Today’s blog is a re-run that I believe is worth repeating as the holidays are now history. Ohhhh…that pesky weight gain. Packing on a couple of extra pounds due to holiday festivities, boredom, inactivity or depression tends to happen. Raise your hand if you fall into this category. Yep, me too. I imagine we should start thinking about how to lose those pesky extra pounds.
OPRAH
How does one realistically go about weight loss? Oprah Winfrey is notorious for yo-yo dieting. Do you recall back in 1988 when she lost an amazing 67 pounds? On her show she looked skinny, wore tiny jeans and behind her she pulled a little red wagon full of 67 pounds of fat to represent the amount of weight she lost.
WHERE DOES FAT GO?
Well, I’m sure Oprah’s stagehands took that 67 pounds of lard and heaved it in the dumpster. If only it were that easy. The question becomes, when one loses weight, where does it go? If you believe that when we lose fat we eliminate it via the colon or during urination, you are partially correct. The rest is a bit surprising.
ALL IS LOST
Theconversation.com reports, as the process of fat loss progresses, fat cells shrink drastically in size. The byproducts are converted to carbon dioxide and water. 84% of fat loss is exhaled! You exhale the carbon dioxide and the water mixes into your circulation until it is lost as urine or sweat (which is the remaining 16%.) In other words, nearly all the weight we lose is exhaled. Disposal of these byproducts is greatly elevated during exercise due to increased breathing and sweating. Who knew?
DON’T HYPERVENTALATE
I knew you’d ask. NO, breathing more will not make you lose weight. No need to huff and puff till you pass out. The only way you can consciously increase the amount of carbon dioxide your body is producing is by moving your muscles. Nice try!
THOSE PESKY CELLS
When you lose fat, these same cells can shrink although their number remains roughly the same. The primary reason for changes in body shape is a reduced size of fat cells and not the number of them. This means if you don’t maintain weight loss, they can easily grow in size again.
ULTRASOUND AND FAT
The above mentioned are fun and interesting facts about fat and weight loss. You may wonder how this relates to ultrasound. Another fact is that obesity interferes with ultrasound assessment because it is difficult for ultrasound wave signals to penetrate fat to picture the organs underneath. As a result, the image becomes unreadable.
DON’T PANIC
Don’t panic! If you need an ultrasound, a few extra pounds are not going to make an image unreadable. If you are sporting significantly more than a few pounds, for the sake of your health, you may consider trying to get that extra weight off. It is a work in progress one day at a time. If we can help with your ultrasound needs, call us at 505-350-3397.
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