Where does body fat go when we lose weight? The answer is stranger than you expect

When body weight falls, some of the fat stored by the body disappears – but where does that mass actually go? Two researchers from the University of Birmingham explain in an article published in The Conversation that fat loss is linked to a process that begins when the body needs more energy than it gets from food, so it turns to its fat reserves to meet that need. The fat we eat reaches the digestive system, where it is broken down into fatty acids. The body uses part of these fatty acids for essential functions such as building cells, regulating hormones and protecting organs, while the surplus is converted into triglycerides that are stored inside fat cells to be used later as an energy source.