Where does our fat go when we exercise?

CrowdScience

BBC

Science, Technology

4.8 • 985 Ratings

🗓️ 8 December 2023

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If, like this week’s Crowdscience listener Lili, you enjoy working out in the gym, you may have wondered where your fat disappears to when you exercise?

The short answer is that we convert it to energy that powers a whole range of physical processes - from breathing to walking as well as lying down and doing nothing. But the science behind energy expenditure is a little more complicated than that.

Presenter Anand Jagatia jumps on an exercise bike to have his metabolism measured and learns that he may be relying on an entirely different source of fuel as he works up a sweat.

Is all that hard work worth the effort it involves? Recent research suggests there is a limit to the number of calories humans can burn and that engaging in physical activity is not always a sure-fire way to keep trim.

So if working out is not the best way to lose weight, how about harnessing our own fat to tackle the complications of obesity? It used to be thought brown fat was exclusive to babies (and bears) but we now know adults have some of it too. Anand discovers that it appears to play a vital role in combatting a range of chronic diseases including hypertension and diabetes.

Presenter: Anand Jagatia Producer: Marijke Peters Editor: Richard Collings Production co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris

(Photo: Person squeezing their tummy. Credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of
0:07.0	Happiness Podcast.
0:08.0	For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want
0:14.4	to share that science with you.
0:16.1	And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley.
0:19.4	I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that
0:25.5	calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:47.0	Anna, do you got a pot of pure butter ghee in front of you? Why? We are doing some, I guess, arts and crafts today on crowd science. We are going to use this to make a candle.
0:54.0	So let's just open this up.
0:56.0	You can see lovely golden stuff in there.
0:59.0	So gee is pure fat and it comes from butter.
1:02.0	You make it by warming up butter until it melts and then you
1:05.8	skim off all of the milk solids and the water evaporates and what you're left with is this stuff.
1:10.8	So we've got a bit of cotton wool here. We're going to sort of make a
1:14.7	wick out of it. So squash the end down. Okay, we've heated up the gee so it's liquid, and I'm just going to put it in there.
1:29.7	Hey, told you it would work.
1:33.1	Yeah.
1:34.3	Let there be light.
1:36.1	I'm An Ann Jagatia.
1:38.4	And I'm producer Maria Capetas.
1:40.5	And the reason why we've done this is because actually this week's question is all about the process that's going on in this candle which is burning fat.
1:48.0	Okay, cool, let's go to the listener who sent it to us.
	...

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