehow the body "burns" up fat as energy - after all, everything in literature talks in terms that make it sound like that is true.

So for me, as for so many others, it was a revelation that almost 85% of the weight I "lose" is breathed out as the carbon atoms in the CO2 from my lungs. Sure, there is some "energy" stuff going on somewhere in the middle, but the fat doesn't vanish - it just changes form.

Once you start thinking in these terms it becomes clear that while health and wellbeing are more complicated, weight loss is as simple as balancing between the carbon atoms that come in as food, and the carbon atoms that go out as breath. And since we breathe ALL the time, exercise is about health and fitness, NOT weight loss at all. While "eat less; move more" is a good recipe for health, it really is as simple as "eat less; keep breathing".

But beyond all of that, the studies Ruben references and the relatively easy to understand explanations of the chemistry of human metabolism was downright fascinating. By the end of the book, I feel like I have a far better understanding than I ever have had of how my body works.

There are also numerous interesting books and articles that he references which are also worth reading. The only real criticisms I have of this book are that Ruben is at times meandering and disjointed in his communication style (which is why it gets a 4 star instead of 5 from me), and that the numerous references he makes to other material have left me with a desire to spend a significant amount of additional money in the Kindle store....

[Frank Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I ordered this from Canada after seeing Ruben Merman’s TED talk about where does the weight go when you lose it.

I’m was looking for even more insight in the book, but it doesn’t really go beyond the basic premise of the TED talk except for a lot of scientific detail.

I also think that while Ruben Meerman’s insight on weight loss - you breathe it out as carbon and pee it out as water - is important, I do think he had over simplified the metabolic process and how it can be influenced by satiety and macronutrients. Still, I think Meerman’s work is an important piece of the obesity puzzle.

[Richard Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weight-loss secret revealed!

Learn the secret of weight loss! When you lose weight where does it go?
Do you burn it up by turning atoms into energy like an atom bomb? If that were true a single atom would have splattered you all over the room! Read the book and learn the truth! (Sorry, no plot spoiler!)

[James W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating!

Great book. Removes tons of false data. Read and apply.

I wanted to take control of my weight and I have tried every diet known to man. Even with keto, paleo, Atkins or Mediterranean, the answer is and will always be “Eat less. Move more.”

Be well and enjoy the freedom from the diet merry-go-round.

[Bianca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book explaining where our weight actually goes when we lose it. We don’t burn it off, we don’t convert it to energy, we breathe it out!
Strange but true and this book explains it in varying levels of scientific detail.

[Lois Barnard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great information, the science was not that easy to understand for a non science mind. Loved the myths and all other information, came away with loads more knowledge than I started with.

[Joanne Gillespie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating look at what really happens when we lose weight and why ea t less, move more is really true.

[Aaron Basei · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think if you asked any regular Joe, or even a gym junkie what happened to fat when you lost it, you'd probably be told "It turns to muscle" or "gets converted to energy". These are huge misconceptions to something that is very practical, and pretty simple to understand - which is what this book successfully aims to clear up. Fat is transformed into either of these things - basic chemistry of respiration tells us the glucose and air become Carbon dioxide and water! This book is great, it goes into many different aspects of losing weight including nutrition, food types and the history of these byproducts, definitely recommended!

[Peg · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did learn how the body converts fat in a few pages the rest is just filler.