3 ms·

I think the article is slightly misleading. Most (84%) of the mass is exhaled as carbon dioxide: https://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g7257 https://www.bmj.com/c

• Someone 4y ago
  The article is phrasing it badly, but it does say so: “The pounds you shed are essentially the byproducts of that process. They are excreted in the form of water—when you sweat and pee—and carbon dioxide, when you exhale. In fact, the lungs are the primary excretory organ for fat.” The linked-to article (https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/26/health/lose-weight-where-does-it-go-partner https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/26/health/lose-weight-where-...) is way clearer: “The correct answer is that fat is converted to carbon dioxide and water. You exhale the carbon dioxide and the water mixes into your circulation until it's lost as urine or sweat. If you lose 10 pounds of fat, precisely 8.4 pounds comes out through your lungs and the remaining 1.6 pounds turns into water. In other words, nearly all the weight we lose is exhaled.”