shminux comments on Solved Problems Repository - Less Wrong

25 Post author: Qiaochu_Yuan 27 March 2013 04:51AM

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Comment author: shminux 28 March 2013 07:57:57PM *  1 point [-]

the mechanism by which burning calories actually causes you to lose weight is exhalation of carbon dioxide

Probably not as much as excreting all the unprocessed food from the other end.

Comment author: drethelin 28 March 2013 08:31:21PM 1 point [-]

That's not true. Most of the material in bowel movements was never in your fat to begin with.

Comment author: shminux 28 March 2013 08:35:32PM 1 point [-]

Indeed not from burning calories, sorry. However, it still has to be subtracted from the intake, just like the amount you exhale, so reducing absorption is just as important as increasing burning.

Comment author: Qiaochu_Yuan 28 March 2013 09:40:53PM 0 points [-]

Is this actually true? Do you have a citation for this?

Comment author: shminux 28 March 2013 10:59:59PM 0 points [-]

Actually, I could not find any data online on the food energy utilization in the small intestine in humans and on the factors affecting it. Apparently the obvious ways to prevent absorption, like laxatives, don't really work in the long term.